LITR
4232: American Renaissance
University
of Houston-Clear Lake, spring 2003
Sample Student Research Project
Sandra
Burkhalter
Dr. Craig White
LITR 4232 American Renaissance
April 17, 2003
A Journal on Emily Dickinson
A Solitary Voice
Emily Dickinson is perceived by many as an eccentric recluse who wrote
sad poetry or a shrinking violet who wallowed in self-pity. As I began to read
Dickinson’s poems, I realized that there was much more to this unique poet. My
research led me in many directions, but I found myself enthralled with the
concept of her seclusion. Why did she seclude herself? How could a life lived in
seclusion lead to the wide variety of themes in her poetry? Did she choose not
to publish her poems to ensure her seclusion? In this journal I will explore the
solitary life of Emily Dickinson, how people and events influenced her work, and
how she fits into the sisterhood of female American poets. I will also review
two websites that were helpful and unique as well as a book that opened my eyes
to the vast number of women poets in America. As I completed my research, I felt
like I had come to know Emily Dickinson, so forgive me if I occasionally refer
to her as Emily.
Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830.
Her parents, Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson also raised one older brother,
Austin, and one younger sister, Lavinia. Her father was a lawyer and a treasurer
for the Amherst College. While Edward found public life exciting and enjoyed the
prestige his office afforded, Emily did not like the attention and began to
withdraw from society while attending Amherst Academy. Edward believed that
Emily’s reclusive attitude was due to her drifting from the Christian values
that he strongly adhered to; therefore, Edward censored her reading material.
Emily attended Amherst Academy and then went to South Hadley Female
Seminary, now known as Mount Holyoke College. Among her close friends, Emily was
demure and “almost fun” (Bengtsson, par. 3), but around strangers she seemed
shy, quiet, and displayed a depreciative attitude. Unfortunately, she only spent
one year at the Seminary before returning home in 1848 due to extreme
homesickness.
During the next twelve years Emily only left her home for a few short
trips or to visit her sister-in-law Susan Dickinson. She began to dress
exclusively in white and received very few visitors. It was during this time of
seclusion that she began to write poetry along with hundreds of letters that
often included her poems.
On June 14, 1884, Emily suffered the first attack of a terminal illness.
By 1885 she was bedridden and on May 15, 1886, she died at the age of 56. Emily
left a legacy of 1,775 poems. Six of her poems had been published during her
lifetime but without her permission. Furthermore, editors had made improvements
on these poems forcing them into compliance with acceptable poetry formats.
Consequently, America did know what a great poet it had lost.
Despite
Emily’s self-imposed seclusion, there were a few people in her life that would
deeply effect her and her poetry. Emily’s father, Edward, was a strict man,
but he believed in education and allowed his daughter to attend college.
Dickinson was expected to adopt her father’s Christian beliefs without
question; however, she wrote many poems that display her hesitance to accept her
father’s puritanical beliefs (Rutledge, par. 1). In the poem “I know that he
exists,” she seems to be affirming the existence of God, but as the poem
progresses, Emily equates God with “an instant’s play,” an “Ambush,”
and a “jest.”
Emily
Norcross Dickinson was a kind, quiet woman who was expected to be subservient to
her husband Edward. Emily discusses mothers in poems such as “Mama never
forgets her birds.” This poem depicts a mother who is aware of what is
happening to her children even if she does not take any action to alter the
situation. In later poems, Emily calls Nature the “Gentlest Mother” (poem
790), and depicts mothers as blameless (poem 1085) and timid (poem 1335).
Although there is no evidence that these references are about Emily Norcross, it
is interesting to see how Emily referred to the mother figure in her poetry.
