1
Exner
Emily Dickinson—
All Alone. . .
But Connected
Jill R. Exner
ENG 6110
Dr. Erben
November 8, 2007
Jill R. Exner
Dr. Patrick Erben
English 6110
6 Nov 2007
Editorial Note: The Dickinson poems are numbered according to The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Franklin (1999). The spellings, spacing, and punctuation are those of Dickinson.
Jill R. Exner
Dr. Patrick Erben
English6110
6 Nov 2007
All Alone . . . But Connected
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you-Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Dont tell! They’d advertise- you know!
How dreary-to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog-
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!
Emily Dickinson’s famous poem (number 260) indicates to some readers that she preferred her seemingly reclusive life and did not want to be a part of society. However, perhaps Dickinson was actually reaching out to a world that she found flawed, attempting to communicate through various personas for the purpose of creating her own, personal Utopian community which included just herself. The word Utopia means “no place,” or “place that does not exist,and her opening line, “I’m Nobody” corresponds to that idea: that she is a person who, for some reason, cannot, or does not want to, exist in society as herself. Just as Thomas More is a fictional character in his Utopia, Dickinson creates characters who will speak for her in her poetry. A Utopia requires that the inhabitants “other” themselves in order to create their unique and perfect community. She seems to elude us by keeping just ahead of us: a person who is a “nobody” or a place which is not there at all cannot be criticized and perhaps cannot ever be understood.
Surely few “nobodies” have had as much influence, or have written as prolifically, as Emily Dickinson. She left us nearly 2000 poems; there were others which have been lost forever. She left us little else but speculation, but she is certainly “Somebody.” Her poetry is a contribution to the world which she “cannot see.” She created a “Utopia of one.” As a Nobody, Dickinson, then, was perfectly free to reach out and deliver her thoughts. Emily Dickinson’s method--of seeming to eschew society while creating alternate personas who in fact spoke directly and most successfully to that community--perfectly othered herself, to the point that, almost 200 years later, readers still seek constantly and eagerly to find the “real” Emily. Will she—can she—should she--ever be found?
The family and political structure of the middle to late nineteenth century was not kind to females. Intelligent, ambitious women were often relegated to subservient and unauthoritative positions they did not care for. By withdrawing from a public which was often both hostile and placating to women, Emily Dickinson emerged as a stronger person, one able to verbalize opinions and observations and effect changes that she could not have otherwise hoped to complete.
Even during her lifetime, the people of Amherst, Massachusetts, where Emily Dickinson lived, labeled her as odd, reclusive, or mystical; she was known as “the Myth of Amherst” (Walsh 23). The Dickinsonfamily was well-known in the area, as Emily’s grandfather, Samuel, was instrumental in founding AmherstCollege, and her father was a lawyer. The family, with the exception of Emily’s mother, who was an invalid until she died in 1882, was much involved in the church and community. They often invited friends over for social occasions and appreciated good food, conversation, and music, but Emily rarely attended. Mrs. Mabel Loomis Todd, a neighbor, was exceedingly curious about Emily and tried to meet her, but her efforts were in vain. A young, talented woman known for her vivacious personality, Mabel later became the lover of Emily’s married brother, Austin, and so was a frequent visitor to the household, but she never actually met Emily (Walsh 31). That did not stop her from giving her opinion to others, however, calling Emily “. . .the family oddity. She has not been outside of her own house in fifteen years, except once to see a new church, when she crept out at night, and viewed it by moonlight” (Walsh 26). Only a few, handpicked, visitorsmet her in The Homestead, where she lived nearly all her life with family members. Her wearing of only white dresses (with a few blue ones interspersed) for over 20 years inspired whisperings; she was known to lower baskets of candy from her window to give to children in the yard below, but other than that, she did not communicate with many outside her family (Walsh 119). Her few close relationships, with men and with women, were very intense, bringing even more speculation as to Dickinson’s health, personality, and sexuality, speculation that continues to this day. As she says in her poem “The Flower must not blame the Bee,” “Mistress is ‘not at home’ – to say - /To people – any more!” (235).
For a person who kept so much to herself, volumes and volumes have been written about Emily Dickinson. Most try to analyze her poetry as a means of answering their overwhelming question: why would a young, attractive, sensitive and intelligent young woman turn away from the life most people embrace and retreat into herself? The answer, they believe, must be in the poems: there is little else! However, the result is disappointing, because Dickinson is not giving us that explanation through the almost 2000 poems she wrote and bound up in her bedroom. She has messages, to be sure, but a study of Dickinson needs to be much broader than just trying to decide why this young woman avoided people.
