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Tag: Emily Dickinson

  • Emily Dickinson’s “It did not surprise me”

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

    Emily Dickinson’s “It did not surprise me”

    In Emily Dickinson’s “It did not surprise me,” the speaker has created a bird metaphor as she begins to muse on the unlikely event that she may lose her intuitive ability to perceive beyond sense awareness.

    Introduction with Text of “It did not surprise me”

    With a similar motivational purpose of her riddle-poem “I have a Bird in spring,” Emily Dickinson’s speaker in “It did not surprise me” employs a bird metaphor to contemplate the notion that her special intuitive ability to perceive events, ideas, and entities beyond sense awareness might abandon her.

    The bird metaphor remains a useful poetic device for Emily Dickinson‘s speakers as they bestow flight on their ability to create poetic dramas. Also, similar to her riddle-poem “I have a Bird in spring” in this little drama, the speaker is unveiling the metaphorical bird as a mystical muse, as the speaker ruminates on the idea that if that little birdling were to fly away from her, she would become heartbroken.

    However, unlike the riddle aspect in “I have a Bird in spring,” the poet allows her speaker to report first as if she is merely describing a literal bird. The speaker then moves into a questioning format which shines a light on the possibility that her muse might just up and fly off as any real bird might do.

    The speaker is obliged, however, to leave the issue without answering it, because she will keep that question as long as she continues in her mission of poetry creation. Ultimately, no creative artist can ever know in advance, if or when inspiration will vanish and possibly never return.

    Despite temporary flights into the clairvoyance of certain noumena, as long as the poet remains earth bound, she remains dependent to a certain extent on ordinary sense awareness.

    It did not surprise me

    It did not surprise me –
    So I said – or thought –
    She will stir her pinions
    And the nest forgot,

    Traverse broader forests –
    Build in gayer boughs,
    Breathe in Ear more modern
    God’s old fashioned vows – 

    This was but a Birdling –
    What and if it be
    One within my bosom
    Had departed me?

    This was but a story –
    What and if indeed
    There were just such coffin
    In the heart instead?

    Reading of “It did not surprise me”  

    Commentary on “It did not surprise me”

    Dickinson’s speaker metaphorically likens her muse—which she knows is bound to her mystical insight—to a bird, as she contemplates the possibility of losing the blessing provided by her innate, God-given talent and mystical ability.

    First Stanza:  A Thought Awakening

    It did not surprise me –
    So I said  –  or thought –
    She will stir her pinions
    And the nest forgot,

    The speaker begins her soliloquy by admitting that her lack of “surprise” at some event has been prompted by the thought of a bird stirring and flying off from its nest.  Between her opening statement and the bird’s first movement, the speaker asserts that upon realizing her lack of surprise, she spoke out but then changed her claim to the fact that she merely thought about the coming event without actually giving it voice.

    The final two lines of the stanza express the possibility of an activity as she states that this particular bird will start fluttering its wings, readying itself for flight and then fly off from its nest.  Such an avian forsaking its nest will then likely not even recall that it had ever stayed there.

    That status is simply the essential nature of natural creatures, as well as specific metaphorical birds that may be likened to the muse.  If this style of muse abandons its target permanently, it will likely not recall that it had ever inspired any such soul.

    Interestingly, Dickinson has her speaker employ the past tense “forgot” but clearly the actual meaning is present tense “forget.”  She possibly employed the past tense because it stands in as a closer rime to “thought.”  

    However, a different interpretation of the meaning may call for the term “forgot” to be understood as the shortened form of the past participle, as in the nest will be “forgotten.”  Through her widespread employment of minimalism and ellipsis, the poet has her speaker leave out “nest will be,” requiring the phrase to be understood and, therefore, supplied by the reader’s mind.

    Second Stanza:  Ranging to New Territories

    Traverse broader forests –
    Build in gayer boughs,
    Breathe in Ear more modern
    God’s old fashioned vows –

    After rousing its pinions and flying from its nest, this bird will roam in new territories or through “broader forests.”  It may reconstruct a new nest in a place deemed happier for its circumstances, that is, “gayer boughs.”  The bird will listen to fresh sounds, as it enjoys the many blessings of its Divine Creator, Who has promised to guard and guide all of His creatures.

    At this point, the bird has taken on only a few metaphorical qualities.  The message could thus be that of merely dramatizing what any young bird might do, after awakening to the marvelous reality of possessing the delicious ability to fly and range wide from its original location.

    Third Stanza:  Bird in the Heart

    This was but a Birdling –
    What and if it be
    One within my bosom
    Had departed me?