Emily’s
sister-in-law, Susan Dickinson, lived next door and Emily wrote to her
constantly. Susan’s husband, Emily’s brother Austin, was having an
adulterous relationship, but Susan continued to live with him. Emily found Susan
to be a strong person and a powerful female symbol (Walker 105). The poem “To
own a Susan of my own” attests to the extraordinary friendship that the two of
them shared. The letters Emily wrote to Susan indicate that Emily had a deep
love for her and many readers have speculated about their relationship. While
there is no evidence that their relationship became physical, there is much
speculation about the many poems that Emily sent to Susan containing the love
images of a pearl and a gem. In all, Emily enclosed 276 poems in her letters to
Susan (Walker 107). Whether a love was consummated or not, this strong woman
obviously played an important part in Emily’s life.
Another
possible love in Emily’s life was the Reverend Charles Wadsworth. Emily met
Wadsworth on a trip to Philadelphia. Emily considered him her “dearest earthly
friend” (Bengtsson, par. 5) and he may have been the inspiration for the
emotional feelings expressed in poems such as “Wild Nights – Wild Nights,”
and “He touched me, so I live to know.” Although Wadsworth was already
married, it is widely believed that Emily loved him. Therefore, it is not
surprising that when Wadsworth left for the West Coast in 1860, Emily began to
live in almost total seclusion. She spent her time reading books and she wrote a
vast amount of poetry centered on the theme of unhappy love. While experts
cannot be certain that Wadsworth was the inspiration for these poems, it is
generally accepted that Wadsworth’s orthodox Calvinism gave Emily another way
of viewing religion and allowed her to question her beliefs (Bengtsson, par. 5).
Thomas
Wentworth Higginson was a literary gentleman who Emily wrote to in 1862 asking
about possible publication of four of her poems. Although Higginson advised
against publication and disapproved of her “uncontrolled writing” (Coultrap-McQuin
151), he stayed close to Emily and mentored her for many years. Ironically,
Higginson wanted Emily to adjust her style of poetry so it conformed to the
accepted writings of other poets such as Maria Lowell and Helen Hunt Jackson
(Walker 111). Emily refused to do this and later wrote, “Publication – is
the auction of the mind.” I have to wonder if Emily was upset with the editors
that so drastically altered the few poems that were published, or was she
consoling herself because Higginson believed that her poems were not good enough
to be published.
Although
very few Dickinson poems were published, it is clear that Emily was still a part
of American female poetry. Many female poets before, during, and after Emily’s
time, were writing about the same concerns, ideas, and themes. Nevertheless,
Emily rose above the other writers and displayed individuality in her style as
she stretched the familiar themes into new ideas. For example, many female
poets, including Frances Osgood and Lydia Sigourney explored domestic themes
(Watts 126). Dickinson did not simply depict the woman’s position in the
domestic home, but she gave life to the woman who was trapped by marriage. In
“She rose to His Requirement – dropt,” Emily paints the picture of a woman
who gave up everything to be a wife, including her personal possibilities in the
future.
Sigourney
also explored the idea of death as an earthly separation and heaven as a future
meeting place (Watts 126). Dickinson took the theme of death farther by placing
the reader in the position of the dying person in “I heard a fly buzz – when
I died – .” She even seems to greet death in “Because
I could not stop for death – .”
A
common theme of women poets centered on female issues. The political Mercy
Warren wrote about the limits of a woman’s role while Dickinson wrote of the
unfairness of women’s oppression (Watts 133). She also questioned women who
chose to limit themselves by marrying, calling their life “A Horror so
refined” (poem 401). Jane Turell, although closely supervised by her father
and husband, probed the theme of admiration for another woman (Watts 132). Emily
extended her admiration of Susan into a lifelong relationship that gifted Emily
with strength and love (poem 14). This theme of forbidden love was also a
favored topic among many writers including Helen Hunt Jackson, Maria Brooks, and
the controversial Edna St. Vincent Millay (Walker 91).
From
the sentimental works of Maria Gowen Brooks to the unconventional voice of
Sylvia Plath, suicide has been a uniquely female theme until the 20th
century (Watts 133). Dickinson wrote many poems about suicide claiming “I am
ready to go!” (poem 279). Furthermore, her conceptions of the haunted mind
(poem 670) paved the way for Plath’s psychological entrapment.
