Introduction
Towards an Aesthetic of Emily Dickinson's
Emily
Dickinaon
Transcendence
seeks to surmount the limits of
the
lyric
mode of expression in her poetry by a slant telling of the truth.
The
versified state of her poems renders them into
which
can
present
be seen as the five stages of
her
groups
composition.
intends to explore the courae of
study
five
this
The
aesthetic
act.
has been written on the ~ e n e r a l trends
Much
strands of Dickinson's poetry.'
and
individual
But there has not been any
full
length study on the process of her aesthetic tranacendence.
The
present project is an attempt in this direction.
The
vord
'transcendere',
'scandere',
In
signify
The
ia,
derived
at root, a
fusion
the
from
the
Latin
of
'trans'
and
'paea
'atep over',
it was first used in the aenae of
limit, such aa,a mountain or a river.
physical.
the term.
which
is
meaning 'to climb over',
English,
physical
'transcendence'
passing
over'.
over
Then it came
idea of going beyond the limits of
something
a
to
non-
Hence the philosophical and theological extensionr
to
2
present study employs 'tranacendence' in
aesthetic
its
aspect, considering poetry as an act of surmounting the limits of
expreaaion.
It recognizes Dickinson'a
difficulty in
heraelf in the lyric: and it examines the verbal and
Dickineon'a
items uaed in the telling of the truth.
a
transcendent
dazzling
truth
tranacendence
poet,
in
therefore, ia
ways
th;t
can
to
be
give
expressing
extraverbal
aesthetic am
complicated
received.
Her
differs from the Transcendentaliam of her
and
poetic
times.
3
The
flight
experiences
of creative imagination
and
observations,
and
considers
passes
the
over
them
a view to arriving at an impersonal rendering in verse.
to get beyond the mere description o f things, turning
into palpable poetry.
poet's
with
It seeks
everything
This aesthetic act results in a feeling of
elation in the reader "because the poet is following some arc
association
that corresponds to the inner life of the
of
objectsu4
of her utterance.
Verbal
arc
of
association.
semantic
for
and extraverbal
employed
such
in
The 'verbal' refers to
and
as dashes, capitals,
the arrangement of words
extraverbal
versification.
In
The
items are
Dickinson's
special attention.
la
are used to represent
and figurative significance. The
items
verbal
elements
.
case,
words
with
'extraverbal'
and
syntactic
in
poetry.
essential
the
their
stands
inversion
Undoubtedly,
materials
extraverbal
of
deserves
truth of poetry exista apart from its materials but
also revealed through them.
This correspondence makes
in poetry both transcendent and immanent.
her
it
truth
Dickinson's aearch
is
to make the immanent accord and agree with the transcendent.
A direct telling of the truth may not be possible in
poetry.
It is because truth "can never be fully known, rationally phrased
or directly stated. " 5
the
But an indirect means to it can
overcome
dlfflculty. Suggestive indirection can succeed where
statement
sugseatlve
may
fail.
Dickinaon
is aaen
to
have
indirection for the success of her poetic
The concept of it is set forth in Poem 1129.
direct
reaorted
to
utterance.
In Poem 1129. Dickinson boldly declares: "Tell all the Truth
but
tell
gives
has
it
slant--/ Success in Circuit
lies. " 6
The
poem
her canon of telling the truth in an oblique manner.
One
to do it by slow degrees, and with utmost care.
cannot
unveil all the truth, and soon.
One
simply
The truth is too
briqht
for human eyes; and "mortals cannot withstand unmitigated contact
with glory."7
It is too strong
for man's
fraaile understanding;
humankind
cannot
oppresses
his senses as lightning does to the
the
necessity
gentle.
Just
phenomenon
bear very much reality.
children
the
appropriate
details
of
the
explain
with
Hence
the
as
lightning
children.
but
an "explanation kind"
of
surpriae
superb
essential
of
elders
Its
(1 6).
to
interpretation, the poet must tell the truth 'slant.'
The
word
'slant', as Uebster's Dictionary would
tell
poet, meane "An oblique reflection or gibe; a sarcastic
and
'oblique' means "Irrdirect; by a side glance; as
hint . " 8
remark;"
an
It is probable that Dickinson, while reading
the
oblique
Browning's
The Rina and the Book, came by the notion of poetry as an oblique
reflection
love
at
of truthn9 even as Shakespeare found the
first sight in Harlowe's Hero and
concept
Leander.
She
of
made
capital out of her find, as did her Elizabethan counterpart.
The 'slant' evidently holds the key to Dickinson'a
transcendence.
Sandra
It
Newton
aesthetic,
observes
as
hermeneuticm,
and linguistic
is her "fundamental view of
a
given
in
in
telline
fiqures. .11
Enjoying
Poem
of
the
the
1129.
truth
aesthetic
poetry. "lo
Arta:
involves
'slant'.
Poetry.
