Emily Dickinson as a Visionary - Essay Example

EMILY DICKINSON Introduction: Working Thesis- Emily Dickinson as visionary Dickinson’s poetry is known to be elusive, not readily comprehensible, distant, and eccentric. There is an aspect, however, that is seldom mentioned: its mystery. At the outset, it appears that Dickinson’s poems are difficult to read and understand, thus one tends to read a second or even a third time, until he either comes to a tentative understanding, or gives up in exasperation. It strikes one, however, that the way to read Dickinson is to “feel” her, to surrender to the images she presents and to surrender to the impressions one derives from them, rather than dissect their denotations. Reading Dickinson is not an intellectual enterprise, it is an emotional journey. Her poetry leads not to a finite conclusion, but invites to further rumination. This writer is thus inclined to explore the thesis articulated by Bray of Dickinson as visionary. Personal history Born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830, Emily Elizabeth Dickinson lived the life of a recluse, seldom leaving the house or entertaining visitors; her aversion to public life was such that she attended only one year’s schooling at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, before returning home out of extreme homesickness. The few people she did come in contact with, however, profoundly influenced her thoughts and poetry, particularly the Reverend Charles Wadsworth. Many critics speculate that Wadsworth was the object of Dickinson’s “heartsick flow of verses” for the person she called “my closest, earthly friend”. It is not certain that the Reverend was Emily’s unrequited love is, however, because it might have equally been Massachusetts Supreme Court Judge Otis P. Lord, and Samuel Bowles, the editor of the Springfield Republican. Some even believe that this romantic inspiration may even have been Susan Gilbert Dickinson, wife of Emily’s brother, Austin, by virtue of the many poems and letters dedicated by Emily to her – a matter to which feminist admirers of her work were quick to attribute her unique and eccentric writing style. Throughout her life, Dickinson’s siblings, Austin and Lavinia, were her constant friends and intellectual companions. Other influences in her poems were the seventeenth century English Metaphysical poets and her conservative Christian upbringing. Most biographies on Dickinson describe her work as having been undertaken in isolation and complete privacy; in truth, Dickinson undertook a lively and active correspondence with a good number of friends, among whom was her sister-in-law Susan Gilbert, literary critic Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and cousins Louise and Frances Norcross. It was verified that critiques she solicited at least from Gilbert prompted her to rewrite some poems, sometime as many as four times. Although a prolific writer, Dickinson was never publicly acknowledged during her lifetime because she published no more than 10 of her 1800 poems. After her death in 1886, her family found her many writings in 40 handbound booklets and had them published. The first volume saw print in 1890 and the last in 1955, establishing Dickinson as one of the truly great original writers in American history. Critiques of Emily Dickinson, Her Persona and Her Poetry There is a great disparity between the persona Dickinson publicly portrayed and her true self. By her appearance and demeanor, she conveyed the image of a “plain Jane,” adverse to mingling socially. When her poetry was first published shortly after her death, Dickinson was variably described as timid, penurious, deranged, slow-witted, lesbian, feminist. Charles Anderson, for instance, though he was one of her best critics, saw in her “a kind of eighteenth-century wit” (Bray). This is largely due to Dickinson’s writing style that rebelled against the conventions of the time – the lines were short, titles were lacking, capitalization and punctuation defied reason, and slant rhyme was used. Her themes were unsettling and at times disturbing, and often revolved around death and immortality, recurrent themes even in her correspondence to friends (McNeil). More recently, however, critics have seen beyond the poet’s unconventional lifestyle and writing technique, and discern the power and brilliance of her unorthodox poetry. Dickinson was “arguably the toughest-minded, clearest-seeing poet our national literature has yet produced… [she represents] a curious brand of genius that is simultaneously American and decidedly extra-national” (Pinsker). To be sure, Dickinson may fairly be described as eccentric within the context of her era, partly also because of her own doing. Misunderstanding of Dickinson may fairly be attributed to her