遠東學報第二十八卷第四期 中華民國一百年十二月出版
字語，沉默，道：愛彌莉〃狄金遜研究
Words, Silence, and the Word: A Study of Emily Dickinson
孫維民 遠東科技大學觀光英語系副教授
卜令楨 遠東科技大學觀光英語系副教授
王鈞鈴 遠東科技大學觀光英語系講師
徐定華 遠東科技大學觀光英語系講師
摘
要
雖然狄金遜經常被視為浪漫派詩人，但對人類語言的能力和限制，她卻
有不同於其他浪漫派詩人的看法。比較而言，狄金遜更為自覺和謹慎，即使
面對的是詩的語言，她也不像華滋華斯及雪萊等人。在此，我擬討論狄金遜
對於字語、沉默和道的態度，三者皆和人類語言有關。
關鍵詞：字語，追尋，沉默，道，道成肉身
Wei-min Sun, Associate Professor, Department of Tourism English, Far East University
Ling-jen Pu, Associate Professor, Department of Tourism English, Far East University
Chun-ling Wang, Lecturer, Department of Tourism English, Far East University
Ting-hua Hsu, Lecturer, Department of Tourism English, Far East University
Abstract
A belated Romantic poet, Emily Dickinson is nevertheless alienated from
other Romantic poets when it comes to the power and limitation of language.
Comparatively, Dickinson appears more conscious and cautious as pondering over
the nature of human language, even when that language is located in poetry much
celebrated by such poets as Wordsworth and Shelley. In this study, I will try to
discuss Dickinson‟s attitude toward words, silence and the Word, which are all
related to human language.
Keywords: words, quest, silence, the Word, the Incarnation
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Emily Dickinson is apparently conscious of the
Book” (1263), Dickinson compares reading a book of
power and limitation of human language. Such
poetry to traveling. Like traveling, reading can set the
consciousness appears quite natural and even
“human soul” free from the confinement of the
inevitable
for
physical world. Space is taken away or cancelled, in a
communication is words. However, Dickinson‟s
way, in the course of reading. To Dickinson, reading
concern and emphasis in this respect are frequently
is even better than traveling because the former costs
different
Romantic
less and is possible for “the poorest:”
atmosphere. Other Romantic poets may readily
There is no Frigate like a Book
exaggerate the functions of the poetic language,
To take us Lands away
claiming that “poetry is the breath and finer spirit of
Nor any Coursers like a Page
all knowledge,” that “poetry is the first and last of all
Of prancing Poetry—
knowledge” (Wordsworth 167) and that poetry
This Traverse may the poorest take
for
from
a
poet,
other
whose
poets
in
instrument
the
exalts the beauty of that which is most
Without oppress of Toll—
beautiful, and it adds beauty to that
How frugal is the Chariot
which is most deformed; it marries
That bears the Human soul.
exultation and horror, grief and pleasure,
(1263)
eternity and change; it subdues to union
“There is no Frigate like a Book” is reminiscent of
under its light yoke all irreconcilable
some other poems of the same theme. In “He ate and
things. (Shelley 789)
drank the precious Words—” (1587), for instance,
In contrast, Dickinson is more cautious and restrained
Dickinson mentions the comforting and liberating
when pondering over the nature of human language,
power of words again. Words are like food to the poor,
even when that language is located in poetry. It is
and they are also like wings to those whose days are
clear that to Dickinson, as Wolosky suggests,
“dingy.” The poverty and unhappiness in the real
language is “a subject in its own right. It is not only a
world are temporarily surpassed:
medium of expression, but is itself an issue” (137).
He ate and drank the precious Words—
This study is thus devoted to discussing Dickinson‟s
His Spirit grew robust—
attitude toward human language, especially her
He knew no more that he was poor,
viewpoints with regard to what words can and cannot
Nor that his frame was Dust—
achieve, silence, and the relationship between human
He danced along the dingy Days
language and the Word.
