居於可能性:愛蜜莉．迪金森對居家空間及內部領域的特殊認知 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士班碩士論文. 指導教授：楊麗敏先生 Advisor：Li-min Yang. 政治大居於可能性：愛蜜莉．迪金森對居家空間及內部領域的特殊認知立. ‧ 國. 學. Dwelling in Possibility: Emily Dickinson’s Unique Perception on. ‧. Domestic Space and Interiority. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 研究生：梁凱甯撰 Name：Kai-ning Liang 中華民國 102 年 1 月 January 2013.

(2) Dwelling in Possibility: Emily Dickinson’s Unique Perception on Domestic Space and Interiority. A Master Thesis Presented to Department of English,. 政治大. 立National Chengchi University ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. by Kai-ning Liang 2013.

(3) To my beloved family and friends, 獻給我親愛的家人與朋友們. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(4) Acknowledgement I would like to convey my appreciation to several people who have helped and supported me in finishing this thesis. First, I want to thank my advisor Prof. Li-min Yang. This thesis wouldn’t be accomplished without the patient help and guidance by you. Thank you Prof. Yang (though I’ve maybe expressed my thanks to you for nearly a hundred times!) for your. 政治大. kindness and wisdom in leading me to finish the thesis writing. Your constancy and. 立. discipline in work has inspired me a lot. Thank you.. ‧ 國. 學. Second, a special thank goes to Prof. Jed Deppman for his inspiring and encouraging lecture “Nineteenth Century American Poetry” held in 2010 spring. The. ‧. course has opened my eyes to American poetry, and among the poets introduced in the. y. Nat. io. sit. class, I’m especially fascinated by Emily Dickinson and her peculiar style of art—in. n. al. er. living and in writing. By Prof. Deppman’s weekly leading discussion with us, I. i n U. v. gradually became confident in analyzing poems by myself. Thank you.. Ch. engchi. Also, I would like to appreciate my committee members, Prof. Ya-feng Wu, of National Taiwan University, Prof. Yen-bin Chiou, of National Chengchi University. Your examination have helped me revise the thesis to more complete. Also, I’d like to express my appreciation to English Department. The careful examination and assistance have helped to present the thesis complete and sound. Last but not least, I want to thank my family and friends in church. Thank you for the support, materially and spiritually. This path of academic writing is long, but I finally reach my goal. A special thank goes to my friend, Ian. Thank you for the company, trust, and encouragement. iii.

(5) Table of Contents. Acknowledgements....................................................................................................iii Chinese Abstract.........................................................................................................iv English Abstract..........................................................................................................v Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Emily Dickinson: A Poet at Home.......................................................01 1.2 Literary Review...................................................................................04. 政治大 1.4 Chapter Organization...........................................................................10 立 1.3 Methodology........................................................................................09. Chapter Two: Emily Dickinson’s Domestic Perception. ‧ 國. 學. 2.1 Chapter Focus......................................................................................13 2.2 The Failing Home................................................................................16. ‧. 2.3 The Enclosed Home.............................................................................23. y. Nat. Chapter Three: The Inner realm. sit. 3.1 Chapter Focus......................................................................................34. n. al. er. io. 3.2 The Containing Quality of the Inner Realm........................................38. i n U. v. 3.3 The Extensibility of the Inner Realm...................................................45. Ch. engchi. Chapter Four: The Circumference of Home. 4.1 Chapter Focus.......................................................................................55 4.2 Emily Dickinson’s Figurative Home....................................................58 4.3 Emily Dickinson’s Making of Home....................................................68 Chapter Five: Conclusion...........................................................................................81 Bibliography...............................................................................................................86. iv.

