Emily Dickinson's Poetry: A Revaluation Author(s): Eunice Glenn Source: The Sewanee Review, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Oct.

- Dec., 1943), pp. 574-588 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27537457 Accessed: 04/10/2010 03:26
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jhup. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Sewanee Review.

http://www.jstor.org

by Eunice

Glenn

EMILY DICKINSON'S

POETRY:

A REVALUATION
THE
the

circumstances
romanticist:

in Emily
a woman

Dickinson's
of conservative

life are perfect

Puritan back

for the

sensitive, shrinks ground, who is unusually has a few adventures that result world, appointing somewhat

from contacts with

experiences with the opposite finds relief morbid and melancholy temperament, for her tortured spirit in writing verse. Such is the usual, over to account of her?an account that has done much simplified

in unhappy and dis because of her sex, and,

is not to imply, of course, damage her reputation as a poet. This that to be classified as a romantic poet is necessarily damaging, or to deny that biographical data have thrown a great deal of light on the genesis whelming tendency data alone of Emily to arrive But an over poetry. on the basis of bio at conclusions Dickinson's

is not only unjust to her, but is very nearly graphical fatal to her poetry. is about the only kind Just as fatal is romantic criticism, which that has been given to her work. Those who admire Emily Dickin son's poetry are often blinded by an enthusiasm which makes ob jective criticism of her ecstasy there is a halo about her. Instead by sentiment: in her poetry, many of finding the real Emily Dickinson try to discover her in speculations! about her life. And the unfortunate glamor She is idealized result itself. Such much romantic ideas about prejudice the poet against and her work her. The account for nat is that there has been very little close study of the poetry impossible. Consuming life is associated with interest in the mystery and over her poetry.

of the existing

prejudiced,

POETRY
urally,

OF EMILY
take are

DICKINSON_575
really to read her con poems; this "Puritan

do not

the trouble

to dismiss they usually willing sequently, from Immortality" with and her "bulletins maiden"

a patronizing of the shoulder and to consign her to those who they think shrug readers who find in her verses comprise her true audience?female a reflection of themselves romantic and their criticism frustrated than love. It is much examine the in her place, to accept firsthand. it is to put or

easier

poems the wrong

It may classify her at all. given an

has been Emily Dickinson and kept there. place, to "place" her not be important But and it is important criticism thorough surface

to attempt to that her poetry should be that is free and from possesses recognized some defi

intelligent

goes beyond prejudice, some esthetic insight. A

her poetry for its special that in it there is a striking nition of it. They have discovered to the metaphysical century, poetry of the seventeenth similarity to some of the poetry of Gerard Manley her English Hopkins, and American and to some English contemporary, poetry of the in the first essay1 ever to dis Allen T?te, twentieth century. from her contemporaries, has estab tinguish Emily Dickinson In his opin lished an entirely new point of view concerning her. is one of the most perfect poems in the English ion The Chariot R. P. Blackmur followed with Emily Dickinson: Notes language. on Prejudice is detailed, first-hand and Fact,2 which criticism, two essays invites more of its kind. These and, like Mr. Tate's, inMaule's Curse are the extent fine analyses and Yvor Winter's of the unprejudiced this time. Besides criticism of Emily Dickinson's work up to

generalizations, few critics of our day have qualities and have suggested

a lack of objective another criticism, thing that has to her poetry is the habit of quoting to be very damaging proved fragments out of their context. This kind of heresy is, of course, so to hers because of their unfair to most poems, but especially
on Poetry and Ideas, New Essays Reactionary Scribner's Sons, 1936. 2The expense (Arrow Editions), of Greatness, York 1941. and London: Charles

