Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson wrote with an intense passion that only a true artist is able to express. Whether her topic is love, love-lost, religion, nature, or death, Dickinson captures the most extremes of the emotional spectrum in her poems.
At times she comes across as ecstatically happy as in poem 214 where she expounds on the beauty of a Summer's day and how she can much more easily become inebriated by her beautiful surroundings (I assume of her garden) than on any of the finest liquors.
In contrast to these feelings of utmost, unadulterated happiness is seen in poem 241 where she states "I like the look of agony, / Because I know it's true--." This, to me, proves that she is no stranger to the darkness, despair, and striffe in the world.
Another theme in Dickinson's poetry is the casting off of traditional Christian values. While it could be seen as an excuse to further isolate herself, in poem 324 she speaks of how it is unnecessary to worship in church. She writes "Some keep the Sabbath going to church-- / I keep it, staying at home--." Also, in poem 185 she alludes to the fact that science is just as (if not moreso) important than faith in the "modern" world. This concept was probably not very well-recieved in her time, especially among the New England Protestant population with whom she was surrounded.
Finally, I am of the opinion that much of the extreme emotion in Dickinson's poetry comes from her life-long isolation from the world outside her garden walls. One who spends too much time alone is very succeptable to wide variances of feelings and thoughts that, at times, may be blown out of proportion. But, I imagine, that is where much of the beauty in her words comes from as well.