(6) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士班碩士論文提要. 論文名稱：居於可能性：愛蜜莉．荻金森對居家空間及內部領域的特殊認知. 指導教授：楊麗敏. 立. 研究生：梁凱甯. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 論文提要內容：. ‧. 本文主要探討狄金森如何運用獨特的居家空間，及其對於「內部」的概念，建構. y. Nat. 私人內部空間及外部領域。狄金森打破了內部及外部的既有界域，將有限制的空. sit. 間轉化成意象式的家。本文第一章檢視狄金森的家庭環境，藉由生平史料研讀詩. n. al. er. io. 人的家人關係及詩人如何在隱居的過程中意識到自身的強烈獨特性。藉由詩人生. i n U. v. 平信件、詩作分析，及多位學者間的對話研讀，本章探討狄金森如何面對及自處. Ch. engchi. 於「關閉的空間」，並如何在最深處的密閉空間裡看待最熟悉卻又陌生的自我。第二章探討詩人如何從對居家空間的認知進入她的私人內部領域，並探索內部領域中的延展度及容量。藉由詩的討論來探討詩人如何解讀自身的心靈與意念，並能在自己「裡頭」構築一個家。第三章探討詩人如何從私人內部領域延展接觸外部空間。藉由自身經歷與非具象他者的相遇所累積的「內部」能量，得已「向外」伸展構出家的輪廓。即使詩人終其一生居於隱蔽的內部空間，藉由探索自身的內部領域及伸展向外的「偶遇」，並不被內部領域所困，詩人得以構築她自身的「家」。 v.

(7) Abstract The dissertation explores the unique perception of Dickinson’s domestic space and her cognition of interiority and examines how Dickinson makes use of the inner realm, crossing the boundary between interiority and exteriority and constructs her figurative home. The first chapter of this study examines Emily Dickinson’s real home and her reclusion, providing historical and biographical study on Dickinson’s. 政治大. familial relationships, parental influence, and the reclusion that is crucial to. 立. Dickinson’s home-making at home. The second chapter explores how the poet probes. ‧ 國. 學. into her inner realm, discovering its containing quality and extensibility, and sees it as a possibility to dwell in. The third chapter extends the examination on Dickinson’s. ‧. perception of interiority to an encounter with exteriority. Through the accumulations. y. Nat. io. sit. of experiences which are the source of power, the poet is able to draw a figurative. n. al. er. home. By close readings on Dickinson’s letters and poems, the study examines how. i n U. v. Dickinson’s awareness of her inner realm enables her to take the consciousness as a. Ch. engchi. home. In the midst of confusions and disturbance in her life’s journey, Emily Dickinson has figured out a possible dwelling space for her to reside in. She is not confined in the interior, but is strengthened to extend to draw her own picture of home.. Key words: Emily Dickinson, domestic space, reclusion, interiority, encounter. iv.

(8) Chapter One Introduction. 1.1 Emily Dickinson: A Poet at Home Emily Dickinson was born into a close family in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Besides Emily Dickinson, there w ere an older son and a younger daughter in the Dickinson family. Her father was a prominent lawyer who was very strict with his children, and her mother was a typical housewife in the nineteenth century who had. 政治大 physical weakness of the mother resulted in the poet’s emotional detachment from the 立 suffered from chronic illness. The severity of Dickinson’s father and the persistent. parents. In her youth, Dickinson learned of keeping privacy to deal with her inner. ‧ 國. 學. turmoil, in an enclosed and quiet way. When Dickinson was growing older, her. ‧. participation in social activities declined, which was a result from parental influence,. sit. y. Nat. especially the father. Alfred Habegger, the author of My Wars Are Laid Away in Books:. io. er. The Life of Emily Dickinson, stated his study of the Dickinson family: “There was so much guarding, so many precautions, that even as the parents tried to create the. al. n. v i n perfect shelter they instilledC a great anxiety in its very h e n g c h i U heart. For the Dickinson. children, it was both official truth and heartfelt conviction that home was paradise. Yet home also oppressed; and as time passed, the children, Emily most of all, perfected the art of living separately in close proximity” (Habegger 91-2). Under the careful protection from the parents, Dickinson took up the advice to keep her distance to the outside world. Being a nineteenth century female poet, Dickinson’s reclusion was not a total surprise. 1 Being a daughter whose father was active in contemporary society; 1. Alfred Habegger explicates his observation on the similarity between two nineteenth century female. writers, Emily Dickinson and Emily Brontë. He notices the life pattern of both women’s reclusion and 1.