    The speaker now admits that the little flying creature she has been describing was, in actuality, a simple little bird, or “Birdling.”  But then she changes her focus to the “One” that lives in her heart, asking the basic question—what if my little bird-muse leaves me?

    In her poem “I have a Bird in spring,” the poet also had her speaker describe her mystical muse as a bird.   That poem also plays out as one of her numerous riddle-poems, as she seems to be describing some impossible entity that can fly from her but then return to her and  bring her gifts from beyond the sea.  

    That special metaphorical bird has the power to calm her in times of stress.  Similar to “I have a Bird in spring,” which is one of her most profound poems, this one, “It did not surprise me,” remains on the exact same consistent plane of mystical perception.  

    Unquestionably, the natural creature known as a “bird” as a metaphorical vehicle for the soul (muse or mystically creative spirit) remains quite appropriate, as poet Paul Laurence Dunbar has also demonstrated in his classic masterpiece “Sympathy.”

    Fourth Stanza:  A Intriguing Inquiry

    This was but a story –
    What and if indeed
    There were just such coffin
    In the heart instead?

    The speaker offers another admission that up to this point she has been merely speculating about her bird/muse flying off from its nest in her heart/mind/soul.  She crafts another inquiry, repeating the curious phrase “[w]hat and if” before her question.

    This poignant question employs the term “coffin” indicating the drastic and deadly situation that would exist in her mind/heart/soul, if her bird/muse did actually fly off from her to explore more extensive forests and build nests on more joyful boughs.  The speaker affirms her belief that such a loss to her heart and mind would materialize that “coffin,” if such an event ever transpired.

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  • Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death”

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

    Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death”

    Emily Dickinson’s mystical drama features a carriage driver who appears to be a gentleman caller.  The speaker abandons both her work and leisure in order to accompany the kind gentleman on a carriage ride.  Dickinson’s mystical tendencies are on pull display in this poem.

    Introduction with Text of “Because I could not stop for Death”

    Emily Dickinson’s mystical drama “Because I could not stop for Death” plays out with a carriage driver who appears to be a gentleman calling on a lady for an evening outing.  The speaker leaves off her work as well as her leisure activities in order to accompany the gentleman on the carriage ride to their unspecified festivities.

    Certain childhood memories occasionally spur poets to compose verse that is thus influenced by such musing on past memories.  Examples of such nostalgic daydreaming include Dylan Thomas’ “Fern Hill,” Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz,” and a nearly perfect American-Innovative sonnet by Robert Hayden “Those Winter Sundays.” 

    In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death,” the speaker is also gazing back into her past, but this occasion is a much more momentous musing than merely an ordinary childhood recollection.  The speaker in this memory poem is recalling the day she died. 

    The speaker frames the occasion as a metaphoric carriage ride with Death as the gentleman caller. This speaker is peering intuitively into the plane of existence well beyond that of the earth and into the eternal, spiritual level of being.

    Interestingly, the procession that the carriage ride follows seems to be echoing the concept that in the process of leaving the physical body at death, the mental faculty encased in the soul, experiences past scenes from its current existence. 

    Examples of such past-experienced scenes include the riding by a school and observing that the children were playing at recess; then, they drive by a field of grain and observe the sunset. These are scenes that the speaker has undoubtedly experienced during her current incarnational lifetime.

    Because I could not stop for Death

    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 –

    We passed the School, where Children strove
    At recess – in the ring –
    We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
    We passed the Setting Sun –

    Or rather – He passed Us –
    The Dews drew quivering and chill –
    For only Gossamer, my Gown –
    My Tippet – only Tulle –

    We paused before a House that seemed
    A Swelling of the Ground –
    The Roof was scarcely visible –
    The Cornice – in the Ground –

    Since then – ’tis centuries – and yet
    Feels shorter than the Day
    I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
    Were toward Eternity –

    Reading of “Because I could not stop for Death” 

    Commentary on “Because I could not stop for Death”

    The speaker avers that she had no inclination to stop what she was doing for the sake of “Death.”  Nevertheless, Death—as a kindly carriage driver, appearing to be a gentleman caller—was polite enough to invite her to join him on an outing.  

    Because of this kind gentleman’s polite demeanor, the speaker gladly leaves off both her ordinary, daily work plus her free time hours in order to accompany the gentleman on what portends to be a simple, pleasant carriage ride, perhaps including some evening social event.

    First Stanza: An Unorthodox Carriage Ride

    Because I could not stop for Death –
    He kindly stopped for me –
    The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
    And Immortality.

    In the first stanza, the speaker claims startlingly that she was unable to avail herself to cease her work and leave off her free time for a certain gentleman, whom she names “Death.”