"a
in
kind
as
Her
of
metaphor
Poem
decades
1129
had
was written in 1868. By that
passed since she began composing
time
nearly
poetry.
two
She
had
already written a thousand-odd poems.along with their variants.
Therefore,
when she gave her canon of the slant telling
of
the
she did it with the hindsight of numerous experiments
truth,
verse.
,
Evidently
Dickinson
had
evolved
her
12
in
"system
of
aesthetics--" (P 137) from her own practice.
Dickinson's
can be found in her sugaestive
use
and extraverbal elementsin versification, as in her
verbal
variants.
It
speculation
but
'slant'
is
also
to be noted
in
the
way
she
in certain poems each of which remains in
carries
suggested
changes, verbal and
of
non-
employs
one
copy
extraverbal.
It
is
rouah
further observed in her method of redaction for making the
and semifinal versions fair. Duplication is yet another method of
her alant, reproducing the fair varianta
in this ling
of
of a poem. The ultimate
can be traced to her gathering of select
versions
poems, from variants as well as non-variants, into a
complex
sequence.
It can be seen that Dickinaon's alant tellina in verae is an
attempt
at
letter
with
to
the
making
please
question
give8
alive.
Dickinson's
Thomas W.Higginson, written on 15 April
1862,
question: "Are you too deeply occupied to
say
Verse is alive?" l 3
you
poetry true and
-also
Sir
first
opens
if
my
Again, in the same letter. she asks him,
--
to tell
me
what is true?"
concerns her very profession
life to her verae, therefore,
is
of
The
poetry.
"if
second
What
the amount of truth
contains. The poet moderates the quantum of truth expressed at
it
a
t i m e though t h e d e s i g n i s t o t e l l a l l ; and &sa
t o b e done.
Verbal and
d e c i d e s how i t i s
e x t r a v e r b a l i t e m s a r e used
Dickinson's a e s t h e t i c a c t seeks
to
accordingly.
render t h e dazzling t r u t h i n
ways t h a t can be r e c e i v e d .
Between
the
how.
Her
t h e p e r c e p t i o n of t r u t h and i t s
expression,
falls
shadow of t h e p o e t ' s d e c i s i o n r e g a r d i n g what t o r e v e a l ,
Therein l i e s Dickinson's
Things / A s s e r t t h e m s e l v e s
enables
her
s l a n t , a s Poem 1129 would p u t i t .
is a n i n t u i t i v e a c t :
perception
--
and
"By
intuition,
and n o t by t e r m s --"(P
t o " s e e t h e s h a p e and s i z e of
Hightieat
which
420).
objects
inside
the
unconscious," t o b e h o l d " t h e h i d d e n l i m b s b e t v e e n t h e ' g h o s t s
of
t h i n g s ' and t h e t h i n g s t h e m s e l v e s . "14
The
Dickinson
consciousneas .l 5
s l a n t a l s o accounts f o r
she w a s not a
Though
the
poet's
militant
gender
feminist
scene.
r e m a i n s " t h e s t r o n g e s t ~ m a z o n " ' ~on t h e American l i t e r a r y
She
r e f l e c t s t h e t , i h e when women were n o t e x p e c t e d t o s p e a k
loud o r b o l d , but
and
the
parlour.
were
out
t o expend t h e m s e l v e s between t h e k i t c h e n
The
PuritanNew
England
must
have
made
Dickinaon f e e l t h a t "women c o u l d n o t y e t s p e a k a s o p e n l y as
wished. "I7
she
they
She t h e r e f o r e used s t r a t e g i e s of i n d i r e c t i o n i n o r d e r
t o a v o i d t h e r a i s i n g of eyebrows a s w e l l .
Dickinson
committed
herself t o the s l a n t
t r u t h because it brought h e r r e l i e f .
get
telling
of
the
Her p e r s o n a l h e a r t a c h e a
t r a n s l a t e d i n t o a n i m p e r s o n a l u t t e r a n c e of
undying
beauty.
That is hov h e r t r a n s c e n d e n t a r t a r r i v e s a t a u n i v e r s a l s t a t e m e n t
of t h e t r u t h .
Even v h e r e h e r p e r s o n a l e m o t i o n a l e x p e r i e n c e s
not involved, s h e p r e f e r s t o express h e r s e l f through
arc
suggestion.
connotative
use
of
language, manipulation o f
syntax,
understatement, overstatement and other figures.
of Eliot is true of Dickinson as well.
says
He points out
"sails t o his glory by a side wind.
forms
of emotional reticence" occupy a very large space
Indirection
that
and
all
in
his
19
Towards
ever had
v
of this
end
--" (P
581).
to
wrestle
had
elementa
this
Dickinaon
pressed
all
her
artistic
into service, finding "the words to every thought /
resources
poet
of
Uhat Uilliamson
Eliot
poetry.
use
in
her
It h a s evidently been far from easy.
endlessly
with
atrugale to express
verbal
and
herself
in
I
The
extraverbal
verse.
The
aesthetic act calls for atudy.