(9) however, the reclusion appeared to be contrasting. Indeed, the Dickinson house was constantly flooded with people, and was an outstanding social environment for the father: As a moderator of local town meetings, a twice-elected Massachusetts state senator, and a representative to the Thirty-third United States Congress, Edward Dickinson attracted to his home a steady stream of visitors, among them, newspaper editors, bishops, preachers, judges, lawyers, politicians, academics, writers, generals, and senators. (Fuss 53). 政治大 guests of the father. Moreover, she “lived her most social years, her correspondence 立 In the poet’s youth, she was mostly accustomed to meeting numerous visitors and. filled with references to sleigh rides, charades, sugaring parties, country rides, and. ‧ 國. 學. forests walk” (Fuss 28-9) when she was around fifteen. The historical study showed. ‧. that Dickinson did lead a life which was close to public, and she performed much. sit. y. Nat. participation in these activities. However, there was an escaping nature of meeting. io. er. people in the poet. Once addressed in a letter to her brother, Emily expressed her disgust and fear of “welcoming” people:. al. n. v i n C hring at the bell—Vinnie Soon after tea, last night, a violent obeys the engchi U. summons—Mr. Harrington, Brainerd, would like to see me at the door. I come walking in from the kitchen, frightened almost to death, and receive the command from father, “not to stand at the door” —terrified beyond measure, I advance to come in. . . Another ring at the door—enter W [Cowper] Dickinson—soon followed by Mr. Thurston! I again crept into the sitting room, more dead than alive, and endeavored to make conversation. (L 79). vocations as writers. “Brontë’s motherlessness, attachment to home, elusiveness with strangers” (605) echoes with that of Emily Dickinson’s own. The passage indicates that being a poet- at-home, Dickinson is not the odd one. 2.

(10) Though the description was expressed in a dramatic and exaggerating tone, it showed the anxiety that Dickinson experienced when confronting people. The tension she felt quietly prompted her to escape. It was a gesture of retreating from a face-to-face meeting to her most private place—her bedroom—for nearly thirty years. Staying at home always, Emily Dickinson develops a unique style of art that conveys various messages. The works are the distillation of sharp observation and constant meditation. They are pieces that weave different moments of the poet’s life. As a reader, I wonder how a recluse from the nineteenth century like Emily Dickinson. 政治大 works? Moreover, as a recluse who seldom leaves home, how does she percept the 立 creates her unique poems and what inspires her that keeps her staying fresh to her. most intimate space that she dwells in her everyday life, and what is a home to her?. ‧ 國. 學. Living enclosed, Dickinson develops a perception of domestic space, and has mature. ‧. knowledge of the housing structure. In her poems concerning home, words such as. sit. y. Nat. door, window, and room are often used as materials for her to construct her poems. In. io. er. an autonomous way, the poet makes use of confining space of the house, and constructs her own interiority. The enclosed inner space thus is transformed to an. al. n. v i n expandable space which canC reach to the outside. The h e n g c h i U enclosure of such private space is where the poet has no choice but to confront the most intimate presence of herself. She learns of staying with the strong presence of her inner realm, and explores to the deepest site of her soul. From the inside to the outside, Emily Dickinson accumulates, reflects, and forms her way of life. It is in the midst of her inner realm, she builds a home of her own.. 3.

