LITR 4232: American Renaissance
University of Houston-Clear Lake, spring 2003
Sample Student Research Project

Douglas Carey
Lit. 4232
April 8, 2003

Poe and Dickinson

Introduction

            Most researchers agree that Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson are two of history’s most skilled gothic writers.  Their subjects are often parallel; they both write a great deal about death, pain, loss, love and confusion.  They also write about different subjects that are often related, such as nature and technology, or culture and progress.  Poe and Dickinson even share some similar physical characteristics.  Both are tall and thin with pale skin, dark hair and dark eyes.  Since they were raised around the same area and time, it is even likely that they were familiar with each other’s work.  Despite these similarities though, neither author had a significant influence on the other. 

History

            First, it is important to concede that Poe and Dickinson do have similar histories.  They were both natives of Massachusetts.  Poe was born in Boston in 1809 and lived in New England for most of his life, except for a brief visit to England with his foster father.   Dickinson was born in Amherst twenty-one years later in 1830 and stayed there her entire life.  Poe suffered the early death of both his natural parents and was eventually disinherited by his foster father for accumulating gambling debts and getting kicked out of West Point (McGill 2387).  While Dickinson was never shunned by her family, her mother did die while she was still young and it is obvious that neither of her parents understood or supported her career as a writer.  She is once quoted by McIntosh and Hart as saying, “He [father] buys me many Books—but begs me not to read them—because he fears they joggle the Mind,” (2971).  Both writers also had a formal education: Poe at the University of Virginia, and Dickinson at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary.  Lastly, both Poe and Dickinson suffered early deaths: Poe at forty years old and Dickinson at fifty-six. 

Dickinson on Life and Death

            Dickinson presented many different views on both life and death in her poetry.  This was probably because she had a powerful imagination that she used to interpret her surroundings.  “For Emily Dickinson, the immeasurable, unrecorded life was far more real than the verifiable one; the intersections of visible and invisible worlds far more electric than facts recognized by biographers,” (McIntosh and Hart 2969).  When dealing with people and life she was a staunch optimist.  She felt that most people were basically good without the aid of spiritual guidance.  When religion was still hot in New England Dickinson refused to commit herself to a Church, and she did not feel that life could be any better in heaven than on earth (McIntosh and Hart 2971).  Lastly, she had an idealized view of death.  In one of her most famous poems she spoke very well of death almost as if it were a vacation:

            Because I could not stop for Death,

            He kindly stopped for me;

            The carriage held but just ourselves

            And Immortality

 

            We slowly drove, he knew no haste,

            And I had put away

            My labor, and my leisure too,

            For his civility. Dickinson 2998

These lines demonstrate both Dickinson’s fascination with death and her calm attitude towards it.  She did not fear death, but saw it as a welcome release or respite from earthly existence. 

Poe on Life and Death

            In contrast to Dickinson, Poe presented a view of both life and death in his poetry that was much darker and more sinnister.  Dickinson’s literature about death was obviously somber, but she did not present death as a battle to be fought as Poe often did.  In “Ligeia”, Poe says, “I saw that she must die—and I struggled desperately in spirit with the grim Azrael,” (2393).  Here Poe even says that he wrestled with death as though it were a person.  Poe also insinuates that death is  like a thief in Annabel Lee with a similar metaphor:

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

And bore her away from me.  Poe 2473

In both examples, Poe talks about death as though it has deliberately wronged him by “taking away” his loved ones.  Poe’s view of life was, at times, just as dark since he did have problems with both alcohol and gambling.  He makes his view of society and life abundantly clear when he uses gothic devices to talk about cultural death and decay (Dougherty 8).  For example, he uses the decay of the Usher manor to represent the decay and ultimate downfall of human society. 

Dickinson on Pain

            Distinguishing between death and pain is necessary when discussing Poe or Dickinson, since both authors hold very different attitudes towards each.  According to McIntosh and Hart, Dickinson wrote much about pain even though it was a taboo subject for women writers (2973).  She did not believe that people earned pain through original sin as the Calvinists did, and she did not try to deny it as the Transcendentalists did.  Many times, pain and death are inextricably connected, since one often leads to the other.  So, for Dickinson, there is no real way to escape pain; it is something one must learn to deal with, while death ultimately provides relief from pain (Burbick 97).  Much of her poetry supports this idea.  In one work she says, “If your Nerve, deny you—/go about your nerve,” (Dickinson 2979).  Here she is suggesting that if someone is afraid of pain, they must figure out a way to cope with it.  In another poem she talks about her resistance to emotional pain by saying, “I can wade grief—/whole pools of it,” (Dickinson 2978). 

