Emily's Life

Emily Dickinson was born and lived in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts and lived from 1830 to 1886. Her education consisted of attending Amherst Academy (1840-1847), Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (1847-1848) and having a family of omnivorous, greedy readers (Wilson 1). At a young age her father, Edward Dickinson, began the day with devout bible study and a prayer. As a result The Bible became the most influential book in her writing for she knew every line intimately and quoted it extensively throughout her works (Wilson 1). 

The few people she surrounded herself with were very intellectually minded people. For example, her father was an attorney and the treasurer of Amherst College, and also held one term in congress (Sylvan 551). Her friends were few and far between and they consisted mostly of lawyers, literary journalists, a Presbyterian minister, and politicians (Sylvan 551). Despite the fact that she surrounded herself and grew up with people actively involved in a public lifestyle and various political endeavors, Emily had no desire to pursue a career or become active in politics, reform, or have any romantic or sexual relationships with anyone as far as we know (Sylvan 550). 

It is quite puzzling that she led such a confined and strict life, yet her letters were often full of passion and fervent feelings. She was a very vibrant and unique individual that treasured solitude more than anything I believe. Considering that she dressed in white all the time and only allowed a doctor to examine her body (Sylvan 551) leads me to believe that god and religion were very important to her since white is a symbol of purity and the divine. Her physician diagnosed her with Bright’s disease as the leading cause of her death, although physicians of today speculate that she might’ve died of other natural causes (i.e. a brain aneurism). At her funeral her friend Thomas Wentworth Higginson read one of Emily’s poems on immortality. Thomas was a very radical reformer and essayist who Emily consulted in regards to her poems and thus a great deal of trust was confided in him. 

Her Work

Emily Dickinson’s writing became much acclaimed worldwide and highly valued posthumously. She is portrayed as the mystic dressed in white, a recluse and as a great and original American poet (Bouson 1). Being the extremely private individual that she was she did not publish or share her writing with others with the exception of the letters she wrote. She once said that “Publication is the Auction/Of the Mind of Man” (Holmstrom 1). This is a very profound statement that emphasizes her dignity and the self preservation and privacy of her mind. She is known for her unique poems and extremely introvert nature.  Dickinson’s manuscripts have become literary relics that are now stored at Harvard Houghton’s Library (Holmstrom 1). 

However, her original work has been available since October of 2013 on Emily Dickinson's Archive. Collaboration between Harvard, Yale, Amherst College, Boston Public Library, and others made this possible and they promise the future release of letters and other historical additions of her work (Holmstrom 1). After her death, close to 1800 poems bound into small booklets were found locked away in one of her drawers. On her death bed she requested from her sister, whom she was very close with, that she burn all of her writing. Although her sister burned most of the letters, one can only imagine the deception that Emily would have felt had she known of her sister’s betrayal and the publication of her work. However, if it were not for her betrayal Emily Dickinson would not have become a household name. 

After this discovery her work was published in 1890. Dickinson’s editors, whom consisted of her personal acquaintances Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Todd, struggled with her eccentric punctuation, ambiguous lineation and quirks of calligraphy (Holmstrom 2). Thus the editors had to creatively fill in the blanks, uncertainties, and grammatical quirks that they did not understand. Ralph Franklin with the help of literary critics such as Marta Werner, Martha Nell Smith and Jerome J. McGann began to shuffle through Emily’s manuscripts and tried to produce the most authentic version of her writing possible and in 1981 Franklin published this authentic version on “The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson” (Holmstrom 2). 

Dickinson's Mannerism

Critics continue to question and debate the central biographical mysteries of Dickinson’s life to this day. Questions about why she did the things she did have been the hot topic of many current scholarly attempts to understand Dickinson as a person in order to better understand her poems and literature. What might be considered the biggest question in regards to Emily Dickinson is why she secluded herself from the rest of the world and to an extent her family. Some scholars suggest that she did this as both an act of female submission and a sign of rebellion since in her self confinement she became an extreme and parodic version of the domestically confined woman (Buoson 2). It is also a well known fact that Dickinson dressed only in white. The reason why is under speculation. Some believe that the white represented her desire to rise above the body and material world and transcend (Buoson 2). 

When it comes to her apparent disapproval of the publication of her work some people are not convinced that she wanted her work to go undiscovered. The reason they speculate is because she circulated hundreds of letters between her friends and family. More importantly, she organized and bound her poems into small booklets and stored them in her drawer. Nearly 1,800 poems were found. She did request that her sister burn the letters she wrote but if Dickinson knew death was upon her why did she not take it upon herself to destroy these poems? I believe she might of done this in order to achieve a level of immortality that she strived to accomplish through transcendentalism. Although Dickinson heavily incorporated the bible and Christianity into her writing her intentions are to use the symbolism of these doctrines to communicate her ideas as opposed to literally interpreting the bible. She uses terms such as heaven, immortality, Eden, crucifixion, God, and spirit, bends the meanings of these words to suit her expressive purposes and even uses them ironically in some situations (Hughes 1). This does not mean that she is mocking Christianity, it seems it is indispensable to her, she is just asking deeper questions in regards to what life and death really are and what happens in the afterlife if there is one. 

Analysis of a Poem

Dickinson portrays many themes in her poems including but not limited to, the meaning of death, the nature of identity, the beauty and mystery of nature, the torment and ecstasy of love, and the majesty of God (Sylvan 552).  It has become evident that interpreting her work is no easy task. She is known for her notoriously difficult poetry that has stimulated indeterminable and intense critical debates (Bouson 1).

Those—dying, then

Those—dying, then

Know where they went

They went to God’s Right Hand—

The hand is amputated now

And God cannot be found—

The abdication of Belief

Makes the Behavior small—

Better an ignis fatuus

Than no illume at all—

This poem caught my attention because it was blatantly dark and forward. An ignis fatuus is a phosphorescent light that hovers over swampy ground, hence something deceptive. In this poem Dickinson is questioning what happens after death. It seems that she is willing to accept that there may be no God to go to after death. Yet she finds solace in knowing that having faith is what makes most people behave so having faith is better than having none at all. Thus, an illusion is better than the absence of on altogether. In an essay titled “Love, Terror, and Transcendence in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry” Hughes states that Dickinson’s spiritual questions and doubts unfold around the notions that there is a transcendent god, one chance at life which may or may not be succeeded by an afterlife, and Jesus whose exemplary love and suffering communicate one’s most extreme spiritual experiences (Hughes 1). It is very relatable that Dickinson would believe in God yet question his existence and what happens after death. It is a question that perhaps no one will ever be able to answer yet many, multiple religions and dare I say all individuals, will search for an answer and create their own belief systems. This is one reason Dickinson is so popular. Her poetry is relatable to anyone regardless of sex, religion, or culture. I think this gives us further insight as to why Dickinson secluded herself as much as she did and never married. Living in solitude and secluding herself from the world may have been her way of suffering and tormenting herself in order to achieve the greatest spiritual experience possible. What is extraordinary about the level of transcendent and spiritual experience that she wanted to achieve is that she was very conscious of the very real possibility that God did not exist.