own self-imposed distance, and the fact that there were so few of her poems that are readily comprehensible (some say inaccessible or elusive), leading critics to judge her largely on the basis of these few. Unconventional Writing Style Upon cursory inspection of Dickinson’s poems, one is at once struck by the brevity of the verses and her frequent use of dashes, placing them in seemingly inappropriate places in her poems. Early critics found fault with the terse form and seeming lack of sophistication of Dickinson’s work. Freeman called attention to her difficult but challenging style, characterized by “irregular rhythms, unorthodox syntax, and association of images.” Of her imagery, literary editor Thomas W. Higginson described as “poetry torn up by the roots, with rain and dew and earth still clinging to them.” Dickinson employed certain unique elements; a few of the more distinctive of which shall now be discussed. 1. Hyper reflexivity In many instances in her poetry, Dickinson intentionally repeats a pronoun, often with the suffix “–self,” a technique she discovered where form reproduced repeatedly conveyed the motif of the multiplied self. Wardrop observed that in reducing language to its most basic structure, Dickinson’s style “reflect images in the way of funhouse mirrors.” An example (Belasco & Price) is as follows: A Spider sewed at Night Without a Light Upon an Arc of White, If Ruff it was of Dame Or Shroud of Gnome Himself himself Inform, Of Immortality His Strategy Was Physiognomy. Emily. 2. Allusion to exotic places Dickinson never travelled, but often mentioned far-off places such as India and Peru. The 1800s were a period of geographical exploration and discovery, and Dickinson would have been familiar with the writings of New England historian William Prescott, such as The Conquest of Mexico in 1843 and The Conquest of Peru in 1847. Dickinson frequently referred to exotic destinations that garnered a popular following during the period (Gruesz). Refer to Appendix 1 for this example. 3. Use of tropes (non-literal use of words) Dickinson also often used geographical and social tropes to convey individual persons as “worlds,” merging internal and external realities and creating abstractions out of the concrete. Mitchell provides the example in Appendix 2. Here, “home” and the different aspects related thereto are a trope for a site of refuge, in the sense that “the more intimidated one’s sense of home is, the less secure one’s sense of self is” (Mitchell, 46). 4. Commentary of current events and political issues. Although some critics saw her poems as flighty and whimsical, Dickinson exhibited a sense of pragmatism in incorporating current events and manifested political awareness in her work. In the poem below, she refers to her country as dangerous and armed female, with a gown as a man’s “triple suit,” creating the impression that the author harbors feminist sentiments (Gruesz) My country need not change her gown Her triple suit as sweet As when twas cut at Lexington, And first pronounced "a fit." Great Britain disapproves, "the stars"; Disparagement discreet,-- Theres something in their attitude That taunts her bayonet. 5. Contrasting themes, paired opposition and abstracting. Together with her use of tropes, Dickinson was prone to combining contrasting themes, abstracting out and employing paired oppositions as in the poems in Appendices 4 and 5. Here one finds the juxtaposition of interiority and exteriority, distant and near, inner and outer, high and deep. One also could appreciate the unconventional use of dashes, exotic imagery, irregular verse, and brevity. Conclusion If there is one word that captures the essence of Emily Dickinson, it is “enigmatic.” The poet’s life and works are full of contrasts and contradictions – a recluse who writes of far-off places, averse to social contact but not lively correspondence, conservative in lifestyle yet revolutionary in thought. She appears to work in isolation, seemingly unmindful of others’ judgement of her work, yet fastidiously reworks her poems upon the comments of her closest friends. Whatever else she is, she is not faint-witted as many of her early critics opined. Emily Dickinson displayed a profound understanding of poetry when she conveyed to her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert: “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry” (Casey). What Dickinson is, actually, is ahead of her time. She looked at the world through an uncorrupted vision that was frightening for being raw and fresh. She dared to defy convention, but not to reveal it while she lived, probably because she realized that the society of that time was unable to comprehend her truth. Poetry for Dickinson is clearly “not effete passages or bookish exercises; they are chillingly annihilating” (Casey). [Word count = 1,500 excluding title] Works Cited Belasco, Susan & Price, Ken. Spiders, the Web, and Dickinson & Whitman. The Classroom Electric – Dickinson, Whitman, & American Culture. 