And this Bequest of Wings
In Dickinson‟s poems, the power of words is
Was but a Book—What Liberty
recognized and stated mainly in two aspects: one is
A loosened spirit brings—
that words are capable of liberating the reader
(1587)
spatially from this world or reality; the other is that
The image of the bird on the wing here is
words, once expressed, assume an existence of their
somewhat related to that of traveling in the poem
own which is almost immortal. To sum up, words are
quoted earlier. Both images indicate a transition of
able to transcend the limitations of both space and
space.
time, attaining an existence outside this one of
Not only space but also time, or mutability, can
confinement and mutability.
be conquered when words intervene. As Thackrey
For instance, in “There is no Frigate like a
points out, Dickinson‟s poems show that “she
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regarded words as organic—separate little entities
In “The Martyr Poets—did not tell--” (544),
with a being, growth, and immortality of their own”
another poem dealing with art and life, Dickinson
(54). Taking
goes further to announce explicitly that artistic work,
the poem “A Word is Dead” (1212) as an example,
like the perfume in “Essential Oils--are wrung--,” has
Thackrey further explains that the immortality of
the power to encourage and console people even after
words is due to
the artist is dead：
an inextricable part of the experience and
The Martyr Poets—did not tell—
being of the speaker and those to whom he
But wrought their Pang in syllable—
speaks. Thus a word, no matter how simple,
That when their mortal name be numb—
may be charged with imperishable
Their mortal fate—encourage Some—
significance because of its intimate
The Martyr Painters—never spoke—
relationship with human minds and souls. (54)
Bequeathing—rather—to their Work—
When words are found in literature, a form of art,
That when their conscious fingers cease—
their immortality appears even securer. Such a belief
Some seek in Art—the Art of Peace--
coincides with the literary tradition which celebrates
(544)
that “life is short and art is long.” In “Essential
Poetry may be charged with permanent life
Oils--are wrung--”(675), for instance, Dickinson
which sends forth fragrance, but its immortality is not
seems to be talking about the process of making
always beneficial. In fact, the enduring power words
perfume out of roses, but, undoubtedly, she is also
have may be evil and harmful. In “A Word dropped
expressing her poetics concerning the relationship
careless on a Page” (1261), Dickinson asserts that the
between raw materials, that is, life, and the work of
word on a page can bring despair like disease to the
art. In the first stanza of this poem, Dickinson
reader even after many years：
suggests that, just as the perfume of flowers is the
A Word dropped careless on a Page
“gift of screw,” the work of art is the product of labor
May stimulate an eye
and pain. Or, in Miller‟s phrase, „pain and
When folded in perpetual seam
consciousness may be one” (3). In the second stanza
The Wrinkled Maker lie
of the poem, Dickinson makes it clear that a work of
art—whether it is perfume or poetry—outlives its
Infection in the sentence breeds
maker. We may say that it equally outlives the many
We may inhale Despair
generations to come because art, by endowing it with
At distances of Centuries
eternal life, transcends nature：
From the Malaria—
Essential Oils—are wrung—
(1261)
The Attar from the Rose
In one of her letters, Dickinson warns that people
Be not expressed by Suns—alone—
should be careful about what they say. In the same
It is the gift of Screws—
letter, she copies the first stanza of this poem. When
The General Rose—decay—
compared with “Essential Oils—are wrung--” and
But this—in Lady‟s Drawer
“The Martyr Poets—did not tell--,” this poem seems
Make Summer—When the Lady lie
to be a criticism of bad art. The “word” here is
In Ceaseless Rosemary—
“dropped careless” on the page, apparently different
(675)
from the painful refining process of making the
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“Attar from the Rose.” Dropping a word carelessly is
A Rapture as of Legacies—
not an act done by the “conscious fingers” of the
Of introspective Mines—
artist either.
(1700)
Dickinson celebrates the potency and endurance
Even human emotions, such as happiness, are
of words, and yet she is also aware of their limitation.
often beyond the descriptions of words. Like the
Words may have the power to break through the
“Beauty” and the “Spell” in “To tell the Beauty
confinement of space and time, but such a power
would decrease,” happiness can only “decrease” and
often finds its own boundary. Words are never
“demean” when it can be told in words:
omnipotent.
The
so-called
“potency”
and
If I could tell how glad I was
“endurance” of human language exist only within a
I should not be so glad—
certain circumference. There is always a forbidden
But when I cannot make the Force,
and
Nor mould it into Word,
unexplored
territory
which
words
are
unauthorized and powerless to trespass upon. If
I know it is a sign
Dickinson is a poet-quester, as Weisbuch maintains
That new Dilemma be
she is, her quest is a frustrated one because “the goal
From mathematics further off
is
Than from Eternity.
never
achieved,
not
in
the
life
of
this
consciousness” (82). The power and the limitation of
(1668)
words may be well described when Weisbuch states
Also, the happiness which is expressible is “paltry,”
that “poetry was to be Dickinson‟s thread to heaven,
compared with that which
not the heaven itself” (96) and that, in the quest
can only be felt in silence:
fiction, “heaven is always absent or, if present,
The words the happy say
thrown further on” (97).