In More’s Utopia, Giles suggests that Hythloday should go into the king’s service; Hythloday responds that he does not want to be “enslaved.” While most people would have thought that serving the king would have been an honor, Hythloday did not choose to grasp what seemed like prestige to “everyone else” andsacrifice his freedom and identity by binding himself to someone else’s lifestyle. Dickinson chose a similar path in not wanting to be bound by the ties of society. Both Hythloday (through the fictional, not the real, More) and Dickinson chose to be free from customary values so that they could be free to follow their own ventures. Both chose personal happiness over responsibility to others; both answered the Utopian question of how much regulation from the outside they were willing to accept. In most attempts at an ideal society, the residents must also give upat least a part of their individuality for the good of the group. Utopian liberty, then, is limited; one pays a price for happiness. Dickinson’s poem “I’m Nobody” reflects that idea; was this lossof singularity a cause or an effect of her situation? Did she first toss aside her earlier, social self in order to dwell on new topics and build her own community, or did she find out later that she would no longer be able to join the rest of the world because she herself no longer had a single identity? She could have felt that she had lost her sense of self through the repressive rules of the time; leaving the group gave her back her identity, but it influenced those around her to believe that she had pulled back from life. To be “Somebody” would be to be like everyone else; it would have brought Dickinson acceptance and even approval from the “admiring bog,” but it would not have given her any self-respect or satisfaction.Her poetry would be statements about Utopia and dystopia, comments and intuitive thoughts about the world, its Maker, and those who strove to exist in it with each other.
Whether she planned to do so or not, Emily Dickinson has gone from “Nobody” to being one of the most important spokespersons of her time. Dickinson wrote two poems that hint that she knew that her anonymity would result in her immortality: the first is number 519:
This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to Me –
The simple News that Nature told –
With tender Majesty
Her Message is committed
To Hands I cannot see –
For love of Her – Sweet –countrymen –
Judge tenderly – of Me
In this poem, Emily seems to be speaking as herself, appealing to the “Hands” that would one day receive and read her words. She identifies with her “countrymen” and pleads with them to be gentle when judging her.
In poem number 772, she speaks of a life’s influence that continues long after the body has ceased to exist:
Essential Oils – are wrung –
The Attar from the Rose
Be not expressed by Suns – alone –
It is the gift of Screws –
The General Rose – decay –
But this – in Lady’s Drawer
Make Summer – When the Lady lie
In Ceaseless Rosemary.
Dickinson is making an observation, first, about making perfume from flowers: a lady would typically dry roses in the sun; to assist in producing the oils from the petals, she might use a process involving screws to press out the substance (Miller “Whose Dickinson?” 2). The rose itself will decay, but the “Essence”—the fragrant oil—will remain. What might those screws have to do with the Lady herself? Instead of being allowed to blossom in life, she is “pressed” by the rules and regulations (screws) of a society which does not have the patience to appreciate her true self; when the Lady dies and is buried “In Ceaseless Rosemary,” her unexpressed essence will linger on, long after she is no longer there. The beautiful rose petals must die and be crushed in order to preserve their lasting scent, just as the woman’s spirit and personality were often “crushed” by the oppression and self-sacrifice demanded of Dickinson’s day. In this case, a positive end comes from the supposed harm in destroying what seems to be the best part of the flower, or the attributes of the female. In holding back from membership in the world, Dickinsonwas assured that her “Essence” would live forever.
Life for women during Emily Dickinson’s time was proscribed: females were expected to become educated in domestic matters, then marry and produce children. The woman was the submissive partner in the marriage, and marriage sometimes forced friendships with other females to wane. Marriage, then, was a lonely attachment, as shown in Gilbert Imlay’s The Emigrants, where Miss R. and Mrs. W. commiserated over their individual sad situations. Dickinson herself felt sorely the unfairness and dreariness of the lot of women, as seen in her poem “Over the Fence” (271).
Over the fence –
Strawberries – grow –
Over the fence –
I could climb – if I tried, I know –
Berries are nice!
But – if I stained my Apron –
God would certainly scold!
Oh, dear, - I guess if He were a Boy –
He’d – climb – if He could!