While
some of Dickinson’s earliest poems resemble the style and form of her peers,
she quickly broke away and established her own style and voice. First, she moved
away from exact rhymes like the ones found in “I have a Bird in spring,” to
assonant rhymes. “Flowers – Well – if anybody” is an example of her
shift because it contains exact rhymes as well as assonant rhymes. These rhymes
were valuable because they opened up great possibilities for words that would
closely match Dickinson’s intended meaning (Galway, par. 6).
Next,
Dickinson moved away from the sing song meter that was popular by adding dashes
to her poetry. This allowed Dickinson to preserve rhythmic units but add
speech-like meter to her poetry. She also added unconventional capitalization.
These techniques force the reader to slow down and consider the importance of
Emily’s words.
Additionally,
Dickinson was fond of unusual vocabulary. She drew upon the law, medicine, and
the military for terms that would metaphorically pass on meaning. While other
poets, such as Alice Carey and Coates Kinney, also utilized the familiar imagery
of the sea, Dickinson extended her allusions to depict her depth of feeling. For
example, Kinney used the image of a brook or a lake to depict marriage, while
Dickinson used these same images in a very different manner (Walker 111). In
“Sweet – safe – Houses,” Dickinson considers a home with “Brooks of
Plush – in Banks of Satin” where death walks in the parlor and the home is
actually a tomb.
Finally,
Dickinson avoided the explicative style that was popular among her peers
choosing instead to compress her thoughts into just a few words. Emily has an
unpredictable quality in her work because the mood can change so drastically
from poem to poem. This compact format enables Emily to discuss various aspects
of a single theme in different poems without being tied to one opinion. While
this makes Emily hard to understand, it adds depth to her poetry and creates
room for personal interpretation (Walker 114).
Dickinson’s
sister poets, who were lucky enough to have access to her work, praised her.
Helen Hunt Jackson wrote to Emily encouraging her to publish her poetry saying,
“You are a great poet” (Walker 94). Amy Lowell defended Dickinson’s genius
and praised her “unorthodox meters and rhymes” (Showalter 108). In “I’ll
tell you how the Sun rose –,” Emily responds to the many female poets who
describe sunrises (Watts 135). By including this theme in one of her poems,
Emily is recognizing the various voices in the sisterhood of poets and returning
their praise.
By
avoiding the standard poetic style, extending allusions and metaphors, and
refining her themes Dickinson became a distinctive voice among American female
poets. Perhaps Emily Watts summed it up best when she stated, Dickinson’s
“accuracy and her metaphors of inner landscape are thus an intelligent and
artistic refinement of methods and themes which many women had already been
exploring in the early nineteenth century” (132). It is clear that earlier
poets who led the way while her peers encouraged and inspired her, but Dickinson
rose above them all.
Emily was not simply influenced by her peers, but there were outside
sources that she allowed to invade her privacy. She enjoyed reading Robert
Browning, John Keats, and the classical sonnets of Shakespeare. One of her
favorite poets was Elizabeth Barrett Browning and she owned a well-worn copy of
“Aurora Leigh.” Emily not only copied many of Browning's poems into her
letters to Susan Dickinson but the royal imagery found in Browning’s poetry is
echoed in many of Emily’s poems (Watts 141). Emily also read mythology and
included some of the mythological characters in her poems. For instance,
Amphitrite, the wife of Poseidon, is mentioned in “The drop, that wrestles in
the Sea – .”