A
The
meaning
the
word 'process' is rooted in two Latin segments,
'forward',
way
and 'cedere'.
'go'.
Process,
something takes shape; the changes by
develops.
'pro'.
therefore,
which
something
It ia a systematic aeries of actions directed t o
A atudy of 'process', in t h e present context, ia t o
gnd.
t h e course of poetic expression.
Dickinaon'a
different
aesthetic
stages
of
some
trace
It is to observe the details of
work in progress.
her
is
creative
It is
art
to
pursue
leading
the
to
its
up
with
accomplishment.
All
consideration
conjecture,
been.
of
the
slant
of
poetic procesa
is
bound
wandering between what might have been and what
has
Poeta themselves are probably t h e beat equipped t o tell u 8
procesa of their creation.
can
nerve a
Dickinaon'a
precept
study of her poetic composition o n
terms, a s envisaged by t h e present project.
of
the
her
own
7
The
from
slant telling of the truth in Dlckinson can
two standpoints. It can be observed in the way
extraverbal
be
viewed
verbal
and
items are used in a given lyric. It is also seen
in
the five-phased course of her versification.
The present study focusses on the slant involved in the
of
the
verbal
and
extraverbal items in
Dickinson's process of transcendence.
the five phases in Dickinson's
of
lyric utterance.
at all:
each
the
use
staues
five
The five stages
of
represent
attempt at surmountinu the
limits
bearine
They do not have any chronological
none of the phases precedes or succeeds another. Besides
phase
signifies
a poem's state
of
versified
existence.
according to the Dickinson canon.
Dickinson's
groups.
First,
version.
poema can accordingly be classified
poema
that exist
in
single
for
five
non-variant
Second, poems that remain single copy but
verbal and extr'averbal changes uiven
carries
and
into
their
text
substitution.
Third, verses one or more copies of which bear suggested
change.
vhich
variant
are worked out on redaction.
versions having incorporated
in the text.
These
Two
can
poem
Though
in
Fourth, poema
with
changes none of vhich is
Finally, poems entered in the fascicles.
suggeated
20
groups are often overlapping: a poem in Group One
or
be seen in Group Five: one of the several copies
of
Group Three or Four can
Five.
also be found in
Group
this division is aomewhat arbitrary it suits the
a
present
project. It can provide a proper rationale for the five stages in
Dickinaon's
aesthetic
transcendence.
The
five
groups
of
poems can, therefore, correspond to the five stages in the act of
tranacendence.
five e t a g e e in Dickinson'a poetry reveal, an
The
course
of
in
expression,
search
"Went o u t upon-Circumference - - n
greciar
and
They indicate h o v the
poet
of
telling of the truth.
comprehensive
expandina
more
a
The individual poara
(P 378). 21
can be seen a0 the broken arce which'are aatheeed together i n the
faaciclea i n an e f f o r t to create the ultimate in her art.
poems o f Dickinaan'e
The
inform
crisis years, 1 8 8 1 - 6 2 ,
ua on h e t aesthetic tranacendence.
22
Eiphteen hundred
and aixty-two, w e r e years of the areateat
sixty-one,
Emily ~ickinran'e l i t a .
beat
can
and
rtresa
in
It v r o th* tima vhan diatance and danger
8tood between h e r r e l f and three of her f r i e n d & .
The
Rsv.Charlaa, Wadaworth, h e r " , c l o a & r t earthly friendw
had moved out across t h e continent t o - A nrv
765),
Calvary Church 4n San Francisco.
the
Europe
for
of € i c . r
in th.
prralrtant
hie h e a l t h .
trouble
latar, i n 1 8 6 4 - 6 5 ,
Civil
Uar
A.Starnr,
.
inaide
OP
affected
among
others.
at
t~uring'
aeroina
as
an
Beridea. Dlcklnaon vr8 afflictad with
€or the t r u t m a n t of
qo to Crabridge,
had
Samuel B 0 w l e 8 w a 0
Thomacr W.Higginoon w a 0
~ n l o ' nArmy.
aya
peetorate
(L
Amherst
which
Haarrchuaetta.
too,
ahootine
Thrre vaa another
war
.he
The
vould
Amerlcon
dead
Prazar
baing
weged,
l i t t l e Emily, after her romantic failure; it wae
not t o continue har dalliance w i t h Uadavorth.
w a r the true caure of her crisim.
Thir
whether
probably
Her thrae 'Harter' l a t t e r * arm
avfdance enouah that s h e was r woman who at c e r t a i n point8 i n her
€
wra drlrply in l o v r . 23
her 'Haator' and
lover.
Uadauorth c o u l d vary wall h.v.
baa
There could have taken place a sexual union of t h e a e
in
aometine
That might be t h e reaaon
September 1 8 6 1 .
lover8
for
the
"terror* that ehe apeaka about i n her second l e t t e r t o ~ i ~ ~ i n s o n .