    However, that gentleman Death had no problem in stopping for her, and he did so in such a polite fashion that she readily acquiesced to his kindness and agreed to join him for a carriage ride. 

    The speaker offers an additional shocking remark, noting that the carriage, in which the speaker and gentleman caller Death rode, was transporting not only the speaker and the gentleman but also one other passenger—”Immortality.”  Thus, the speaker has begun to dramatize an utterly unorthodox buggy ride. 

    The kind gentleman Death has picked up the speaker as if she were his date for a simple carriage ride through the countryside, but something otherworldly intrudes immediately with the presence of the third passenger.

    By personifying “Death” as a gentleman caller, the speaker imparts to that act a certain level of rationality that levels out fear and trepidation usually associated with the idea of dying.  

    Second Stanza:  The Gentleman Caller

    We slowly drove – He knew no haste,
    And I had put away
    My labor and my leisure too,
    For His Civility –

    The speaker then describes her momentous event. She has not only ceased her ordinary work, but she has also concluded her leisure–certainly not unusual for someone who dies.

    The gentleman caller Death has been so persuasive in suggesting a carriage ride that the speaker has easily complied with his suggestion. This kind and gracious man was in no hurry; instead, he offered a rhythmically methodical ushering into realms of peace and quiet.

    Third Stanza: A Review of a Life Lived

    We passed the School, where Children strove
    At recess – in the ring –
    We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
    We passed the Setting Sun –

    Next, the speaker reports that she was able to observe children playing at school during recess. She also views cornfields or perhaps fields of wheat.  She, then, views the setting of the sun. 

    The images observed by the speaker may be interpreted as symbols of three stages in each human life:  (1) children playing representing childhood, (2) the growing fields of grain symbolizing adulthood, and (3) the setting sun representing old age.

    The imagery also brings to mind the well-known concept that a dying person may experience the passing of scenes from one’s life before the mind’s eye.   The experience of viewing of past scenic memories from the dying person’s life seems likely to be for the purpose of readying the human soul for its next incarnation.

    Fourth Stanza:  The Passing Scenes

    Or rather – He passed Us –
    The Dews drew quivering and chill –
    For only Gossamer, my Gown –
    My Tippet – only Tulle –

    The speaker reveals that she is dressed in very light clothing.  On the one hand, she experiences a chill at witnessing the startling images passing before her sight.  But is it the light clothing or is it some other phenomenon causing the chill?

    Then on the other hand, it seems that instead of the carriage passing those scenes she has described of children playing, grain growing, and sun setting, those scenes may actually be passing the carriage riders.  The uncertainly regarding this turn of events once again supports the commonly held notion that the speaker is viewing her life passing before her eyes.

    Fifth Stanza:  The Pause

    We paused before a House that seemed
    A Swelling of the Ground –
    The Roof was scarcely visible –
    The Cornice – in the Ground –

    By now, the carriage has almost reached its destination, and instead of a gala or festive outing, it is the speaker’s gravesite before which the carriage has momentarily stopped. 

    Apparently, without shock or surprise, the speaker now dramatically unveils the image of the grave:  she sees a mound of dirt, but she cannot see the roof of the building that she expected, and any ornamental moulding that might have decorated the house also remains out of the sight of the speaker who assumes it is “in the Ground.”

    Sixth Stanza: Looking Back from Eternity

    Since then – ’tis centuries – and yet
    Feels shorter than the Day
    I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
    Were toward Eternity –

    In the final scene, the speaker is calmly reporting that she remains now—and has been all along—centuries in future time. She speaks plainly from her cosmic, eternal home on the spiritual/astral level of being. She has been reporting only on how events seemed to go on the day she died, that is, that day that her soul left its physical encasement.

    She recalls what she saw only briefly just after leaving her physical encasement (body). Yet, the time from the day she died to her time now centuries later feels to her soul as if it were a very short period of time. 

    The time that has passed, though it may be centuries, seems to the speaker relatively shorter than the earthly day of 24 hours.  The speaker avers that on that day the heads of the horses drawing the carriage were pointing “toward Eternity.” 

    The speaker has unequivocally described through metaphor and metaphysical terminology the transition from life to death. That third occupant of the carriage offered the assurance that the speaker’s soul had left the body but continued to exist beyond that body.

  • Emily Dickinson’s “Publication – is the Auction”

    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant image of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “Publication – is the Auction”

    Emily Dickinson’s “Publication – is the Auction” remains one of the poet’s starkest statements on  the value of authenticity in creative effort—in her case the writing of poetry. 

