Is it necessary for a writer to write about the social or political events of their time?

When trying to answer this question I made an interesting discovery, I have been doing this unconsciously my whole life. I am a product of my time and society whether I like it or not. It is ultimately down to whoever reads my work to decide if it is relevant or reflective of the time I lived in or if I was writing outside the box (which I find doubtful). 

Last week in author study our task was to read over several of Emily Dickinson's poems to decide whether or not she wrote about the American Civil War. This is an interesting notion looking back on this exercise. She lived during this period, in an area that was actively involved with the war but she is described as someone who preferred isolation from the outside world and was housebound for much of her life. Reading poem 409 I think the references to the conflict in Emily's writings are clear to see:

 'They dropped like flakes, they dropped like stars,

Like petals from a rose,

When suddenly across the lune

A wind with fingers goes.

They perished in the seamless grass,

No eye could find its place;

But God on his repealless list

Can summon every face'

Neil McCaw suggests that 'a literary text should not be studied in isolation' and a text should be viewed as "placed specifically within its own historical context and viewed as a particular product of its era, location and circumstances."

While this may be subjective views of each particular text I believe he does have a point worth considering and ultimately our writing open to the interpretation of whoever reads it.