Are paltry melody
In one of her poems, for instance, Dickinson
But those the silent feel
states that words are incapable of recording the true
Are beautiful—
beauty of nature. “True poems” are not the same with
(1750)
So far it seems understandable that, in
those printed in a book：
To see the Summer Sky
Dickinson‟s poetry, silence is to secure a particular
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie—
position as a topic for discussion. For Dickinson,
True Poems flee—
silence is not the lack or emptiness of words; on the
(1472)
contrary, it is the fullness and excess of words. As
In “To tell the Beauty would decrease” (1700), such a
mentioned earlier, human language, like almost
viewpoint is repeated. Words fail when confronting
everything in this world of time, finds its boundary
the “Beauty” and the “Spell” which belong to the
everywhere. What is beyond the boundary is more
“syllable-less sea,” that is, the wordless sphere：
meaningful and complete, compared with what is
To tell the Beauty would decrease
expressible in words. In the first stanza of “Speech is
To state the Spell demean—
one symptom of Affection” (1681), for instance,
There is a syllable-less Sea
Dickinson asserts that silence is more significant than
Of which it is the sign—
speech in the case of verbal communication:
My will endeavors for its word
Speech is one symptom of Affection
And fails, but entertains
And Silence one—
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The perfectest communication
the dignity of silence,” as Phillips suggests, she
Is heard of none—
“dreaded absolute silence” (181-182). God is silent,
(1681)
and His silence, Dickinson finds, is not only absolute
As Thackrey points out, “the truly significant things
but also terrible because He never seems to care to
in human experience dwelled in the realm of silence
answer our prayers and questions. In a letter to Maria
and secrecy” (66-67). In “Because my Brook is
Whitney, Dickinson gives a brief portray of God‟s
fluent” (1200), the comparison between speech and
indifference and dreadful silence: “You are like God.
silence is drawn again in a more symbolic way. The
We pray to Him, and He answers „No.” Then we pray
fluent brook is actually “dry” while the silent brook is
to Him to rescind the „no,‟ and He don‟t answer at
the “Sea.” The word “fluent” surely reminds us of the
all” (L.780). In another letter, Dickinson says that
kind of speech which comes readily and eloquently:
talking to God seems “like writing a Note to the
Because my Brook is fluent
Sky—yearning and replyless—but Prayer has not an
I know „tis dry—
answer and yet how many pray!” (L.790).
Because my Brook is silent
The dreadful silence of God is heard everywhere
It is the Sea—
in Dickinson‟s poems concerning suffering and death.
And startled at its rising
In “Glee—The great storm is over—” (619), for
I try to flee
instance, the survivors of a great storm find no
To where the Strong assure me
consoling answer to the death of their relatives and
Is “no more Sea”—
friends. The only “reply” they have comes from the
(1200)
disastrous sea：
The brook stops making any sound only when it
Glee—The great storm is over—
reaches the sea, and yet, in the second stanza of this
Four—have recovered the Land—
poem, Dickinson suggests that there is another “Sea”
Forty—gone down together—
which is “no more,” that is, not in the world of time.
Into the boiling Sand—
If the sea in the first stanza means a comparative
Ring—for the Scant Salvation—
silence, the sea in the second, we may infer, refers to
Toll—for the bonnie Souls—
an absolute silence. In Dickinson‟s poems, in fact,
Neighbor—and friend—and Bridegroom—
such an absolute silence is often associated with
Spinning upon the Shoals—
infinity, eternity or God. For example, it is identified
How they will tell the Story—
with infinity in “Silence is all we dread” (1251):
When Winter shake the Door—
Silence is all we dread.
Till the Children urge—
There‟s Ransom in a Voice—
Did they—come back no more?
But Silence is Infinity.
Then a softness—suffuse the Story—
Himself have not a face.