576

byEUNICE GLENN

can easily The lover of a pious Emily Dickinson special quality. extract from her poetry "beautiful" will furnish him lines that with justification. The worshipper of a frustrated Miss Dickinson can lines to supply his needs. But it is enough one of her complete poems that any extremely doubtful (except for four or five in which she has inconsistently lapsed into senti likewise find A turn or will after a close study give such results. mentality) a twist, whether of tone or other device, the manipulation by not limited to a of experience introduces a complexity usually attitude. simple the poems speak for themselves. What is the use of merely a vigor of mind that re possesses saying that Miss Dickinson sists romantic that superb control of tone is one of treatment; and her methods; that she makes free use of bold metaphor But paradox; materials is characterized that her poetry by a use of disparate and an exciting use of language? Or what is to be gained by picking out of her poems some of the more audacious meta and "hour of lead," like "quartz contentment" phorical phrases
or some of her paradoxical phrases, such as "pale sustenance"

or "reticent

be meaningless the without They full context; the work of any artist who uses language strictly is not to be judged by its parts. For purposes of convenience in volcano"? would
the analysis of a poem such features as metaphor, paradox, and

disparate materials rated from the poems.

must

be separated;

but

they cannot

be sepa

of a few of Miss The Dickinson's poems following analyses An essay of this length can do not pretend to be exhaustive. not exhaust the varied ramifications often inherent in every line if not every carefully attempt to show what haps best in their complexity, to the more This easily poem of her finer work; but it does it is that makes them successful. It is per to select out of all of the poems, which vary so much chosen word a few of the simpler of those in which ones, and then proceed are more difficult. is typical the elements

separable:

POETRY

OF EMILY DICKINSON_577
EMANCIPATION
No rack can torture me.

soul's at liberty. My this mortal bone Behind There knits a bolder one You cannot prick with saw, Nor rend with scimitar. Two bodies therefore be; Bind one, and one will flee. The eagle of his nest No easier divest And gain the sky Than mayest thou, Except Thine thyself may be enemy: is consciousness, Captivity So's liberty.

is conventional and no unexpected this poem attitude toward the theme is taken; therefore, the interest which is there in What it has for the reader must be found elsewhere. The theme of the treatment that makes theme out the conventional at closely, is worked Richard and usual poem attitude? successful in spite of its is looked If the metaphor there; for the poem

the answer will

probably

be found

largely by metaphor. is on precisely the To Althea Lovelace's from Prison same theme, although It is it is a very different kind of poem. Emily Dickinson's flowing and rhythmical and carefully rhymed. is tight, compressed, poem of structure, the viewpoint striking
uses easy

and found.

careless

in rhyme.

difference
and

is to be
romantic

it is in the metaphor for the most Lovelace,

"Love with

from But, that the most part,

comparisons.

unconfined

He lies "tangled in her haire." [his] Gates." wings hovers within no such Liberty." do the Nor The birds, he says "know Winds that curie the "Fishes that tipple in the Deepe," "Inlarged or "Angels alone that soar above" know such liberty. Flood," such sharp and forceful these with images as the Compare

578

by EUNICE GLENN

"rack," "mortal bone" that "knits," "prick with saw" and "rend with scimitar." The "rack" which "tortures" is used in a subtle way
walls

to suggest
do not a

the persecution
prison make,/Nor

of early Christian
iron bars a

martyrs.
cage."

"Stone

Lovelace's

"stone walls" come with "eagle," the

and "iron bars"

surprise of "nest," and "sky"

are precise, too; but they do not The the "rack" and the "scimitar." in Emily Dickinson's poem are her The

only ordinary figures. in Emancipation Other details paradox implied in "two bodies" the meaning "There knits a bolder one"

contribute is the

to its success.

gives is that one of the bodies in the first

a shock

since, apparently, soul, tying in with stanza. The use of en

of the third stanza to the end of the beginning jambment the second line in the fourth stanza gives an impression of fluidity and speed. the paradox in the last two lines?a very Finally, from
common one?is expressed in a very uncommon way. "Captivity

is consciousness,/So's
succinct, epigrammatic

liberty"
statements.

is typical

of Emily

Dickinson's

Now is used

that we

have to make

seen

largely is achieved mainly by said too often that no one the poem) :

in which the way shocking metaphor a poem, let us turn to one whose effect control of tone (although it cannot be factor can be depended on to make

is mine Title divine The Wife without The Sign. Acute degree
Conferred on me?

of Calvary. Empress Royal all but the

Crown?

without the swoon Betrothed, God gives us women two hold When
Garnet to garnet,

to gold? Gold Born?Bridalled? Shrouded?