(11) 1.2 Literary Review Most scholars who studied Emily Dickinson’s reclusion probe into her mentality, and argue that the reclusion is a helpless situation due to several reasons, such as “avoidant personality disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive episode, schizotypal personality disorder, social phobia, . . . and severe agoraphobic syndrome” (Fuss 24). 2 And among the studies of Dickinson’s reclusion, several scholars focus on Dickinson’s home and the poet’s bond to it. They explored the influence of home on Dickinson, approaching from psychoanalytic and architectural methodology.. 政治大 examination on the relation between Emily Dickinson and her home with a 立. Jean Mudge, in Emily Dickinson and the Image of Home (1975), took a thorough. psychoanalytic approach. Providing handful introductions about the poet’s home,. ‧ 國. 學. Mudge explored Dickinson’s home with two directions. She studied the substantial. ‧. structure of the house, within which the function of every piece of furniture in the. sit. y. Nat. house was carefully examined. Moreover, she displayed the arrangement of each. io. er. room with photos from the Homestead, and approached with psychoanalysis, explicating how Emily Dickinson’s mentality was shaped and influenced by the house.. al. n. v i n There were two homes in the poet’sC life, one was where she h e n g c h i U spent her adolescent years,. which was named by most scholars as “the house on Pleasant Street,” and another was where she lived for nearly thirty years, being known as “the Homestead.” The significance of separating two homes with different examinations lied in the 2. There are several studies concerning Dickinson’s illness. Maryanne M. Garbowsky in The House. Without the Door: A Study of Emily Dickinson and the Illness of Agoraphobia (1989) suggested that Dickinson was a victim of agoraphobia: “the flight from fears, the need for protection within her father’s house, the atmosphere of family conflict, and the desire for release from tormenting inner pressures” had led the poet unwilling to step out of the house (79). Another scholar Lyndall Gordon in Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family’s Feuds (2010) looked into Dickinson’s medical records and argued that the secret behind Dickinson’s reclusion was not a broken love, but was an infliction of epilepsy. 4.

(12) diversified meanings and memories that the homes had to the poet. Mudge explored Dickinson’s estrangement from the Homestead with a Freudian study. In the years between 1855 and 1858, after returning to the Homestead, Dickinson struggled with the acclimation to the new home, which was also a striving adjustment to “the new self.” 3 With a strict paternal expectation, the Homestead was both a literal and figurative confinement to Emily Dickinson. In a sense, the house itself was rather a prison than a home. Mudge then proposed that Dickinson’s unstable identity was influenced by the instability of her home. 4 The pleasant memory of. 政治大 Homestead. Thus, Mudge argued that Dickinson’s “need to discover a locus or center” 立 living in the house on Pleasant Street contrasted to the turmoil incidents in the. and her “search for position or status” (76) was a result of the failing of a warm home.. ‧ 國. 學. The way to reconstruct the lost center was established by composing poetry. As. ‧. Mudge indicated, the process of Dickinson’s poetry-making was to build the lost self,. sit. y. Nat. center, and her identity as a woman. The sense of fragmentation and the smallness of. io. er. the self were restored by her own poems. “Her creative inner space becomes the place. al. n. v i n Ctoward explicates that home orients women identity. U In “Womanhood and the Inner Space,” h e na complete i h c g Erik Erikson “supports Freud’s supposition that the womb, place of creation, . . . , becomes symbolized. 3. Approaching from feminist and Freudian study of women’s development of socialization, Mudge. quite naturally by a house or by home. In structure and function, uterus and house parallel each other” (Mudge 94-5). Like a “womb,” home with its “nurturing and pacific nature” (95) provides protection to a girl who receives a sense of security that later enables her to develop identity. Basing on the study, Mudge argues that Dickinson’s belated attainment of feminine maturity is probably resulted from the acclimation to this new home. 4. Alfred Habegger in My wars are Laid Away in Books : the Llife of Emily Dickinson (2002) provided. detailed informations about the Dickinson family. After the family returned to the Homestead, they experienced various troubles from inside and outside. The mother’s “perplexing illness” caused her “invalid” with the sickness, and the father’s failure in lawsuit caused tension in the house. Then, it was “Emily’s panic” coming after such turmoil in the family (Habegger 341, 345). The silence and the breakdown of the mother caused emotional detachment to her children. She was absent when the daughter needed her comfort. 5.