--
--
She writes, " 1 had a t e r r o r
on 2 5 April 1 8 6 2 .
--
I c o u l d tell t o no one
the Burying Ground
--
and a o I aing .
a
becauae f am afrafd
eince September
the ~
--"
o --doe*
y
~ by ~
(L 261).
The dread
of the aame "dark" secret (L 776) muat have r e t Uadawerth sailing
San Francirco on 1 Hay 1 8 6 2 .
for
a
He waa indeed keetpina
aafe
diatance from Amherst.
muart
It
-have
been the turning
point
Dickinpron's
of
l i f e , when aha began t o treat h e r o e l f aa " The Queen of Calvary-m
(P
robes.
it
It-
marked her out for apinaterhood
In
white
Dickineon w r o t e almoat w i t h o u t fntermieeion during
1862;
348).
vaa the most productive year of her poetic career,
average of a poem a day.
-
frehzy
poetic
by
the
with
Obviously, aha was "driven to r kind of
f
her i n r e q u i t e d paatsion" 2 5
for
Uadaworth,
o
married,man and a f a t h e r .
poemr
The
Halodyn
"in Art
of
(P 1 0 0 8 ) .
--
exbreaaion
the Cr.irfa Period become
They belong t o s tire when
the Art of Peace --*
could
quite
have
a
"frantic
Dickinr~n a o u ~ h t
(P 5 4 4 ) , and vhen the quaation of
mattered moat. Her
anxioua
queries
to
~i'aainaon (in L e t t a r 2 6 0 , o f this p e r i o d ) concerning the ' t r u t h *
and
@ l i f e 8of her poetry,
i n d i c a t e haw 8he has been
rtrugglfna
t o f i n d an adequate oxprerrion in v e r s e . Tha poeai of t h i r period
can,
therefore, s a r v a beat an inverti~ation i n t o her proceaa
of
tranacendencs.
The Crisie Poemr are found in Paociclam 13
-
1 9 , which
form
phaae of t h e ' f a 8 c i c l . a . 2 6 (See Appendix
third
the
1).
Select
paeaar o f t h i a phaae are ex.amlned; and f i n d i n g s are r e l a t e d to the
reat of the carpue through Notes and Appendixes.
The explorative
nature o f t h e p,reaent crtudy require8 t h i a manner of approach. In
thie
way
s e e k s t o cover t h e
it
tranecendence.
A
courae
Johnsron-PrankJin
combined
f a r this purpoee.
euitable
whole
Diekinaonma
of
appearr
framevock
When t h e accuracy o f the t e x t
of
'
the
poeaa, and the certainty regarding their date of coapoaition, are
conaidered,
aupplernented
Johnson's
by
Variorum Edition i r
The
Pranklin'a
to
necessarily
M a n u a c r i ~ t Booka
be
~nily
of
Dickinson.
A n inductive nethad of atudy i r employed hare. Each
of
the argument .1
conclusions
arp
work.
fror tha poet*.
baaed on tha finding.
Data are gathered from relevant analyaea of poema and
and
article
drawn a posteriori.
farciclea;
The f i v e
stager' of
-n
Dickinaon'a
method,
ar.
a e - a t h e t i c tranecendence
s t u d i e d , according t o
thlr
p r a a e n t e d i n f i v e chapter..
Chapter One,' "The Non-Variant V ~ r a i o n ,coneidarn
~
the
in Dickinronpa pastic a c t .
.tag*
in
and
of
in the nun-variant
expreaaion,
r n r l y r e r of ralect poemr.
utudy hero brcaua.
proceea
adopted.
of
Seven of the80 are
verbal;
There are u8ed in euraountinq
the othera, extraverbal.
Supportina e v i d m c a for t h a .am.
of
It identifier 1 2 i t e a r involved
t h e alant telling of t h e t r u t h .
linlte
atote
a
of
i a provided by finding.
Poem. w i t h a copy each ara tha
they come at tha beeinnin0 of
tranocendence,
firat
accordin4
to
the
the
lyric.
fror t h e
object
Dickinaonmm
claaaification
Chapter Two, "Sfngle V e r a i o n with
note
of
atage
second
the
in
Dic-kinaon'a
tranecendence.
Speculation r e ~ a r d i n gpoasible changee i n the t e x t i a
a8
of tranacending t h e
method
a
Verbal
and
8ubatitutea
poaalbility
extraverbal
remain
aa
is obta6rv.d
limits
auggeat ion8
they a r e .
of
are
utterance.
lyric
advanced
phaae
Thie
introduced
of
th.0
but
dwelling
in the poeae each of which-ham only
in
one
capy thouqh it boaria auggeatad chanaea.
Three ,
Chapter
Incorporatedm,
ahova
and
"Veraiona
Changes
with
goea throueh t h e third s t a g e o f the procera.
how redaction operater in Dicklnaon'a
worked
out i n another.
o f tha poem.
Each
T h i s involvee selection
,
exanlned ha.