    Introduction and Text of Emily Dickinson’s “Publication – is the Auction”

    In her poem “Publication – is the Auction,” Emily Dickinson has created a speaker who is musing on the issue of allowing one’s inner thoughts to be made public through publication in media, including newspapers, magazines, or books.

    Ultimately, she is saying that remaining true to one’s values and beliefs is more important than writing to sell to a wide audience.  Dickinson’s spirituality, contingent upon mysticism, gave her the strong will to continue exploring the world for truth and then telling it without reservation.

    Her speaker avers that publication of literary works can even become a threat to one’s inner life, as achievement is so often shunted aside solely for the purpose of increasing sales.  Her speaker engages metaphors and images in areas of commerce and religion in order to approach a notion of purity.

    Her speaker feels that reverence for one’s mental faculties will naturally garner restraint that will ethically prevent rash decisions to expose one’s inner talent to a world interested primarily in financial achievement over literary accomplishments. 

    Publication – is the Auction

    Publication – is the Auction
    Of the Mind of Man –
    Poverty – be justifying
    For so foul a thing

    Possibly – but We – would rather
    From Our Garret go
    White – unto the White Creator –
    Than invest – Our Snow –

    Thought belong to Him who gave it –
    Then – to Him Who bear
    Its Corporeal illustration – Sell
    The Royal Air –

    In the Parcel – Be the Merchant
    Of the Heavenly Grace –
    But reduce no Human Spirit
    To Disgrace of Price –

    Commentary on “Publication – is the Auction”

    Emily Dickinson published very few poems during her lifetime.  Although she seemed to seek publication as she first conversed with Thomas  Wentworth Higginson, her ultimate goal was to produce a body of work the meant something for her soul.  She seemed to learn very quickly and early that publication had its pitfalls, and it seems that she struggled to avoid them.

    Stanza 1: “Publication – is the Auction”

    Publication – is the Auction
    Of the Mind of Man –
    Poverty – be justifying
    For so foul a thing

    The speaker opens with a candid statement that publishing is tantamount to selling one’s soul.  Although she buffers the claim by inserting “Mind” instead of soul, the ultimate meaning of inner awareness becomes more comparable to soul-awareness than mere mental capacity and observance.

    The speaker avers that selling one’s words is equal to selling one’s own consciousness, not merely the paper, ink, and stream of words across a page.  Such an insistence makes it abundantly clear that such a sale cannot be justified.  In fact, remaining in “Poverty” is better than engaging in “so foul a thing” as selling one’s inner being.

    The speaker then is implying that the creative writer’s mind becomes a mere object that is diminished by such a sordid undertaking.  The economy with which the speaker has presented such a sapient idea demonstrates the strength her metaphor is exerting.

    One can imagine an auctioneer rattling off numbers above the head of man, who is selling his head’s contents to the highest bidder.  Such a scenario mocks the very notion of trying to sell one’s wares that have come into being through deep thought about spiritually vital things.

    One might question such a strong stance against publication for money, but it is important to keep in mind that the speaker is no doubt referring to the creation and sale of poetry.  The genesis of poetry remains a very different one from writing expository and informative essays and/or news articles.  

    Even the writing of fiction such as plays, short stories, or novels carries a different moral impact.  If the speaker were focusing on those genres, the poem would have undoubtedly taken a very different approach.

    Stanza 2: “Possibly – but We – would rather”

    Possibly – but We – would rather
    From Our Garret go
    White – unto the White Creator –
    Than invest – Our Snow –

    In the second  stanza, the speaker switches from the general to the personal.  Employing the editorial “We,” she asserts that despite the possibly of living in poverty, first principles and ethics remain inviolable.

    Thus, if the poet must leave her “Garret”—symbol for poverty—she need not go rushing toward the marketplace.  Instead, she can and must associate herself with purity: she employs “White” as a symbol of that purity.  Thus, rather than “invest” her “Snow”—another symbol of purity as well as a metaphor for her creative writing pieces—she will go toward the “White Creator”—the Ultimate symbol of purity.

    Investing one’s “Snow” signals turning one’s purity (works of art) into money, and such an exchange would cause those works and the mind that created them to become contaminated.  Imagine handling a ball of snow—it does not remain snow but instead it melts into a pool of water.

    Although water is a useful commodity, after melting from snow the original element has lost its original defining qualities.  A work of art/poem may become further damaged even by the process of being readied for publication: how often have we heard writers lament that their original words were changed by an editor?

    The speaker then is asserting that she prefers total obscurity to the compromise  demanded by attempts at publication. And she is not asserting this stance out fear but instead out of fidelity to her ethical position regarding her sacred principles and values.