            Apparently, she learned how to cope with her sorrows.  According to Burbick, she would withdrawal into numbness to the point of oblivion (101).  Dickinson supports this by writing, “After great pain, a formal feeling comes...First—chill—then Stupor—then letting go,” (2985). Later, she wrote a poem dealing with the self destructive tendencies of such a “letting go”:

But since myself—assault me—

How have I peace

Except subjugating

Consciousness?  Dickinson 103

Thus Dickinson presents several views on pain within her poetry that are much different than her views on death.  Burbick even goes so far as to call her a cultural analyst on nineteenth century nervousness, or emotional pain (95).

Poe on Pain

            Poe was also interested in pain in his writing.  However his views on pain were very different from Dickinson’s.  According to Dougherty, Poe often talked about pleasure leading to pain (7).  The poem in the middle of “Fall of the House of Usher” emphasizes this point:

Wanderers in that happy valley

Through two luminous windows saw

Spirits moving musically

To a lute’s well-tuned law...

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,

Assailed the monarch’s high estate; Poe 2407

His other notable interest in pain comes from losing loved ones.  This was one kind of emotional stress that he was intimately familiar with since he lost both of his parents at an early age, and several of his wives died before the age of thirty.  The second stanza of “The Raven” deals with the narrator trying to take is mind off of his dead wife.  “Eagerly I wished the morrow—vainly I had sought to borrow/ From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore,” (Poe 2467).  Another obvious example of the narrator lamenting a dying wife is in “Ligeia”.  “She died;—and I, crushed into the very dust with sorrow, could no longer endure the lonely desolation of my dwelling in the dim and decaying city by the Rhine” (Poe 2395).  With these examples it is obvious that, for Poe, the most debilitating kind of pain comes from losing a loved one.

Dickinson on Nature and Technology

            Both Dickinson and her mother were adept gardeners, so nature became an integral part of Dickinson’s poetry.  Her initial fascination with nature, according to Burbick, probably came from its lack of human feeling and its immunity to pain (106).  However, she never used nature in any specific way; she always presented a variety of feelings towards it.  In one poem she uses nature to beautify and contemplate a sad subject by saying, “Her breast was fit for pearls/ but I was not a diver...” (Dickinson 2676).  Here Dickinson uses a piece of nature to represent a gift that she feels a friend deserves.  “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” shows a more personal set of views on nature:

Several of nature’s people

I know, and they know me;

I feel for them a transport

Of cordiality;

But never met this fellow,

Attended or alone,

Without a tighter breathing,

And zero at the bone. Dickinson 3001

These two stanzas reflect both Dickinson’s reverence of nature and the sublime quality of it.  Also, earlier in the poem when the narrator tried to capture the snake, it fled before it could be touched; suggesting that Dickinson believed people could not or should not attempt to capture nature.  Unlike Poe, Dickinson does not often refer to technology, but she does make a few references to its effects.  “Your riches—taught me—poverty/ Myself—a millionaire,” (Dickinson 2985).  Here she expresses no sentiments towards actual technology, but she does show some contempt towards materialism and wealth, the obvious byproducts of technology.

Poe on Nature and Technology

            Nature is not one of Poe’s primary concerns.  However, he does talk about it in his work often enough to warrant mention.  “The Fall of the House of Usher” shows the two typical ways that Poe incorporates nature into his writing.  First, the story of Usher contrasts culture and nature.  Volshin notes that Roderick is aligned with culture, Madeline with nature, and Roderick is overcome by nature while his loved one is consumed by the family’s unnatural pursuit of perfection (14).  Second, Poe often uses nature as he uses it to describe the house of Usher, to enhance a gothic setting.

I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant

eye-like windows—upon a few rank sedges—and upon the few white trunks of decayed trees... Poe 2401.

These are the two main ways in which Poe uses nature: to illustrate its conflict with human society and to enhance a gothic setting. 

            More importantly, Poe is very anti-technology.  His discussion of technology is centered on its negative side effects.  Dougherty mentions that, “Poe has many good examples of the ambivalence about progress and evolution,” (5).  Poe does set many of his pieces in cities, but they are usually dark or decaying.  In “Ligeia”, Poe says, “Yet I believe that I met her first and most frequently in some large, old, decaying city near the Rhine,” (2390).  Poe uses this passage to convey the feeling of a city as something intrusive, left to rot beside a river.  His most obvious work against technology, however, is his sonnet “To Science”. 

Science!  true daughter of Old Time thou art!

Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.

Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart,

Vulture, whose wings are dull realities? Poe 2457

With these first four lines Poe accuses science, and therefore technology, of both changing the world and stopping creativity.  These two examples display Poe’s unflattering attitude towards technology and progress. 