Tha
poetry.
given in one capy o f
e x t r r v a ~ b a l aubstitutea
/
Sug@ea,ted
a
and
t w o or more coplea one
1t
vorbrl
poem
are
refection.
. .
of
which
'
indispenesbly carriea ruggeated changes.
-
Chapt eC
the
Pour, "Va8ianta vi th Change.
fourth ataee.
Dickinaan'a
art.,
A poer i a renderad in
poem
covere
function.
in
t v o or mora coplea.
Tha
It illuatrrtos haw duplication
verbal and axtravarbal alterat ion.
are
Incorporat a d w ,
introduced upon reproduct ion
embodied in t h e t e x t but not propoaatd-in any vereion of
tha
.
,Chapter Five, "The Fascicle Verrrion," considera
a t a g e of the procese of tranecendence.
aa an at;empt
bickineon'r
The faaciclea a r a t r o a t a d
a t a complex emquenco t o .at
alant telling of t h e t r u t h .
fsacicloa I r alao examined
The Conclusion
suae
final
the
'forth conprehanaivmly
Tha nanuacript
of
the
for thr purpore.
u p the
argunente
md
findine8
of
thl
'
Not ea
1.
During the pre-Variorum Period-(1890
Dickinsan
unuaual
technique.
poetic
approach.
b'ioqraphical
LJohnaon'a
ahiftad
,
poaitive with
uniformly
wae
It
was
-
an
by
acceptance
far
her
of
lin~uiatic,
atyliatic,
/
Thomaa
of
Variorum Edition of the poems, critical concern
to
to
historical
a
A f t e r the arrival, In 1 9 5 5 .
has
paychoanalytfcal,
phenoasnological, feminist methods / schoola.
h-eights o f
response
19551,
From rather
cult Dickineon atudies have come dovn t o
,
dizzy
plains
of
clear understanding.
A aurvey of Dickineon criticiam will be unwieldy h e r @ aa t h e
book8
article8 are far too numsrouo to be
and
mentioned.
Tha
preeent atudy will make references t o them only vhen called f o r .
2.
In
philosophy,
outaide
' tronacendencd 18 underetood au
experience',
'altogether
or 'untealieable in human experience.'
theology, i t mean. -'hboye and indapendent of'., uaed In
In
raference
to the Deity in relation to the un.iveraa.
A
e t u d y of .this kind ha4 been made by
Circumference,
*Circumrtanca,
and
Zachariar
Center:
Thundy11,
Iurnenca
and
Tranecendence in Emily Dickin-aon's Poems of ,Extreme Situationem,,
Hartford Studiea in Litsrature, 3, 2 (1971) 73-91.
3.
in
Tranacandence muat be distinguished fron
that
latter
the
repreaantad
by
war
a
New
England
Trenecendentaliom
mavemant,
literary
Emermon, Thoraau, Ch-anning, Parker
and
othara,
echoing crttain religio-phlloaophical t e n a t e , and a o c i o - economic
practices
.
communication
Tranrcendentalira
with
the
preauppored
the
Over-Soul, which war
nead
t o . be
for
tho
achieved,
partly through contact with Nature, and partly throuah attendinu
to
the d i c t a t e a of inatincta and intuition.
ed-
The
,,
Their
Tranacendental iote:
Perry
Sae
Procre
Hiller,
(NY:
Poetry
and
Doubleday, 1957).
Emily
L.Cappa,
Jack
(Cambridae:
Harvard
UP,
Dickinaon'a
1966)
170-82,
Rsadtnp,
takea
1836-1886
tha
of
note
reflaction In her poernr and l e t t a r a of Dickineon'a rsadina of the
Tranacendentrl i ats,.
4.
Robert Bly, American Poetry: Wildergera and
Domesticity
(NP:
Harper, 1990) 4 7 .
5.
Eleanor Uilner., "The Poetice o f Bmily Dickinaon*,
38,' 1
(March 1 9 7 1 ) 1 3 8 .
Dlckinaon, "Poem 1 1 2 9 * , Thoraa H.Johnaon,
Emily
6.
Poeme
of Emily Dickinaon, Xncludinn Variant Readinpa
ed.,
Critically
Conparad with A l l Knovn Hanuacriptu, 3 vola. (Cambridae:
P
of
Harvard
taken
from
-
Belknap
f
UP, 1963r.
this
The
poema
Citation8 fron Dickinaon'e
edition, and are
identified
by
the
are
nurbora
Johneon gave to the poeae, ae CP 1129).
Where
the paen. have tvo or more copiee the
fron the 'first version' unleaa otherwise noted.
'aecond'
of
ara
The 'fitet'
or
verqian here does not ahav the chronolo~ical
Dickinaon'e
only Johnson'r
tha
citation8
turnin4 out the copiea o f ' a poem.
It
aequence
indicates
order of entering, or raferring t o , tha c o p i e s
in
Variorum.
