LITR
4232: American Renaissance
University
of Houston-Clear Lake, spring 2003
Sample Student Research Project
Sara Brito
Dr. White
American Renaissance
17 April 2003
Emily
Dickinson and Sojourner Truth
One may wonder at the juxtaposition of the two subjects of this paper.
One of the subjects being a woman called upon by God to preach to the people and
interact amongst them and the other being a recluse whose interactions with
other people were based merely through letters and writings, most of which were
never seen during her lifetime. The truth is they have little to nothing to do
with each other. The only motivation for placing the two together is a personal
interest in the both of these figures. Emily Dickinson and Sojourner Truth are
either women who inspire through words whether written or oral and because of
this become interesting in and of themselves.
Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in the year 1797. She changed her name to Sojourner Truth as she told Harriet Beecher Stowe because she felt God had called her “to travel up and down the land, showing the people their sins and being a sign unto them.”(Civil war) True to her God this became Sojourner’s cause.
After having been a slave and originally speaking Dutch, Sojourner
learned how to speak English and became an effective orator. She had a high
appreciation for the bible though she could not read the actual text. She used
the words in the bible towards her cause; namely black rights and further on
women’s rights. She could turn mean words around and use them against the
attacker. One case of this was shown on a particular website. When told that one
man did not care to listen to her anti-slavery tactics “more than he would
(care) for the bite of a flea,” Sojourner returned to him the reply of,
“Perhaps not, but Lord willing I’ll keep you scratching.” (Civil War)
Sojourner Truth kept many people “scratching.” It was exactly this sentiment
of trying to get under people’s skin that made Truth the effective orator she
was. She did not censor her words only let them tell the truth and people
eventually responded to her tactics.
In Frances D. Gage’s Reminiscences of Sojourner Truth he recalls having to “beg(ged) the audience keep silence for a few moments.” (2026) Her prescence, seen as an intrusion by many, of this conference was not welcomed and many people argued she should not be able to speak. However, at the end of her talk Gage recalls “roars of applause” and he even speaks of the many “hearts beating with gratitude” in response to Truth’s speech. (2026) Though Sojourner Truth had an enormous height and an erect form she used these qualities in her speaking. It is easy to see that people must have had to listen to her or at the least be intrigued by her. A woman that huge could command respect even being black in the time of slavery. Through her speeches, Truth invoked a sense of a respectable air, which made people listen to her all the more.
Truth interacted with many important people. One of these was President Abraham Lincoln throughout the course of the Civil War. She is said to have been the figure, who told Abraham Lincoln that blacks should be allowed to fight in the war. When it finally happened many thought the move was the right one and noted that the black soldiers often fought with more heart than the average white soldier. Having been an abolitionist, grandmother and adamant activist Sojourner died after a life in the service of her God and her race. In November of 1883, in Battle Creek, Michigan Sojourner met with a figure more stubborn than herself. Death took her that year as many people mourned.
Sojourner saw the end of slavery. She knew however, that there was more work to be done. The Civil War Homepage Web-site says “she lived long enough to see her people brought to freedom, but never stopped in her efforts to win more equality for them.” Dedicated and determined as Sojourner was, even she had to know that equality would take time still she persued freedom and equality for blacks and women adamantly in the face of many white people opposed to the revolutionary ideas.
Sojourner Truth has come into media attention over one hundred years after her story had ended. A group, which formed after the Rodney King incident, has been advocating for a statue to be built of Sojourner Truth in Northampton. One website I found on this subject was at http://www.noho.com/sojourner/index.html. The article suggests that, “The goal of the memorial is to help keep this piece of Northampton’s history alive both for the residents of western Massachusetts and visitors to this area.” Since Truth was a major advocate for black rights and woman’s rights it is fitting that she becomes immortalized to some degree. The website goes on to show the significance of such an undertaking. “Once the statue is installed, the Committee will conduct outreach to encourage field trips by students in elementary, junior, and senior high schools throughout this region.” Even though the magnificent woman has been dead over one hundred years she is still reaching out to members of her community and shelling out nothing but truth to those who listen willingly and even to those who will not.
On the opposite side of the American Renaissance women writer’s scale lies a soul who is also shrouded in controversy. Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 in Amherst. Her father was an avid Christian and thus the children were expected to adhere to his Christian principles and ideas. Later in life Emily would go on to challenge the views her father had brought her up on through her poetry. Emily had many influences linked to her father’s influence including the Bible and the metaphysical poets of England. Her father dictated that which Dickinson could read and would not let her read Walt Whitman for fear of corrupting his influence upon her.
In direct contrast to Dickinson’s father lies her mother who has been seen as absent from her life and present only in form. It seems to be that Dickinson’s father was the only parental figure with any influence on the developing, young writer. Her mother is rarely spoken of in any of the research articles except to say that she was not there for her child.
It becomes easy to see why many critics of Emily Dickinson thought she had anxiety problems and was possibly bipolar. Growing up confined to certain perspectives and later confined by herself to her own house leaves much room for speculation. However, in true romantic style one biographer states that, “Dickinson must have seemed more curious than terrifying. Local children enjoyed it when she lowered treats and snacks out her second-floor window inside a basket tied to a rope.” (Mondragon) Further on, Mondragon states that Dickinson was careful not to let the children see her face or body, only her arms. Her compassion towards the children shows that Dickinson had moments of interest in what was going on outside her own personal world. However, Emily Dickinson confined herself to her father’s house and took few visitors whom, if they were allowed entrance, she would talk to, “from behind a door or shouting to them from upstairs.” (Mondragon) The down side to living this kind of life becomes that no one knows the full details of her life since so much of it was spent in seclusion. The upside becomes since she did not focus her life around social issues or trivial concepts Dickinson was allowed to focus more on developing her poetry.