    She is implying rather strongly that remaining in poverty is the better way to preserve her inner dedication to truth; that way she need never make excuses for losing spiritual purity.

    Stanza 3: “Thought belong to Him who gave it”

    Thought belong to Him who gave it –
    Then – to Him Who bear
    Its Corporeal illustration – Sell
    The Royal Air –

    The speaker now offers her most profound reason for eschewing publication:  because all thought belongs to the Ultimate Reality or God.  God owns all thought just as He owns all of the air we breathe.  Selling thought then becomes tantamount to selling air—a truly absurd notion, easily assimilated and understood.

    The writer/artist becomes an instrument of the Divine, a steward not a proprietor.  Ownership is not conferred by merely having taken a thought and shaped it into a poem;  the Divine Poet, who awarded the poem to the poet, still owns the work.

    Stanza 4: “In the Parcel – Be the Merchant”

    In the Parcel – Be the Merchant
    Of the Heavenly Grace –
    But reduce no Human Spirit
    To Disgrace of Price –

    In the final stanza, the speaker commands her audience of artists—and likely most important herself as a poet—to accept the package (the art work/poem but think of it as coming from its Divine Source.  By thinking thusly, the poet/artist can happily continue to create—as the Great Creator does—but without the stain conferred by the fickle marketplace.

    The artist must remain true to her own inner values, and the most natural and divine way to do that is to realize their Source—create for the original Creator alone; the art that is thus produced will reflect only love, beauty, and truth. These qualities are the only ones with which the true artist can contend, for they remain free from taint, stain, and corruption that surge by trying to please multifaceted humankind.

  • Essays: Poems and Songs with Commentaries

    Image:   Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings

    Essays: Poems and Songs with Commentaries

    This room in my literary home holds links to poems primarily written by others along with my personal commentaries on the poems.   Some of these additions include commentaries that appear on HubPages.

    Thank you for visiting my literary home.  Questions, comments, and suggestions offered in good faith are always welcome.

    Poems with Commentaries

    1. Sterling A. Brown’s “Southern Cop”
    2. Barack Obama’s “Pop”
    3. Barack Obama’s “Underground”
    4. Malcolm M. Sedam’s “The Hill Maiden”
    5. W. B. Yeats’ “The Second Coming”
    6. Al Gore’s “One thin September soon”
    7. W. H. Auden’s “Doggerel by a Senior Citizen”
    8. Gloria’s “To the Man I Married”  
    9. Sharon Olds’ “The Victims”
    10. Ben Okri’s Poem “Obama”
    11. Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s “The Queen’s Last Ride”
    12. Audre Lorde’s “Father Son and Holy Ghost”
    13. Seamus Heaney’s “Whatever You Say, Say Nothing”
    14. Walter de la Mare’s “Silver”
    15. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Christmas Bells”
    16. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life”  
    17. D. H. Lawrence’s “Afternoon in School: The Last Lesson”
    18. Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Sympathy” 
    19. Robert Bly’s “The Cat in the Kitchen” and “Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter” 
    20. Thomas Thornburg’s “Serving the South”
    21. Sara Teasdale’s “Barter”
    22. Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” 
    23. Renée Nicole Macklin’s “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs”
    24. Sara Teasdale’s “I Am Not Yours”
    25. Cornelius Eady’s “Renée Nicole Good Is Murdered”  
    26. Malcolm M. Sedam’s “Desafinado” 
    27. Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”
    28. Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
    29. Amanda Gorman’s “For Renee Nicole Good”  
    30. Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”
    31. Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Come not, When I Am Dead”

    Songs with Commentaries

    1. Gary Clarks’s “Mary’s Prayer”: A Yogic Interpretation 
    2. .38 Special’s “Second Chance”

  • Life Sketch of Emily Dickinson

    Image: Emily Dickinson  – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness 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

    1.  Nature – the Gentlest Mother is 
    2. Two Winter Poems:   “Winter is good – his Hoar Delights” and  “Like Brooms of Steel”
    3.  Because I could not stop for Death 
    4.  After great pain, a formal feeling comes 
    5.  There is another Sky 
    6.  I have a Bird in spring 
    7.  It did not surprise me 
    8.  A Bird came down the Walk 
    9.  Frequently the woods are pink 
    10.  The feet of people walking home 
    11.  He touched me, so I live to know 
    12.  There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House 
    13.  Summer for thee, grant I may be 
    14.  All these my banners be 
    15.  The Soul selects her own Society 
    16.  Publication – is the Auction 
    17. I had a guinea golden
    18. Joy to have merited the Pain