Dickinron'a V i e w of the Sublime and the Finalm, bickinson Studfa.
76 (Second Half 1 9 9 0 ) 13.
.
8.
-
LAC 2 0 6 6 4
The
and
Rinp
before
cites
Ha
1129.
thia u t t e r a n c s , in The Rinp and the
Book,
reeardin& Browning's v i e w
io
truth"
a
Poetry
of
i t vi8 t h e alory,
of A r t , / That Art remaina the one way poaalble
good
14
Occurring
Obliquely.-
to have shaped Dfckinaon'a r a vell:
which aeen.
.peaking
Poem
in
Book
pronouncement
significant
and
the
may t e l l a t r u t h /
'Art
Brovning'a
linea
65.
Of
Jamea A.nanaon., ed., The Poetical Uorkr
~obert
Brovninp (London: Ward, nd) 9 8 8 .
Sandra S.Newtsn, EnJoyinp t h a Arto: Poetry
10.
Roaen, 1 9 7 7 ) 1 2 7 .
10,
1 (Winter 1 9 6 9 ) 7 1 - 7 7 ;
Emi,ly
Slant:
Dickinaonb
- ',
Literature 'and tanpuap;,
Kher,
The
Haven:
Poetic
--w
, Ball
B.J.Rogerr,
nodeu.
"The
Texaa
are:-
Univeraitg
Strto
Truth
Studira
1 4 , 1 (Summer 1 9 7 2 ) 3 2 9 - 3 6 :
Inder
Told
In
Nath-
tandacape of Abaence: Emily ~iclcinuon"h- Poetry ( N ~ v
Yale UP, 1 9 7 4 ) 130-31;
A l b e r t G e l p i , Thm Tenth Nu.+:
Paycha o f the A m r t i c m Port(Cambridge:
Daniel
Pichrrdr
Othere who have touched upon thia point
John J.Groea, "Tell All the Truth But
Forum,
(NP:
B.Barnea,
"Telling
84rvard UP, 1 9 7 5 )
It Slant: Emily
Dickinron
The.
295-91;
and
the
.Proverbm, Genre 1 2 ( 1 9 7 9 ) 2 1 9 - 4 1 .
11.
Sharon tedder and Andrea Abbott, Tha Lanpuape a €
The
Poetry
of
Bmily
Dickinron
and
Chtiatina
Exclueion:
Rouaotti
(NY:
Greenwood, 1987) 13.
12.
Tho
hundred and
each.
vrrianta
are the different copier
of
a
fifty-nin4 p o e m of Dtckinaon carry nor.
(Sae Appendixer
. .
2 and 3).
poem= ' T W O
than
Thay exiet, accordin8 to
one
copy
their
Paula Bennett, Emily
Bnplia'h, 5 2 , B.(April 1 9 9 0 ) 3 9 7 - 4 0 9 ;
Dlckinaon: Uoman Poet (Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 1 9 9 1 ) .
16.
David
Subversive
Imapfnation
the
Beneath
S.Reynolde,
in
the Ape
Renai8aance:The
American
Bmeraon
of
and
~elville.
..
(Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1 9 8 9 ) 4 1 2 ,
17.
Emily S.Uatta,The Poetry of American Women from 1632 t o 1945
(Auatin: U of Texaa P, 1 9 7 7 ) 136.
18.
In h.er third l e t t e r to Hiqginaon, Dickinaon tell8 w h y
take.
t o poetry:.
19.
George
"the v e r a e s j u s t r e l i e v e
Uilli-aason,
A Reader'a
ahe
(L 2 6 5 ) .
--w
Guide
to
(NY:
T.S.Eliot
Noonday, 1 9 6 6 ) 17.
20.
Dickinron gathered 804-odd poems into b o o k l e t a which Johnaon
'frrciclea',
calla
Mabel L,Tobd r e f e r s to then ao
'vereiclea'.
1
The
a t s made of four t o aevrn f o l d e d
bookleta
and
together;
reconstituted
the$
in
bqar
40
l l t o
29
ehrrta
These
poems.
t a a c i c l e n by.Ralph U.Fr.nklin,
threaded
have
been
ed.,
Tho
Manuecript Books of Emily Dickinaop, 2 vola. (Caab~idga: Belknap
P of Hatvard UP, 1 9 8 1 1 3 - 9 9 9 ,
Thr Eaaciclaa r r r ldsntlfied by t h a numberr Franklin gave to
'them, as (P 1 9 ) .
21.