POETRY

OF EMILY DICKINSON_579
In a day Tri-Victory? "My Husband" Women say the melody. Stroking Is this the way?

This few

of tone.

chiefly devices, are so merged rated, but must be for purposes The poem begins on a note These into the second in "without the Sign" there as a whole, Taken

poem technical

is redeemed

from being

ordinary by the use of a and the skillful control paradox that they cannot be easily sepa of analysis. of This note is joyful victory. the words "The Wife;" but sinking into a mood of

continued

line with

is a quick

dejection.

Title divine is mine The Wife without

The Sign
carries
the

a weight
poem.

of mixed

joy and despair

and

sets the tone

for

entire

The

next

two

lines, Acute degree on me Conferred

are also a skillful

is a paradox,

blending

of

joy and despair.

honor or award

"Acute
and

degree"
"acute"

"degree"

suggesting

Calvary"

is piercingly that of disagreeable. "Empress the degree or title conferred and, as a metaphor, amplifies the preceding one. is, of course, "Empress of Calvary" an even more powerful paradox, uniting the symbols of sovereign suggesting pain names A double

it also ties in with "Title Divine." ty and crucifixion; ness of tone is interwoven with the two paradoxes. "Royal all but "All but" makes alone in the the/Crown" the "Crown" it does, brings seem in a high

tide of triumph.

line as

"crown"

insignificant; but, standing assumes some importance; of pure triumph.

and so the effect

is mixed,

not a feeling

580
"Without troduces associated the with swoon" enriches a faint

by EUNICE GLENN
the feeling of displeasure a betrothal. "Garnet placed mineral
ceremony implied.

in effect, since "swoon" to complicate the pleasure to garnet" and "Gold to

gold" are brilliantly brittle and glasslike

precious riage are, metal. of The course,

in conjunction, garnet being a hard, of low brilliance and gold the most
and the consummation of mar

The

lines, Born?Bridalled? Shrouded In a day Tri-Victory

may

be said to synthesize the whole poem, developing its general and sustaining of tone; "Shrouded" the complexity and paradox with "Victory" qualify irony.

is an exceedingly "Stroking the melody" daring and imaginative Cleanth figure. "Is this the way?" may seem to be ambiguous. that the line is difficult, offers a possible Brooks, admitting refers to the "way" meaning, saying that if "Is this the way?"
women "stroke the melody" or "pronounce the words," then,

"the and

line

introduces

a note

gives a stronger In this sense the line confirms The in the poem. feeling and thought

a bit of mockery, ironic gayety, if interpreted conclusion than otherwise." of the pathos that has been introduced

earlier

that the poem, as a whole, engenders cannot be said in any way to be circumscribed within the limits of are broad and the interpretation The the subject. implications is applicable to many other situations than the one described. Those familiar with John Donne's "A Valediction Forbidding are almost certain to be reminded of it by this poem Mourning" of Emily Dickinson's: He put the belt around my life? I heard the buckle snap, And turned away, imperial, lifetime My folding up as a duke would do Deliberate,

POETRY

OF EMILY DICKINSON_581
A kingdom's title-deed,? a dedicated Henceforth sort, A member of the cloud. Yet not too far to come at call, And do the little toils the circuit of the rest, That make And deal occasional smiles To lives that stoop to notice mine And kindly ask it in,? Whose invitation, knew you not For whom I must decline?

