Life Sketch of Emily Dickinson

Image: Emily Dickinson This daguerrotype, circa 1847 at age 17,
is likely the only authentic, extant image of the poet.

Life Sketch of Emily Dickinson

Dickinson lived a solitary life that in many ways paralleled that of a religious monastic. She passed her life in quiet contemplation, becoming addicted to creating little dramas resulting in her fascicles of 1775 poems, with subject matter ranging from flowers to the concept of immortality.

Nineteenth-Century American Poet

Emily Dickinson may be the most famous American poet of the nineteenth century. Her poems focus on a number of topics—some considered her “flood subjects”—including death, philosophy of life, immortality, riddles, birds, flowers, sunsets, people, and many others.

She fashioned little manuscripts—bundles of poems called “fascicles”—totaling 1775 poems, and enough letters to result in three published volumes [1]. Her active mind and mystical intuition [2] led her to pen some of the most brilliant poetry ever written, well-crafted and filled with insight into nature, humanity, and even scientific subjects.

Her poem “The Brain — is wider than the Sky” demonstrates a deep understanding of the nature of the human mind in its relationship to the Ultimate Reality (God). This poem dramatizes a spiritual truth: the human brain is the seat of ultimate wisdom.

In yoga philosophy, the highest center of consciousness is the “thousand-petaled lotus” in the brain. The lotus is the flower metaphorically representing the opening of the center of consciousness upon God-union, a state in which the human soul unites consciously with the Over-Soul (God).

In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda, “Father of Yoga in the West,” explains,

The seventh center, the ‘thousand-petaled lotus’ in the brain, is the throne of the Infinite Consciousness. In the state of divine illumination, the yogi is said to perceive Brahma or God the Creator as Padmaja, ‘the One born of the lotus’. [3]

While it is not likely that Dickinson studied any form of yoga, nor that she was even acquainted with the Bhagavad Gita, which was just being introduced in America during her lifetime, her insight into certain concepts suggests that she possessed an extraordinary mental gift.

A contemporary of Dickinson’s, the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, had studied Eastern philosophy, including the Gita, and he had some knowledge of the Vedas. But Dickinson’s awareness came from pure intuition on her part.

A Cloistered Life

Emily Dickinson’s quiet, solitary life resembled in many ways that of a cloistered monastic; she has even been referred to as the “Nun of Amherst” [4]. Biographers have described her life as reclusive, even hermit-like. She employed her hours and minutes, studying scripture, becoming well-versed in Judeo-Christian biblical lore and concepts.

As a child and young adult, the poet had attended church with her parents and siblings. Later in her life, she chose to cloister herself, which resulted in the development of her mystical powers.

She paid her close attention to the details of nature including birds, flowers, and the transitioning of the seasons. She also observed closely the visitors to her family home, but as time wore on, she seldom met with them on a personal level.

During her monastic period of life, Dickinson engaged in the contemplation of important questions, such as the purpose of life, how human beings should live, and above all how they should worship.

Thus, Dickinson choose to live a reclusive life, avoiding social activities as much as possible. Her reclusiveness extended to her decision to “keep the sabbath” by staying home instead of attending church services.

Dickinson created a speaker who explores that decision in her poem, “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church”:

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church –
I keep it, staying at Home –
With a Bobolink for a Chorister –
And an Orchard, for a Dome –

Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice –
I just wear my Wings –
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton – sings.

God preaches, a noted Clergyman –
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last –
I’m going, all along.

Reading of “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church”

This poem celebrates and emphasizes the belief held by “the nun of Amherst” that merely by staying home and worshipping, she could go to heaven all along instead of waiting.

In this poem, the speaker renders God’s creations, not those of mankind’s, the instruments of worship—a bird serves the position of the choir director, and fruit trees serve as the roof of her church. As a worshiper, she wears her metaphorical “wings” instead of a church sanctioned garment.

And the most impressive part of this speaker’s “church service” is that God is doing the preaching, delivering short sermons, which offer the worshiper more time to meditate, instead of merely listening to the learned words delivered by the customary clergyman.

No Death for the Soul

Emily Dickinson became deeply interested in pursuing the knowledge about what happens to the human soul after death. Whenever she heard of a death, she was very eager to hear what the dying person said or did while in the process of dying—that is, while the soul is in the process of transitioning out of the physical encasement (body).

As Dickinson’s eight-year-old nephew Gilbert, son of her brother Austin, lay dying, she heard him utter words suggesting to her that the boy’s soul was a being escorted from its physical encasement by angels.

Dickinson’s study of death and dying led her to believe in the concept of immortality, a topic often referred to as her “flood subject.” Her poem “Because I could not stop for Death” represents her conclusion about dying.

The speaker in this little drama portrays death as a gentleman caller, arriving to escort a lady out for the evening; the journey symbolizes the idea that one’s life passes before one’s gaze during the process of dying.

But she quickly passes over the final cemetery scene, and the conflation of time seems like a dream, as the speaker reports that she is still riding with the “Horses’ Heads” “toward Eternity.”

Dickinson believed in immortality more certainly than most of the other conventionally religious members of her generation did. Her intense studies and contemplations surely led to meditation on the Creator (God). Her insights into life and immortality cannot be explained any other way.