'Circumference'
intriguing
crftica
diacuaaion
utreaaea
the
ha8
been
a
topic
in Dickinaon criticism,
inwrrdneas
of
conaciouon*aa bounded by circumfarrnco:
Identity:
of
the
-
interestina
.One school
private
circlo
and
of
of
Narthrop Frye, Fabler o f
Studiea in Poetic Hytholapy (NP: Hatcourt,
Brace
and
World, 1 9 6 3 ) 26.8-10; Clatk Grifffth, The Lonp Shadow: Emily
Dickinaan'a
Trapic Poetry (Princeton: Princeton UP,
1964)
234;
William R. Sherwood, Circumference and Circumstance: SSanea in.
the
and Art of Emily Dlckinaon (NP:
Hind
Audrey
"
T.Rodaera,
aCircuafsrencee in
Columb,ir UP,
the
1968);
of
Poetry
Emily
Dicklnaonm, Emily Dicki-naon Bulletin, 31 ( 1 9 7 7 1 1 5 - 3 2 .
Another group h i r p a on
F
a
circuaf erence
the outward t h r u a t of
Dickinaon:- Charlea R.Anderson, Emily Dickinaon'a
in
Stairway of Surprlaa (NY: Holt, Rinahart, Uinaton,
Richard
Baily
Poetry:
62-63;
1960)
Uilbur, "Sumptuous De8titutionw, Richard B.Sewa11,
A
Dickinaan:
Cliff.:
Prentice-Hall,
1963)
.Eeeayu (Enalewood
Albert
133;
Bails
J.Gelpl,
Tha nind of the Poet (Canebridae: Harvard
Dickinaon:
122-24;
C o l l e c t ~ o n ~ o fCritical
ed.,
UP,
Robert Gillempie, A A Circumference of Bmily
1965)
Dickinoonrn,
New Ennland Quarterly, 46, 2 ( 1 9 7 3 ) 2 5 0 - 7 l ; S h a r a n Caaeron, Lyric
Tina: Dickinean and the Limita of Genre (Baltimore: Johne Hopkinr
UP,
Jopnne F.Diehl;
135;
1979)
-
and
[Princeton: Princeton UP, 1981) 166;
fmapination
The
Dlckinaon:
Dlckinaon
the
Romantic
David
Porter,
,
Rarvard UP,
Modern Idiom (Canbride.:
19821
35,
181.
Ruth
Uar1ay.n
Miller,
UP,
1968)
234-48,
a
amall
one
alignment:
Dickinaon'e
clrcumierence
r e
The.Poetry o f
linked
to
canaciouaneea,
Emily
preaenta two
represent
Dickineon
circlea
the
(Hiddlotown:
In
circuit
and a large on'@ to
vertical
world
of
for
tha
atand
world' to which Diekinaon .#.pired; and the
by
lines t h a t croua
at
death.
circle.
Circumference
applied both to a totally incLusive v f e i o n and to b0~ndari.a
im
of
thought, by Robert Uelebuch, Emily Dickinaonee Poetry (Chicago: U
of Chicago P, 1975) 117.
Circumferenc+ repreoenta the boundary
.
,
.
circuit of personal epace and
the
"between
outside",
Jane
aaya
Dickinaon
D.Eberwein,
night
whatever
be
of
Strategies
:
Limitation (Amherst: U of Haas. P, 1985) 161.
Several reasons have been put forward t o explain t h e c r i o i a
22.
in
Dickineon's l i f e : romantic diailluaionment, trouble with
eyes,
lesbianism, or parental inadequacy.
Critics are divided on the identity of Dfckinaon'a
war
her
the
Rev.Charlea
Church,
of her inner t e n d o n in 1861-62.
cauae
lover who
The
Wadsvorth, minister of the Arch Street
of
name
Presbyterian
Philadelphia, waa suggeeted by George F.Uhicher,
Thia
Waa a P o a t : A Critical BLoaraphy of Emily Dickinaon (Ann Arbor: U
of
P.1957)
Richigan
An
Dickinaon:
Harvard
106-7.
It waa t a k m up by
Jahnaon,
Emilx
P
Interpretive Bioeraghy (Cambridge: Belknap
UP,
80;
1955)
Circumstance, 81-82.
and
Sherwood,
and
Circumference
That Uadeworth and Dickinaon were
of
secretly
married in 1861 f e . t h e inference of William H-Shurr, The Marriape
3
of
Bmily Dickinaon: A Study of the Faaclclee (Lexington: . U P of
Kentucky, 1 9 8 3 ) 70.
N.
The Wadavorth connection i8 takan up by Paul
Miller, "The Relevance o f the Rev. Charlea Wadsworth
Poat, Emily Dickineon," Rippinaon Journal, 6 1 ( 1 9 9 1 )
Another
aroup
eupports
the candidacy
editor of the Springfield Republican.
position
Diekinaan
Quartarly,
Dickinron
withdrawal
of
Dickineon'a
md
10
Samuel
(Summar
lover
by
3-15.
Bowlea,
Bowlee waa elevated t o t h e
Uinfield
Bowlee", Freaco: Tho U
1960)
the
1-49,
Samuel
of
to
of
Bowlea'a
led to the criaia in her life, and to
"Emily
T.Scott,
Detroit
cajection
her
from Amheret aociety, arauea David Higaine,
T.ri-
of
consequent
Portrait
of
Dickinson:
Emily
Rutgers UP, 1 9 6 7 ) 101-28.