(13) where poetry is conceived, a complement to, if not a surrogate for, a procreative biological center” (111). By creating poetry, Dickinson discovered the center and the goal. “Poetic consciousness was thus at once her goal, center, and ultimate home” (Mudge 111). However, Mudge’s study of Dickinson’s home relied heavily on psychoanalytic examination, which limited the study on the house’s strong influence on the poet’s mentality and femininity. Moreover, the poetic home that the poet constructed and dwelled in was taken too certainly by Mudge. 5 A more recent study of Emily Dickinson’s house was dedicated by Diana Fuss,. 政治大 book The Sense of an Interior: Four Rooms and the Writers that Shaped Them (2004), 立 who focused on the housing structure and its positive influence on the poet. In her. Fuss justified that Dickinson was more than an odd recluse who was pathetically. ‧ 國. 學. isolated. It was the reclusion that prompted Dickinson to take up her vocation as a. ‧. poet. Examining Dickinson’s preference of solitude, Fuss pointed out that Dickinson. sit. y. Nat. “freely chose her seclusion, opting to sequester herself in her father’s house in order. io. er. to assume the life of a professional poet” (24). When examining Emily Dickinson’s reclusive life, critics “seemed to agree that interiority, modeled on the architectural. al. n. v i n C h prerequisite forUher poetry” (Fuss 24). space of tomb or prison, was the necessary engchi. Emphasizing the architectural study on the Homestead, Fuss argued that the house certainly “idealized the family residence as a refuge from the outside world, [and was] a private domain dedicated to nurturing the interior life of its newly leisured citizens” (Fuss 30). As the family improved the facility of the house with a better light and installed heating stove in every room, the renovation provided “individual member. 5. “Finding her center in creating poetry, she writes for future readers and thus, while still alive, inhabits. another world which only succeeding generations will know” (112). Mudge’s statement revealed to be contradictor, because I don’t agree that Emily Dickinson intended to publish her poems and proclaim her vocation as a poet. 6.

(14) within the family to seek privacy from the family” (Fuss 54). Emily Dickinson was benefited by the renovation of such convenience in the house. In studying Dickinson’s preference of solitude, Fuss’ aspect was different from that of Mudge’s. Though agreeing with Mudge that the house was in a sense a certain confinement and suffocation from which Dickinson wanted to escape, Fuss proposed that the Homestead was not as a terrifying prison which failed to help Dickinson construct a “healthy identity” (Mudge 99). Rather, Dickinson made use of the enclosed structure of the house and took it as a fountain for composition. In the end of. 政治大 room with the best light, the best ventilation, and the best views” (56) in the house 立. her study, Fuss re-examined Dickinson’s bedroom and argued that it was “actually the. rather than a suffocating coffin. 6 Dickinson, as Fuss suggested, was not “a helpless. ‧ 國. 學. agoraphobic, [who was] trapped in a room in her father’s house” (55) but a poet who. ‧. chose to withdraw from the outside world and carried out her profession.. sit. y. Nat. Fuss’ study focused on the tight bond between the house and the poet. With. io. er. handful of poems analyzed to explicate Dickinson’s connection to her home, Fuss examined each domestic place, such as kitchen, door, drawing- room, and the poet’s. al. n. v i n C hDickinson’s use ofUbody function in her poems, such room which separately reflected engchi as sight and sound. The enclosed interior of the domestic space was thus became an inward connection to Dickinson’s private interior. In Dickinson’s “upside-down, inside-out world, direction is radically dislocated and space itself unhinged. The inside subsumes the outside, transforming the exterior into a mirror image of the domestic interior” (Fuss, 65). Thus, the enclosed interiority, in this sense, became “an infinitely expanding interiority” (26) that broke the rigidity between the interior and. 6. Most critics imagined Emily Dickinson’s most private space—the bedroom—was a “melancholy,. even terrifying, sanctuary” place where she felt “herself prematurely fitted to a coffin [that] imprisoned [her] on the inside” (Fuss 55). 7.