And a silence—the Teller‟s eye—
(1251)
And the Children—no further question—
Like infinity, the absolute silence here is faceless, that
And only the Sea—reply—
is, unrecognizable or unknown in a dreadful way. It is
(619)
beyond human perception, like the incomprehensible
God‟s voice resembles His mystery in that both
and uncommunicative God often mentioned in
elude human searching. On this side of circumference,
Dickinson‟s poetry. Although Dickinson “respected
all we have is His silence and incomprehensible
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divinity. This is made explicit in another poem by
also the ground of language. The
Dickinson：
word that breathes distinctly is
Embarrassment of one another
deathless and spiritual, not only
And God
like the Logos, but because of it”
(146).
Is Revelation‟s limit,
In “A Word made Flesh is seldom” (1651), the
Aloud
Is nothing that is chief,
relationship between words and the Word is
But still,
illustrated. Dickinson begins the first stanza of this
Divinity dwells under seal.
poem with an allusion to John 1:1-14 (Bennett 473):
(662)
in the beginning was the Word, and the Word became
To Dickinson, God is often indifferent, jealous
a man and lived for a time among us. Though such a
or cruel. The Son of God, on the contrary, seems
thing seldom happens, each one of us has tasted the
more humane and is likely to provide Dickinson with
“food” to “our specific strength.” The “food” here
solace. Christ knows human suffering through the
may refer to either Christ‟s flesh and blood in the
Incarnation, and such a direct experience of life
eucharist (Bennett 473) or Christ‟s teachings, both of
draws Dickinson toward Him. As Eberwein remarks,
which are given to us for redemption. We may also
Christ’s actions as God in taking
say that Christ‟s body is identified with His words
on human life, exposing himself to
because “words so empowered are themselves
suffering, and triumphing over
sacraments that transform” (Cameron 189)：
death established him as the one
A Word made Flesh is seldom
historical figure known to have
And tremblingly partook
shattered circumference. To Emily
Nor then perhaps reported
Dickinson, Christ’s incarnation
But have I not mistook
and historical existence enriched
Each one of us has tasted
the finite human condition….
With ecstasies of stealth
Unlike the Father, awesome and
The very food debated
remote, Jesus touched the poet as an
To our specific strength—
intimate companion, sometimes even
(1651)
as a peer. (248)
In the second stanza, Dickinson states not only the
The Son of God is also the Word of God, which
relationship between the Word and words but also her
is perhaps another reason that Christ attracts
resolute choice between the two. Both the Word and
Dickinson. It is natural that, as a poet-quester,
words participate in an eternal realm, and human
Dickinson is interested in knowing what Christ has
language may “expire” only if “He” does. However,
said and how He has said them. To a poet, whose
Dickinson finds that there is always a barrier between
instrument is the word, the Word must have served as
them. Like God‟s mystery, the Word remains in the
a kind of model. Moreover, as Wolosky suggests,
eternal world and is inaccessible. ”The Word has
the relationship between words
receded almost beyond her reach. Its relation to this
and the Word is even more intimate
world has become unstable. Therefore its saving
and complicated. The Word is not
power is uncertain. It can no longer easily serve as
just a model for language. “It is
conduit from the phenomenal world to the noumenal
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one” (Wolosky 145). Despite the absolute creativity
suggests, stands for “the clockless escape from time
and power of God‟s Word, Dickinson prefers human
that
language, “this loved philology,” because it is closely
would liberate into the longed-for permanence” (2).
In the circuit world, Dickinson‟s quest is
related to human need and use：
A Word that breathes distinctly
doomed to fail, and her powerful poems, in
Has not the power to die
Thackrey‟‟s
Cohesive as the Spirit
“powerlessness” (67). Nevertheless, as a powerful
It may expire if He—
poet-quester whose business is the circumference
“Made Flesh and dwelt among us”
(L.412), Dickinson is undoubtedly successful in
Could condescension be
heightening
Like this consent of Language
boundary encountered everywhere, as well as in
This loved Philology.
suggesting the infinite beyond it.
words,
the
can
human
only
confess
consciousness
their
of
the
(1651)
In this poem, Dickinson‟s preference for
Works Cited
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tendency
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[7]Miller, Cristanne. Emily Dickinson: A Poet‟s
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experience
tell
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[8]Phillips, Elizabeth. Emily Dickinson: Personae
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never be removed and that the divine plan, if there is
[9]Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “A Defence of Poetry.” The
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[10]Abrams et al. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 1986.
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