The
Poetry
Brunsvick:
(New
and Richard B.
(NY: Farrar, Straus and
The
Sewall,
Giroux,
appear8 almost certain that Bowlea could not
It
the
Prase
The Bowles line is taken u p by H i l l e r ,
o f Emily Dickinaon, 4 1 ;
of Emily Dickinaon
Life
Her
The Poet and
1980)
have
man who c a u o e d the c r i s i s in D i c k i n a o n ' s l i f e .
been
the
During
autumn of 1861, Bawlea, suffering from aciatica, became a patient
at Dr.Denniaton'a
viaited
the
water-cure i n Northampton; and, in October,
Dickinsons s e v e r a l timee.
Dickinson
because ahe d i d n o t wish t o inconvenience him.
i n her letter to him: " I knew you needed light
cone" (L 241).
didn't
the
me
--", which,
since
"
--
Sept,ember --
--
( t 261).
not have w r i t t e n him thua.
--
and air
80
I
parentheeia,
troubled
but something
as she l a t e r t e l l a Higainaon,
him
avoided
Thia ahe explain8
Heanwhile she alao owns, in
r e a l reason f o r her withdrawal:
he
--
was her "terror
I f Bowlea were the man s h e
would
Obviously, t h e t r o u b l e was cauaed
by
someone e l e e .
Richard
B.Sawall r e l a t e a the poet ' e crieia to
the
trouble
with h e r eye0, in The tymen Letters: New Light on Emily Dickinson
and Her Family [Amherst: Amherst C o l l e g e P, 1 9 6 5 ) 7 4 - 7 6 .
The
S.Anthon
view
led
that
Dickinaon'a
leabian
to the c r i a i e ia h e l d by
affair
Rebecca
with
Kate
Patteraon,
The
R i d d l e of E m i l y Dickinaon (Boaton:' Houghton Hifflin, 1951).
Parental
inadequacy hae a180 been advanced aa the cauee
Dickinron'a inner tenmion.
Clark Grlffith traces t h e
of
dominatina
i n f l u e n c e o f her father Edward Dickinson on t h e l i f e of t h e p o e t ,
in
The
John Cody toea
Long Shadow.
Griffith'a
psychoanalytic
l i n e but theorizes that Emily Norcrosa Dickinaon played the
dark
l i f e , in A f t e r Great Pain: The Inner
Life
r o l e fn her daughter'a
of
Dickineon (Cambridqe: Harvard UP, 1 9 7 1 3 2.
Emily
or
father
Norbert
brother could have moleeted Dfckinson is
" A Bandaged Secret:
Hirschhorn,
Incest,"
Th4
of Paychohiatory, 18,
Journal
Bray o p i n c a that Dickinaon'a
Paul
Emily
3
poaited
Dickfnson
criafe baqan
encroached
to
upon
apoke to
her,
from
early
her,
in
and,
to
world
a
renae,
See Paul Bray, "Emily Dickinaon
to engulf her."
aa
Raritan, 12,l ( 1 9 9 2 ) 1 1 3 .
Visionary,"
2 3 b
and
251-81.
(1991)
maintain poychic integrity againat a spiritualized natural
threatened
by
He d e a c r i b e a it ae " a rather d e e p e r a t e struggle
childhood.
that
her
That
Lettera 1 8 7 , 233, and 2 4 8 are the Haater lettera,
eome unidentified man.
'&eographically
They "indicate a
long
addreaaed
relationship,
apabt, * i n which correepondence woutd
been
have
the primary meane of communication," n o t e 8 Ralph W-Franklin, ed.,
Introduction,
Amhsrat
of
The
Haater L e t t e r o of Emily
Colleae P, 1986) 5.
(Amherat:
Dickineon
identity
Opinion is divided o n the
the Maator; the chief claimante €or tha title
are
Wadawarth
and B 0 w l 8 8 .
24.
The
"Boy",
of
courae,
ia
Pip
of
Dickena's
Great
Expectat iona.
25.
Reynolde, Beneath the American Renaieaance, 31.
26.
The poem0 of t h e Criaia Period are located according to
the
in
The
five-phaae
diviaion
of
ths
Harriape of Emily Dickinson.
faaciclea made
by
Shurr
Johnaon dateo 90 poems about 1861, and 389 as about 1862; 18
are d a t e d by Franklin aB about 1862 or 1 8 6 3 .
poems of the latter
Fascicles
13-19
contain
114 poems, one of
Poem
which,
7
of
Faacicle 14, belongs t o 1858, and is t h e r e f o r e outside the Criaia
Period.
of
Franklin d a t e 8 Poema 2 4 1 , 2 4 2 , 2 7 1 , 2 8 0 , 2 8 1 ,
Fascicle
16,
as
about 1862 but
Johnaon,
aa
and
about
282,
1861.
Twenty-seven of the Crisia Poema belong t o 1861, and 8 6 to 1862.