Images:

Edward Dickinson
Emily Norcross Dickinson
Austin Dickinson
Lavinia Dickinson

New England Family

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, to Edward Dickinson and Emily Norcross Dickinson. Emily was the second child of three: her older brother Austin was born April 16, 1829, and her younger sister Lavinia was born February 28, 1833. The poet died on May 15, 1886.

The Dickinson New England heritage was strong, including her paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, who was one of the founders of Amherst College.

Her father was a lawyer, who was elected to and served one term in the state legislature (1837-1839); later between 1852 and 1855, he served one term in the U.S. House of Representative as a representative of Massachusetts.

Education

Dickinson attended elementary school in a one room building until she was sent to Amherst Academy, which later became Amherst College. The school boasted the ability to offer college level courses in the sciences from astronomy to zoology.

The poet enjoyed her school years, and her poems testify to the skill with which she mastered the academic lessons.

After a seven year stint at Amherst Academy, she then entered Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in the fall of 1847, remaining at the seminary for only a year.

Much speculation abounds regarding the poet’s early departure from formal education—from the atmosphere of religiosity at the school to the simple fact that the seminary could offer nothing new or important for the sharp minded Dickinson to learn.

Dickinson was quite content to leave formal education in order to stay home. Likely her reclusiveness was beginning, and she felt deeply the need to control her own learning. She was convinced she had to ability to schedule her own life activities.

As a stay-at-home daughter in 19th-century New England, Dickinson was expected to tackle her share of domestic duties, including housework, likely to help prepare said daughters for handling their own homes after marriage.

It is likely that the poet quite early discerned that her life would not be the traditional one of a householder; she has even suggested as much in a letter to her friend Abiah Root: “God keep me from what they call households.”

Spiritual Reclusiveness

In her householder-in-training position, however, Dickinson especially disdained the rôle as host to the many guests visiting the family. Her father’s position in community service required his family to entertain often.

The poet/mystic found such entertaining mind-boggling, and all that time spent with others meant less time for her own creative, more rewarding, efforts. By this time in her life, she was surely discovering the joy of soul-discovery through her art.

Although many have speculated that Dickinson’s dismissal of and aversion to the prevailing religious metaphor suggested that she embraced atheism, quite the opposite is evident as her poems testify to her deep spiritual awareness that far exceeds the religious rhetoric of the period.

In fact, Dickinson was, no doubt, discovering that her intuition about all things spiritual demonstrated an sensitivity that far exceeded that of any of her family’s and compatriots’ abilities. Thus, her focus became her poetry—her main interest in life.

Emily Dickinson’s life of poetry remains the focus of many researchers, and much speculation still abounds regarding some of the most known facts about her.

For example, after the age of seventeen, even as she remained cloistered in her father’s home, rarely moving from the house beyond the front gate, she yet created some of the wisest, deepest poetry ever produced anywhere at any time.

Dickinson’s works, however, reflect a journey to understand the human heart and mind—not necessarily the worldly ways of humanity.

Regardless of Emily’s personal reasons for living nun-like, readers continue to find much to admire, enjoy, and appreciate about her poems. Though her poems often seem baffling upon first encounter, they reward those who stay with each poem and dig out the nuggets of wisdom.

The difficulty with Dickinson’s poems rests in her minimalism and her unconventional grammatical/technical style. Editors who have tried to regularize her unorthodox scribbling have, however, only managed to lose some of her nuanced meanings.

Publication

Only a handful of Dickinson’s poems appeared in print during her lifetime; it was only after her death that her sister Vinnie discovered the bundles of poems, called fascicles, in the poet’s room. A total of 1775 individual poems have since that time made their way to publication.

The first publications of her works to appear were gathered and edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, a supposed paramour of the poet’s brother Austin, and the editor Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Unfortunately, Todd and Higginson altered Dickinson’s unique works to the point of changing the meanings of her poems. Even the regularization of her technical achievements with grammar and punctuation erased some of the high achievement that the poet had so creatively accomplished.

Readers can thank Thomas H. Johnson [5], who in the mid-1950s went to work at restoring the poet’s poems to their original—at least near— original forms.

Johnson’s valuable work restored Dickinson’s many dashes, spacings, and other grammar/mechanical features that earlier editors had “corrected” for the poet—corrections that actually resulted in the obliteration of the poetic achievement reached by Dickinson’s mystically brilliant talent.

Sources

[1] Richard B. Sewall. The Life of Emily Dickinson. Farrar, Straus, Giroux. New York. 1987. Print.

[2] Virginia L. Paddock. Madness as Metaphor: A Study of Mysticism in the Life and Art of Emily Dickinson. 1991. Ball State University. Ph.D. Dissertation. Cardinal Scholar.

[3] Paramahansa Yogananda. Autobiography of a Yogi. Self-Realization Fellowship. 1974. Print.

[4] Susan Vanzanten. “‘A Quiet Passion’ and the Myth of Emily Dickinson.” Collegeville Institute: Bear!ngs Online. June 1, 2017.

[5] Thomas H. Johnson, editor. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Little, Brown and Company. Boston. 1960. Print.

Commentaries on Poems by Emily Dickinson

This room in my literary home holds links to poems written by Emily Dickinson along with commentaries on the poems.

Poems with Commentaries

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