The

"belt"

is

as

precise

figure

as

Donne's

"compass,"

al

though associations ness when as the tween

it is more with used

sensuous such

and is not pursued so far; the ordinary enhance their effective objects everyday The belt is used the to describe in this poem, be relationship

In saying "He put the belt around my life" an attitude which is not simple: added the poet at once establishes to the normally unpleasant subjected feeling of being completely an ecstatic delight to the will of another is in the experience. The The of tone continues the poem. complexity throughout is high. Each dramatic successive from putting step, quality . . . on the belt and snapping it and turning "away, imperial, as a duke would do" to the "decline" of the "invitation" of The conflict is (in the last line) is built up carefully. at the end, when it is made clear that no one else will into the circle. be admitted another resolved figure of the duke in the first stanza is rich in associations. is snapped, he turns away, "imperial" After the buckle (sug as her "lifetime deliberate high command), folding up gesting a duke would do/A title-deed" (an exact comparison, kingdom's The amplifying A member clear.
given

compass two lovers.

in a fresh way. is in Donne's,

the principal figure). "Henceforth of the cloud" makes the state is paradox
something, and

a dedicated of the

sort,/

There
up to

in it, since
"cloud,"

"dedicated"
whatever

protagonist means being

is meant

exactly

by

it, has

some

suggestion

of the opposite.

"Cloud"

may

mean

582

by EUNICE GLENN

it may refer to a cloud of wit high heaven or high authority; of which meaning the poet may have intended, nesses; regardless
however, the suggestion is the same.

notes

con last stanza the line, "To lives that notice mine," a great deal about the humility and subjection of her state; but this is qualified by the "little toils," "occasional smiles," and, and Paradox by the decline of any other invitation. especially, In the complexity
here.

of tone, which

characterize

the poem, finest

are both

evident :

The

following

is one of Emily

Dickinson's

poems

IN VAIN
I cannot live with you, be life, It would And life is over there Behind the shelf The sexton keeps the key up Putting Our life, his porcelain, Like a cup to,

of the housewife, Discarded Quaint or broken; A newer S?vres pleases, Old ones crack. I could
For To one shut

not die with

must the wait other's

you,
gaze down,?

You

could

not.

And I, could I stand by see you freeze, And Without my right of frost, Death's privilege? Nor
Because

could

I rise with
face

you,

your

Would put out Jesus,' That new grace Glow plain and foreign On my homesick eye, that you, than he Except Shone closer by.

POETRY

OF EMILY DICKINSON
They'd judge us?how? For you served Heaven, Or sought to; I could not,

583

you know,

Because you saturated sight, And I had no more eyes For sordid excellence As Paradise. And were you lost, I would Though my name loudest Rang fame. On the heavenly And And
Where

be,

were you saved, to be I condemned

you were not,

That

self were

hell

to me.

So we must keep apart, You there, I here, With just the door ajar
That oceans are,

prayer, that pale Despair! This

And And

sustenance,

to Andrew poem, as a whole, bears an interesting comparison is not to say that a "The Definition of Love." Marvell's That one poem of theme is sufficient basis for comparing similarity to another from it). But the respective methods of the (far in attitude, two poets in handling the same theme, especially as for likenesses. a comparison, as much for differences suggest In both, the love resolves itself into a matter for despair because of a slight dif There is however, of fulfillment. impossibility two poems. In Mar in the ference in the function of despair love springs out of despair: vell's poem only "magnanimous despair" could produce "so divine a thing." In Emily Dickinson's
poem love is consigned to despair, a "pale sustenance." The

similarity despair

lies rather and love.

in the unconventionally

of attitude

toward

584
A more treatment definite of the likeness idea of is to be

by EUNICE GLENN
found With in the metaphorical the figure of the

two parallel lines Marvell lovers ever to meet. Miss the use of several which

impossibility. shows how impossible it is for the two Dickinson achieves the same effect by bold figures. The first two lines of her poem,

are paradoxical (inasmuch as they imply that the protag into the is already dead, though alive), onist glide gracefully of the sexton (God) who keeps the key to "Our life, his metaphor a cup." the Puritan porcelain,/like Implications concerning view of life and sensual attitude follow. sounded toward A love dominant love are extremely ironical. The realistic is well sustained in the eight stanzas that note of impossibility, is like Marvell's,

