Abstract: Emily Dickinson is rich in legendary like her romantic poems. She used to be unknown, but became famous after her death. Because of her unique use of capital letter and dash, she is regarded as poet who is rebellious or revolutionary. Death seems to be one of her favorite subjects. The objective of this paper is to study the death instinct in her poetry and its importance by using psychoanalytical theory of instinct and psychological defense mechanism as main tools. Firstly, I will give an introduction, which includes the introduction of Emily Dickinson, the theory and literature review. In chapter one, by talking some “dark shadows” in Dickinson’s poems, death instinct can be detailed. Dickinson denied herself and called herself “nobody”. Also she fettered herself like a cocoon. She even struggled in her inner part and wanted to put out the light of life. Then second chapter will pay attention to the other side of the death instinct—eros. To satisfy the death instinct, poet went to the opposite way. With the sprout of eros, poet sublimated the death instinct and made it easy be accepted. Sherry Turkle said in TED that, "If you don’t know how to be alone, you will be lonely". Dickinson was a real poet who knew how to be alone. Through her solitary life, she changed the anxiety, pain, fidget that death instinct gave her into great thoughts. Last we can conclude that death instinct was not only a desire reflected by poems, but also an important factor to realize poet’s pursuit in poetry.
Keywords: Death Instinct; Psychological defense mechanism

摘 要：艾米丽•狄金森是一位和她的浪漫诗歌一般充满传奇色彩的诗人。在生前，她默默无闻。直到去世之后才声名鹊起。因为她对大写字母和破折号的使用方法很独特，她被认为是一位具有革命性的诗人。死亡似乎是她钟爱的一个话题。本文旨在通过心理学的本能并在心理防御机制的帮助下研究死亡本能在狄金森诗歌中的重要性。首先，我讲简单介绍艾米丽狄金森及其诗歌、应用的心理学原理等。在正文的第一章节中，通过讨论狄金森诗歌中的“阴影”，详细地研究死亡本能。我们可以发现，狄金森对自己持否定态度，她称自己为“无名小卒”。同时她像茧一样，束缚着自己起来。甚至在内心中挣扎着，想要熄灭生命的烛火。接下来在第二章将关注与死亡本能相反的本能—艾洛斯。为了满足死亡本能，诗人只能走向这一相反的方向。伴随着艾洛斯的萌芽，诗人将死亡本能升华并使之容易为人所接收。雪莉•特克在TED论坛演讲中说过：“如果你不知道如何独处，你将变得寂寞。”狄金森是一位真正的诗人，她懂得独处的意义。在独居的日子里，她逐渐将死亡本能带给她的焦虑、痛苦、烦躁变为意义深刻的思想。最后可以得出结论：死亡本能不仅仅是诗人通过诗歌表现出来的欲望，更是实现诗人对诗歌艺术追求的重要因素。
关键词：死亡本能；心理防御机制