Emily’s
religious debate in her poetry was spurred by her father’s Christian beliefs
and Rev. Wadsworth’s Calvinism; however, she was also influenced by reading
the 17th century Metaphysical poets. Emily must have studied her
Bible as well, because she often paraphrased the holy words as she questioned
its meanings (Bengtsson, par. 11). For example, in “You’re right – “the
way is narrow” – ,” Emily seems to affirm the words of the Bible, but ends
with a questioning attitude:
And
after that -- there's Heaven –
The
Good Man's -- "Dividend" –
And
Bad Men -- "go to Jail" –
I
guess --
Emily kept up with current events. She was concerned about the political
situation in America and commented on Great Britain’s disapproval of America
in “My country need not change her gown.” Emily wrote extensively on death.
Most certainly, she was affected by the massive amount of American soldiers
killed during the Civil War, which was fought during the prime of Emily’s
life. She called their efforts “So modest and so vain – ” (poem 1529).
Emily did not seem to fear death, her poems simply observe that a person should
make the most of life because the afterlife is unclear and the reality now may
be the best experience that there is (Rutledge, par. 10).
The
Civil War broke out shortly after Rev. Wadsworth had left the east coast and she
began the most reclusive part of her life. Her seclusion became an important
image in her poetry. Many of her poems are located in enclosed areas such as a
church, a tomb, a nursery, or a person’s mind (Bray 113). An example is found
in the first two stanzas of the following poem:
It
might be lonelier
Without
the Loneliness –
I'm
so accustomed to my Fate –
Perhaps
the Other – Peace –
Would
interrupt the Dark –
And
crowd the little Room –
Too
scant – by Cubits – to contain
The
Sacrament – of Him –
As
Emily’s solitary life stretched on, she was faced with the death of her father
in 1874. Then her friends Samuel Bowles and J. G. Holland died followed by her
nephew Gilbert. Soon after this, she received the news that her close friend
Rev. Wadsworth had passed away. Finally, her mother died in 1882. During this
time, Emily’s poetry was haunted by themes of sorrow and death. Perhaps her
eulogy for all of these can be found in her poem:
Now
I lay thee down to Sleep –
I
pray the Lord thy Dust to keep –
And
if thou live before thou wake –
I
pray the Lord thy Soul to make –
The
vast number of websites dedicated to Emily Dickinson is a testament to her
popularity. I found two sites that were extremely informative and unique. The
first was American Poets. This site offered information on twenty-nine
different American poets, including everyone from Philip Fernier who wrote in
the late 1700’s to Pulitzer Prize winner James Tate who is still writing
today. Female writers were given equal treatment, including two of my personal
favorites, Sylvia Plath and Edna St. Vincent Millay. The major poets of the
American Renaissance were also represented. Included in this prestigious list
were Walt Whitman, Edgar Alan Poe, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. A biography of
varying length was available for each poet as well as links to their poetry.
While outside links concerning the topic of poetry were limited, I enjoyed
looking at the poetry discussion page.
While
researching the Emily Dickinson biography located at this site, I was most
impressed to find links to every poem she had ever written. Furthermore, the
creator of the site, Gunnar Bengtsson, explained that the poems were taken from
Thomas H. Johnson’s critical edition of Dickinson’s poems. This particular
edition attempted to print the poems in chronological order and as close to the
original format as possible. Thus eliminating years of editors who tried to
clean up Dickinson’s poetry. I found this to be very important to my research
because I could reference any of Dickinson’s poems and be assured that her
original form and intent were complete.
Erin
Renfroe created the next site, Erin’s Poetry Palace, which is dedicated
to a few select poets including Dickinson. While it includes only a short
biography and a limited poetry selection, Renfroe has collected a group of
scholarly journal articles that is very interesting. The subject matter ranges
from the interpretation of a particular poem to Dickinson’s use of science and
how it reflects the technological advancements of the 1800’s. Renfroe has also
collected a small but interesting set of links ranging from Dickinson’s
collective poems to The Emily Dickinson Society. The most unusual link was to
Emily’s obituary written by Susan Dickinson.
The
combination of these two sites offered me unique research capabilities.
Bengtsson’s site was factual and I referred to it many times in order to find
specific poems. Renfroe’s site was very personal and brought Dickinson to
life. These sites not only offered me sound research material, but the various
ideas represented gave me a lot to think about.