in the line, "I could not die with you." The three lines that follow convey a double meaning: first, that her lover is so fond of her that he could not be the one to close her eyes forever upon the world; second, that such an act would be a disfavor, since to her the world The it could without next stanza not bear being is too desirable a place to leave. is especially arresting: Love is so intense that to see its object endure the coldness of death to share it. The metaphor?"my this effect; right of life,

able

frost,/Death's she does not

loving privilege"?accomplishes really desire the "frost" of death, but paradoxically, she does desire it only for the sake of sharing something with her
lover.

"Your shock.

face would The

figure she says that if he is lost and she saved, then paradoxically, will be lost; that if he is saved and she lost, then she she, too, A "sordid ex in any sense except separation. as applied to Paradise, is another striking paradox. cellence," concludes with the faintly comforting Marvell Whereas thought is the "conjunc that the love which "Fate so enviously debars" will not be lost tion of the mind,"
hopelessness. "That

put out is extended

" a particular comes with Jesus' into the next three stanzas, where,

Emily
pale

Dickinson's
sustenance,/Despair"

poem as

ends

on

a note
one's

of

(drawing

is in its impact very being from despair) as can be found anywhere. poetry

forceful

a line of

POETRY

OF EMILY DICKINSON

585

in like Marvell's poem, In Vain is extremely Thus, complex on sensuality tone. is emphasis and also regard for There discipline, which comes out in the references to orthodox religious etc. But such as Heaven, prayer, Jesus, judgment, conceptions, as of the poet and her reaction to the situation, the sensibility in the measuring the poem shows, cannot be contained cup of discipline. But the which most poem of Emily Dickinson's effectively the kind of technique demonstrates that we have been consider ing is this:

THE CHARIOT
I could not stop for Death, Because 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 labor, and my leisure too, My For his civility. , We passed the school where children played, Their lessons scarcely done; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. We paused before a house that A swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice but a mound. seemed

Since then 'tis centuries; but each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity. The from that
these

central the

theme

is the of

standpoint

interpretation A immortality.

of mortal theme

experience from stemming The poet uses

terms

is the defining
abstractions?mortality,

of eternity

as timelessness.
immortality, and

eternity?in

10

586
of images. How which

by EUNICE GLENN

successfully, then, do these images fulfill their is to unite in filling in the frame of the poem? intention, as a carriage driver, In the first two lines Death, personified stops for one who could not stop for him. The word "kindly"

is particularly for it instantly characterizes Death. meaningful, This comes with surprise, too, since death is more often considered grim and terrible. The third and fourth lines explain the dramatic
situation. Death has in the carriage another passenger, Im

mortality. introduced

only but she has metaphorically, also characterized them in part; in addition, she has set the stage for the drama and started the drama moving. It may be noted, Thus, the principal Immortality," standing alone, of the presence of the second drove" and stanza, "slowly the idea of the kindliness of the

in four

compact characters

lines

the poet

has

not

in passing, that the phrase, "And to emphasize the importance helps

passenger.

In

the first as well

line of as the

the

second

"knew no haste" driver, by "held

has already been suggested ourselves." In the fourth line, "For his civility" just The second, third the polite, kindly driver. further characterizes and fourth lines tie in perfectly with the first two lines of the

serve to amplify intimacy which

poem:

is now so com she who has not been able to stop for Death that she has put away every pletely captivated by his personality that had occupied her before his coming. thing
The third stanza contains a series of heterogeneous materials:

children,
ful

gazing

grain,
these

setting and

sun.
seemingly

But

under
foreign

the poet's
to one

skill

treatment

materials,

another,

Hjow? Not, by obviously, them all parts simply setting them side by side, but by making as ele are all perceived of a single order of perception. They
ments in an experience from which the onlooker has withdrawn.

are fused

into a unit

reconciled.