Emily Dickinson’s poetry entered the world in a cleaned-up version, which lacked the luster of Dickinson’s writing. Finally, Thomas Johnson published the original formats as Dickinson had intended them and the ingenuity and talent of the artist were displayed. Johnson took no liberties with Dickinson’s poetry, as had earlier editions of her printed works.
Trying to group Dickinson’s poetry is a tireless task as well. Many have tried and most do not succeed. Most form a category for poems dealing with friends, nature, love and death. This last issue intrigues most of the readers coming to Dickinson’s poetry for the first time. Her intrigue with death seems to have come from her personal experiences in dealing with the deaths of many of the people she cared for. The particularly morbid Miss Dickinson seems to emerge after 1874. An internet source recalls, “Emily’s father died in 1874, Samuel Bowles (a long time friend) died in 1878, J.G. Holland (another friend) died in 1881, her nephew Gilbert died in 1883, and both Charles Wadsworth and Emily’s mother died in 1882.”(American Poets) It is only natural for a poet to put a little of themselves into their work. Hence, through this certain time frame, Dickinson was dealing with the deaths of just about everyone close to her.
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson died on May 15, 1866 at the age of fifty-five. Many of her works were destroyed on her request by a relative yet many survived. The doctors said Dickinson died of “Bright’s Disease.” Which Brenda Mondragon tells us is, “not truly a disease but a term that was used for a collection of medical symptoms, including nephritis (kidney disease) and hypertension.” However when Dickinson died the world truly lost a remarkable recluse of a literary figure.
Many of Dickinson’s critics try to figure out what was going on inside this complex lady’s head. One article in the Washington Post says that Dickinson may have had bipolar traits. The article traces Dickinson’s writings and finds that, “Dickinson was much more prolific during the spring and summer and much less productive in the winter.”(Vedantam) This statement is easy enough to believe. Yet Vedantam then goes on to say that Dickinson had an “intensity and enthusiasm” for life. He calls her mood changes a “cognitive change,” linking these changes in attitude with the change in season. Knowing that bipolar traits are more prevalent in artists and writers than in the rest of the public, the article links Dickinson’s strange behaviors as a result of being bipolar. Throughout her life Dickinson struggled with anxiety, according to the doctors of her day. Dickinson has also been accused of having agoraphobia, or being too scared to leave the house based on this anxiety finding. Vedantam leaves his article with this quote from Nancy Andreasen, a psychiatrist. She says, “If you have a personality and a style like that (Dickinson’s in particular), it makes you likely to produce something more creative, but it also makes you vulnerable to harm, rebuffs, abuse—and mood disorders.” Dickinson’s personality may have contained bipolar traits. If nothing else, it served to strengthen her poetry no matter what season or year it may have been. In essence, Dickinson is the pinnacle of the idea that something good, namely her poetry, can come from something not so good like a mood disorder.
As I began my research for this project I was mostly interested in Sojourner Truth. I had only thrown Emily Dickinson in as a character with which to contrast with Truth. However, the more I learned about Emily Dickinson the more I began to enjoy this project. Dickinson led a fascinating life and we have many of her works to tell us a lot about the trials of her life and lifestyle.
Sojourner Truth is a figure I am immensely interested in because of who she was and what she did. I have an enormous amount of respect for Truth for having the guts to stand up for what she believed in when the world did not want to hear it. Dickinson on the other hand was a great poet whose life was perhaps even more interesting than her poetry. I could not decide between the two and that is why I chose both figures to write on.
I really enjoyed the idea of Dickinson as a romantic figure. If this paper were to progress I would like to gain more insight into this subject. Her interactions with the neighborhood children contribute to this assumption. There is also a gothic color scheme to her person as well with the white dress she was always wearing in later years compared against the “darkness” of the secluded person she was. Again as a romantic characteristic, Dickinson did not like to be around people. Hence, the idea of the cities being bad places and the small quaint lifestyle becoming all the more desirable. Dickinson saw the beauty in nature and would write of it with considerable excitement. As a literary figure Dickinson also manages to transcend even death as her poems continue to be read even today.
All of these observations contribute to the possibility of Dickinson as a romantic figure. I would like to concentrate on that aspect of this journal more so if I were to further my research on the subjects mentioned in the text.
I have learned an immense amount
of background information on both of these writers’ lives. As a student
teachers often forget that some of us are not as exposed to some figures as
others. Doing this research allowed me the chance to “catch up” on what I am
sure some students already know. In that sense, I believe it was a successful
project.
Works
Cited
Gage, Frances D. “Reminiscences by Frances D. Gage of Sojourner Truth,
for May 28-29,1851.” The Heath Anthology of American Literature v.1 Ed.
Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton,2002. 2025-2027.
Mondragon, Brenda C. Online posting. Ap. 13 2003. “Emily Elizabeth
Dickinson.” Neurotic Poets Homepage. <http:// www.neuroticpoets.com/dickinson/>,
2002.
Online posting. Ap. 10 2003 “Sojourner Truth:Biography.” Civil War
Biography Homepage. http://www.civilwarhome.com/truthbio.htm
Online posting. Ap. 12 2003. “Emily Dickinson.” Biography and Poems
by American Poems.com. www.americanpoets.com%2Fpoets%2Femilydickinson%2F&c=45.
Vedantam, Shankar. Online posting. Ap.12 2003. “Did a bipolar trait
bring a turn for the verse?” Washington Post Online Homepage. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A22628-2001May13¬Found=true>