10 November 2009. http://www.classroomelectric.org/volume3/belasco-price/index.html Bray, Paul. Emily Dickinson as Visionary. Raritan, vol. 12, issue 1, p. 113-137, Summer 1992 Casey, Helen Marie. What Emily Dickinson Knew. Writer, vol. 110, issue 5, p. 5-6, May 1997. Emily Dickinson. Poets.org: From the Academy of American Poets. 10 November 2009. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155 Freeman, Margaret, Emily Dickinson. The Literary Encyclopedia, 11 January 2005. 12 November 2009. http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1259 Gruesz, Kirsten Silva. The Geographical Imagination in Whitman and Dickinson: Themes of Love and Conquest. 10 November 2009. http://www.classroomelectric.org/volume1/gruesz/far.htm McNeil, Helen. Emily Dickinson. London: Virago Press. P.2, 1986. Mitchell, Domhnall. Emily Dickinson, Monarch of Perception. The University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. Pinsker, Sanford. Reading Faces/Reading Culture, or How I Brooded About Three Writerly Photographs. Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 73, issue 3, pp. 432-445, Summer 1997. Wardrop, Daneen. Emily Dickinsons Gothic: Goblin with a Gauge, Iowa City: U of Iowa P, pp. 115—116, 1996. APPENDIX: EMILY DICKINSON POEMS (1) MENTION OF EXOTIC PLACES From Johnson 433: Your Riches- taught me Poverty, Myself - a Millionaire In little Wealths, as Girls could boast Till broad as Buenos Ayre- You drifted your Dominions- A Different Peru- And I esteemed All Poverty For Lifes Estate with you- Of Mines, I little know-myself- But just the names, of Gems- The Colors of the Commonest- And scarce of Diadems- So much, that did I meet the Queen- Her Glory I should know- But this, must be a different Wealth- To miss it-beggars so- Im sure tis India-all Day- To those who look on You- Without a stint-without a blame, Might I-but be the Jew- Im sure it is Golconda- Beyond my power to deem- To have a smile for Mine-each Day, How better, than a Gem! At least, it solaces to know That there exists-a Gold- Altho I prove it, just in time Its distance - to behold- Its far- far treasure to surmise- And estimate the Pearl- That slipped my simple fingers through- While just a Girl at School. (2) USE OF TROPES One need not be a chamber – to be Haunted – One need not be a House – The Brain – has Corridors surpassing Material Place – Far safer of a Midnight – meeting External Ghost – Than an Interior – confronting That cooler – Host – Far safer, through an Abbey – gallop – The Stones a’chase – Than moonless – One’s A’self encounter – In lonesome place – Ourself – behind Ourself – Concealed Should startle – most – Assassin – hid in Our Apartment – Be Horror’s least – The Prudent – carries a Revolver – He bolts the Door – O’erlooking a Superior Spectre – More near – A Spectre – infinite – accompanying – He fails to fear – Maintaining a superior spectre – None saw – (3) MENTION OF WEALTH From Johnson 697: I could bring You Jewels- had I a mind to- But You have enough- of those- I could bring You Odors from St. Domingo- Colors-from Vera Cruz- Berries of the Bahamas-have I- But this little Blaze Flickering to itself-in the Meadow- Suits Me-more than those- Never a Fellow matched this Topaz- And his Emerald Swing- Dower itself-for Bobadillo- Better-could I bring? (4) CONTRASTING THEMES (Love as both high and deep) (N.B.: Mt. Chimborazo was supposedly the highest point in the hemisphere) From Johnson 697: Love-thou art high- I cannot climb thee- But, were it Two- Who knows but we- Taking turns-at the Chimborazo- Ducal-at last-stand up by thee- Love-thou art deep- I cannot cross thee- But, were there Two Instead of One- Rower, and Yacht-some sovereign summer- Who knows-but wed reach the sun? Love-thou art Veiled- A few- behold thee- Smile-and alter-and prattle-and die- Bliss-were an Oddity-without thee- Nicknamed by God- Eternity- (5) PAIRED OPPOSITION (Distant-near, outer-inner) Volcanoes be in Sicily And South America I judge from my Geography- Volcanoes nearer here A Lava step at any time Am I inclined to climb- A Crater I may contemplate Vesuvius at Home. [Johnson 1705] The Outer- from the Inner Derives its Magnitude- Tis Duke, or Dwarf, according As is the Central Mood- The fine-unwavering Axis That regulates the Wheel- Though Spokes-spin-more conspicuous And fling a dust-the while. The Inner- paints the Outer- The Brush without the Hand- Its Picture publishes-precise- As is the inner Brand- On fine- Arterial Canvas- A Cheek- perchance a Brow- The Stars whole Secret- in the Lake- Eyes were not meant to know. [451] Read More