I
found the book The Poetry of American
Women from 1632 to 1945, by Emily Stipes Watts extremely helpful and
informative. This book discussed female poets in chronological order. There was
enough historical information to give the poets depth without forcing me to wade
through long biographical passages. The poets were discussed in a style that
compared them to each other. Therefore, I learned how each influenced the others
and how themes and ideas were integrated among female poets. Certain major poets
were discussed in separate sections while minor poets were interspersed among
these sections. Often, the poems were quoted extensively and themes were
explained by comparing two different poems.
The
book was supplemented by interesting notes that added insight to Watts’s
thesis. There was also an extensive bibliography, a testament to the amount of
work that Watts did during the writing of her book. As I wrote this journal, I
found myself returning to this book to identify obscure poets that were referred
to in other sources. I also used it to clarify how different poets depicted the
common themes among women writers.
This
book sparked my curiosity because it added interesting details to my established
knowledge of familiar poets. Also, I was exposed to many female poets that were
new to me. As I read the book I found myself making a list of poets that I want
to read in the future.
This
is a book that I would like to have in my personal library. Not only is it an
excellent reference tool, but Watts brought these women to life, gave credence
to their voices, and made sense out of three hundred years of American poetry.
Emily
chose a solitary life but she did not live in seclusion. Many people and events
shaped her life and influenced her poetry. At times her poetry expresses fear,
but more often her attitude is fearless. At times her poetry is shy, but more
often her comments are bold. At times her poetry is straightforward, but more
often it is mercurial. I have learned that I cannot use a single poem to
determine the intent of Emily Dickinson. But by comparing the vast collection of
her words and ideas I have come to see her as a complex woman with a genius for
expression. She is an important writer because her innovative style broke the
mold of accepted poetry and her subject matter went beyond the conventions of
her day. Pulitzer Prize winner Galway Kinnell affirms that “Emily Dickinson
wrote about the kinds of experience few poets have the daring to explore or the
genius to sing” (par. 1).
Although
she chose seclusion to find her poetic freedom and protect her creative
energies, she did not withdraw totally from the world close by her. She became a
solitary voice in women’s poetry that now sings loud and clear to a new
generation of American women. In Emily’s obituary, Susan Dickinson wrote
“Her swift poetic rapture was like the long glistening note of a bird one
hears in the June woods at high noon, but can never see” (par 2). Emily
understood that poets are simply “lamps” that will eventually “go out”
(poem 883), but her poetry will “keep singing” (poem 250) to all of us.
Bengtsson,
Gunnar. American Poems. 12 Apr. 2003 http://www.americanpoems.com/
Bray,
Paul. “Emily Dickinson as Visionary.” Raritan. 12.1 (1992): 47 pars.
12 Apr. 2003 http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/ed12.htm
Coultrap-McQuin,
Susan. Doing Literary Business: American Women Writers in the Nineteenth
Century. Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
Dickinson,
Susan. “Emily Dickinson.” The Springfield Republican. 18, May 1886.
12 Apr. 2003 http://www.venexia.com/clarkcon/dickinson3.html
Kinnell,
Galway. “Reckless Genius.” The Salon Classics Book Group. 3 Nov.
1997. 9 Apr. 2003 http://www.salon.com/feature/1997/11/cov_03kinnell.html
Renfroe,
Erin M. Erin’s Emily Dickinson Page. 12 Apr. 2003 http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/emily.htm
Rutledge,
David. “Dickinson’s I know that He exists.” Explicator 52.2 (1994):
10 pars. 12 Apr. 2003 http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/ed5.htm
Showalter,
Elaine. Sister’s Choice: Tradition and Change in American Women’s Writing.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
Walker,
Cheryl. The Nightingale’s Burden: Women Poets and American Culture before
1900. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982.
Watts, Emily Stipes. The Poetry of American Women from 1632 to 1945. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977.