over which, with is Nature, this experience In its larger meaning the aid of death, the individual triumphs. "Gazing grain," shift dead woman who is passing to a common ing "gazing" from the ' at which she is astonished, feature of Nature gives the grain of the fixity of death itself, although the grain is alive. something

POETRY
This paradox

OF EMILY DICKINSON
is highly significant in the context

587
of the poem: im suggests death,

"grain" symbolizes life, mortality; "gazing" in its suggestion of mortality. "Setting sun" is no less powerful the passage of time; and "the school where children played,/ a subtle preparation for it. Their lessons scarcely done" makes as a "swelling of the In the next stanza the house, appearing visible" and the cornice, "but a "scarcely the grave, a sinking out of sight. "Paused" suggest mound," calls to mind the attitude of the living toward the lowering of a as well as , coffin into the ground, the other associations with ground, the roof
occurrence "Centuries" of death. in the last stanza refers, of course, to eternity.

"Each third

feels shorter stanza and

than the day" ties in with "setting sun" in the of suggests at the same time the timelessness between is made of the time of in the entire

eternity. mortality
stanza.

an effective contrast Indeed, and the timelessness of eternity heads" is a concrete extension

"Horses'

throughout is taking the pas eternity, where Death or seeing with perspective, The attitude of withdrawl, senger. could not have been more than it has accomplished effectively toward been Remoteness by the use of the slowly-moving carriage. fused with nearness, for the objects that are observed during
journey are made to appear close by. At the same time, a

carriage, which riage is headed

is maintained

the figure of the car the poem. The

is the
con

stant moving carriage The

or a

forward,

with

only

one

time, death, implications, concerning is viewing things that are near with distance, given by the presence of Immortality. poem
series of

carries weighty pause, The person in the eternity. the perspective an idea, as
in terms

of

could
ideas;

hardly
instead,

be

said

to convey
a

such,
of

it presents

situation

human

and immortality experience. The conflict betwen mortality out through the agency of metaphor is worked and tone. The resolution of the conflict lies in the implications the concerning
of eternity: not an endless stretch of time, but some

meaning

thing

fixed

and

timeless,

which

interprets

and gives meaning

to

588
mortal experience. Two seemingly

by EUNICE GLENN
contradictory concepts, mor

are reconciled, because several seemingly tality immortality, are brought elements which into re contradictory .symoblize them conciliation. and The interaction of elements within in the poem as a whole, of reconciliation is the outstanding in these analyses, physical" in which poetry. poetry of the "the opposition treme" or, again, that "in which This Cleanth a poem to produce an effect which we have observed characteristic Brooks of "Meta as that defines8

tion of qualities which I have no intention of forcing this classification upon the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Indeed, I have no intention of forcing any classification upon the upon her; I have tried to focus more mechanics It seems fairly clear however, poetry. a few of her typical poems that we of the examination made that she is free from the limitations of the romantic of her which she from have poet,

is ex impulses which are united the poet attempts the reconcilia are opposite or discordant in the extreme."

to be. She does not employ is generally mistaken or decoration of some "truth," only for illustration metaphor as the romantic poet usually does. introduce She does not merely an element of paradox, she succeeds in bringing ingly contradictory sparingly and put them, liberty typically
"great"

as the romantic

it to the surface

concepts. them down

tends to do; rather seem in reconciling She does not use disparate materials poet and in juxtaposition inclined is often without to do. blending And her

as

poet in the use of words would romantic

and

the

romantic

poet,

for

by the hardly be sanctioned and not fear of being "unpoetic"

"beautiful."

that we have been observ kind of unity, or reconciliation for their success. ing at work in these poems is chiefly responsible Proof of this is found in the fact that the few poems of Emily The Dickinson's that are not successful show no evidence of the successful show and some others that are only partially quality; in referring to Emily less of it. In this sense we are justified as a metaphysical Dickinson poet.
and ^Modern Poetry Carolina 1939. Press, the Tradition, Chapel Hill: The University of North