Poe and Dickinson on Love

            The most profound difference between Poe and Dickinson is in their views on love and marriage.  Poe obviously has a deep respect for both love and marriage, while Dickinson has a very cynical attitude towards them.  Examples of Poe’s attitude can be found throughout most of his work.  In “Ligeia”, Poe has the narrator speak highly of his first wife, “There is one dear topic, however, on which my memory fails me not.  It is the person of Ligeia...I would in vain attempt to portray the majesty,” (2390).  Here, Poe conveys his respect for both love and the opposite sex.  “To Helen” also shows this tendency:

Helen, thy beauty is to me

Like those Nicean barks of yore,

That gently, o’er a perfumed sea,

The weary, way-worn wanderer bore...Poe 2458

 

These lines show that Poe not only respects the mental aspect of love, but also appreciates physical beauty in someone. 

            Dickinson does none of the things that Poe does regarding love.  Wardrop says that Dickinson’s love poetry is some of the most startling in her career (91).  For example, there are several instances when Dickinson condemns marriage, not out of malice, but out of fear.  In one poem she says, “All that I do/ Is in review/ To his enamored mind,” (Dickinson 98).  Here, Dickinson’s fear comes from the thought of being watched.  Also, calling the spouse enamored implies a lack of respect on his part.  As a second example, Wardrop  quotes one of Dickinson’s letters to Susan Gilbert as saying that marriage will eventually take them, as though it were a trap (100).  Thus, Dickinson respected neither love nor marriage for fear that they would restrict her freedom. 

Poe and Dickinson on Poetic Devices

            Most of the differences between these two writers are not in subject matter but in how they treat the subject matter.  However, the best evidence that Poe and Dickinson had no influence on each other’s work lies in their use of poetic devices.  There are several obvious differences in their poetic structures.  First, Poe has a refined, predictable, and almost musical rhyme scheme.  The poem “Silence” is a sonnet, and obeys those literary conventions.  “The Raven” also has a specific cadence that it does not deviate from:

Then methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer

Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.

“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee

Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!” Poe 2469

 

Second, not only is the rhythm here constant and easy to follow, these lines use fairly conventional punctuation to dictate the rhythm.  Lastly, he uses archaic language and an advanced vocabulary to make the elements of the poem fit. 

            Dickinson is not always so predictable.  She will often set up a predictable rhyme scheme but then insert words that only come close to rhyming:

One sister have I in our house,

And one a hedge away.

There’s only one recorded,

But both belong to me. Dickinson 2974

The other trait Dickinson is noted for is her unique use of punctuation.  Instead of using conventional punctuation, she uses hyphens to offset certain words and lines.

Today is far from Childhood—

But up and down the hills

I held her hand the tighter—

Which shortened all the miles— Dickinson 2976

These differences in rhyme, rhythm, and punctuation serve as examples of how differently the poems of Poe and Dickinson are structured. 

Conclusion

            Despite these differences Poe and Dickinson were very similar American gothic writers.  They wrote about many of the same subjects at around the same time.  However, because of differences in poetic style and treatment of subject matter it is apparent that neither writer overly influenced the other. 

 

Works Cited

Burbick, Joan.  “Emily Dickinson and the Revenge of the Nerves.”  Women’s Studies.  7 (1980): 95-109.

Dickinson, Emily. “Because I could not stop for Death” “If your nerve deny you” “One Sister have I in our house” “Her breast is fit for pearls” “I can wade grief” “Your riches—taught me—Poverty” “After great pain, a formal feeling comes” “A narrow fellow in the grass.”  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  Ed. Paul Lauter.  4th ed. vol. 1.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.  2975-3008.

Dougherty, Stephen.  “Foucault in the House of Usher: Some Historical Permutations in Poe’s Gothic.”  Papers on Language and Literature.  37 (2001): 3-25.

McGill, Meredith.  “Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849.”  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  Ed. Paul Lauter.  4th ed. vol. 1.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.  2975-3008.

McIntosh, Peggy, and Hart, Ellen.  “Emily Dickinson 1830-1886.”  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  Ed. Paul Lauter.  4th ed. vol. 1.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.  2975-3008.

Poe, Edgar A.  “Ligeia” “Annabel Lee” “The Fall of the House of Usher” “Sonnet—To Science” “To Helen” “The Raven.”  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  Ed. Paul Lauter.  4th ed. vol. 1.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.  2975-3008.

Voloshin, Beverly.  “Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.”  Explicator.  46 (1988): 13-16. 

Wardrop, Daneen.  “Emily Dickinson’s Gothic Wedding: Dowered Bride and Absent Groom.”  ATQ.  10 (1996): 91-111.