The speaker, a young girl, bemoans the fact that she should not climb the fence to get the strawberries; if she did, and soiled her encumbering apron, she would face a scolding. With this poem, Dickinson shows her disappointment in the restricted life of females of all ages. She has the ability to climb, to participate in all aspects of life, but she is to be denied the fruit, the cherished result of an unencumbered life, simply becauseof her gender. The scolding would come from God, showing that the situation is one accepted by society; even God should not climb the fence; only boys can do that! Is the male persona even more important than that of God? Could He become a boy? In Dickinson’s time, everyone knew his or her place in the hierarchy, and even God should not presume to leave or change it. Here, the speaker will forever look over the fence—“Berries are nice!”-- to view what she cannot attain.
Dickinson obviously knew the plight of the woman; at various times, she writes poems as as the persona of a young girl, or even as a wife. Her letters to Susan Gilbert Dickinson, her close friend and the wife of her brother Austin, show her joy in their friendship but sadness that she is not able to meet with her as often as they would like, even though they lived next door to each other. In late 1854, she wrote to Susan: “You say you walk and sew alone. I walk and sew alone. I dont see much of Vinnie—she’s mostly dusting stairs!” (Johnson 125-126).
Even though she wrote, sometimes sarcastically, about the fate of women, Emily Dickinson looked out upon a world which held much happiness for her. In poem number 446, she shows that she has found in poetry a way to delight in herself and in the world around her.
I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer house than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –
Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an Eternal Roof –
The Gambrels of the Sky –
Of Visitors – the Fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise.
The tone of this poem is awe and excitement. The doors and windows of the poem correspond to the doors and windows of “The Homestead,” which she loved and in which she enclosed herself; these openings show Dickinson’s feelings that she has found the way out, to opportunities to observe her surroundings. One’s imagination is never restrictive; her houses, both literal and figurative, have become both a refuge and a place of release. Although she is able to look out, the fact that her chambers are “impregnable of eye” shows that she continues to guard her privacy. She shows that she has found an acceptable place and a purpose in her life: her possibilities are her poetry. These possibilities equal her freedom.
Emily Dickinson sought happiness—or Paradise—in the earthly form as well as the eternal. Poem number 1525 tells that true happiness may be sought but is elusive:
The Road to Paradise is plain –
And holds scarce one-
Not that it is not firm
But we presume
A Dimpled Road
Is more preferred –
The Belles of Paradise are few –
Not me – nor you –
But unsuspected things –
Mines have no Wings-
We may find happiness when we least expect it, she says—and where else may we least expect it than in our everyday, mundane lives?
Another poem about Paradise is poem number 241, in which Dickinson again takes on the persona of a little girl—in this case, a small, naïve, questioning young girl who is asking what heaven will be like when she gets there.
What is – “Paradise”
Who live there –
Are they “Farmers” –
Doe they “hoe” –
Do they know that this is Amherst” –
And that I – am coming – too –
Do they always wear “new shoes” – in “Eden” –
Is it always pleasant – there –
Wont they scold us – when we’re hungry –
Or tell God – how cross we are –
You are sure there’s such a person
As “a Father” – in the sky –
So if I get lost – there – ever-
Or do what the Nurse calls “die” –
I shant walk the “Jasper” – barefoot –
Ransomed folks – wont laugh at me –
Maybe – “Eden” a’nt so lonesome
As New England used to be!
Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson did not include this poem in their first compilation (Erberwein 17), perhaps because the persona did not fit with Todd’s idea that Dickinson was a mysterious, mystical creature. Here, the persona is a little child who has been taught the routine Sunday School-type lessons about life in heaven: she has a Nurse who takes care of her and who has taught her the basics of life and death. This child has been treated in the traditional way: to be seen and not heard; and life has been full of chiding and embarrassment. However, she continues to hope for something better in Eden, something less lonesome than her earthly life. Emily Dickinson is often described as naïve and childlike, but she apparently knows that children often convey revelations that adults may miss. Here, she suggests that heaven and earth may share many descriptions—in fact, may be the same.
Another description of heaven is poem number 310:
“Heaven” – is what I cannot reach!
The Apple on the Tree –
Provided it do hopeless – hang –
That – “Heaven” is – to Me!
The Color, on the cruising cloud –
The interdicted Land –
Behind the Hill – the House behind –
There – Paradise _ is found!
Her teazing Purples – Afternoons –
The credulous – decoy –
Enamored – of the conjuror –
That spurned us – Yesterday!
If Heaven is the “apple,” then are we meant ever to reach it? Is true happiness and full knowledge forbidden by God to us in this lifetime? If so, that does not keep Emily Dickinson from striving for it and looking forward to it, but she admits that it is to be found only “Behind the Hill”—or after death. The “House” is the grave. Emily Dickinson believed that death is heaven; it is the ideal path to Utopia.