(15) the exterior. Both Mudge and Fuss emphasized on the poet’s inseparable link with her home and house. The scholars found it necessary to separate the house from the home, highlighting the significance of the structure of the house, and they respectively studied the house from different approaches. It is true that the poet shows her mature knowledge of domestic space in the works concerning the theme of home, and the mental link between her inner realm and the home seems unavoidable. If Dickinson would never be separated with the home, regardless of how much she desired to. 政治大 examination on the structure. Though Fuss mentioned her insight of “infinitely 立. escape from it, the study of Dickinsonian home would not be likely to overlook the. expanding interiority” (26) that freed Dickinson from the enclosed space of the room,. ‧ 國. 學. she closed her discussion with an examination on death as a resolution which is seen. ‧. as the “last home” (L 10) by the poet herself.. sit. y. Nat. Apart from the examination on the architectural effect of home, I want to focus. io. er. on the figurative effect of home that Dickinson receives and transforms it to a source of her own making of home. Not omitting the strong link between the poet and her. al. n. v i n home, I focus on the act of reclusionCthat enables the innerUrealm power. That is, hengchi. focusing on what is inside and what forms the inside can provide the poet with that inner power to construct a home of her own. With the power and the force within, it is possible for the poet to dwell in the midst of that most private interior—a home within. She probed into her inner realm and discovered its containing quality and expandability. The figurative home that the poet constructs is not separating the house from the home; instead, it is a home that contains, shelters, and provides possibility. By exploring the intense inner power within her, the poet makes use of the confining interiority, and extends out to draw a figurative picture of home.. 8.

(16) 1.3 Methodology Different from former scholars’ discussions on Emily Dickinson’s home, the study does not rely on theoretical examination. Focusing on poetical analysis in each chapter, I want to examine Dickinson’s works which reveal her domestic concept and see how each poem is and can be related. Staying close to the poems, I also refer to the poet’s letter that provides biographical background and expresses her idea of home. Other than examinations on previous studies on the Dickinsonian home, I use the Emily Dickinson Lexicon, which is dedicated by a group of scholars with the main. 政治大 established in 2007, supported by Brigham Young University. The goal of the Lexicon 立 project leader Cynthia L Hallen. The Emily Dickinson Lexicon was officially. is to “acquaint readers with biographical, historical, cultural, and linguistic aspects of. ‧ 國. 學. Dickinson’s work. It will be a complement to reference works available now in. ‧. Dickinson studies. Entries in the Lexicon will document the richness of Dickinson’s. sit. y. Nat. language for general and professional readers” (EDL). Moreover, the establisher. io. Dickinson:. er. intends to provide the potentiality of words for the analysis of the poems of Emily. al. n. v i n Ctheh lexicon is description The guiding principle of rather than prescription. The engchi U lexicon team strives to reveal rather than suppress the semantic potential of. Dickinson’s words and idioms. Team members work towards clear, complete, and accurate entries without deliberately favoring or excluding any particular interpretation or critical stance. The EDL is designed to be a complement to primary texts and secondary sources now available in Dickinson scholarship. We rely on Dickinson’s own usage in the context of the poems as the primary authority for defining her words. (EDL) Reference of the word definitions from the Emily Dickinson Lexicon will be shown as the abbreviation “EDL” after the explanation of the word. The frequent usage and 9.

(17) reference from the Lexicon demonstrates a highly close examination of the text itself. Different from theological examination on Dickinson’s poem and the poet herself, the study stays focused on close reading and textual analysis which provides original and intimate responses to each piece of poetic work of Emily Dickinson.. 1.4 Chapter Organization The poems are the main support for the examination on Emily Dickinson’s figurative home. Quotations from Dickinson’s poetry follows Ralph.W. Franklin’s. 政治大 University Press, Belknap Press, 1999). In all references to the poems, I cite the poem 立 reading edition of The Poems of Emily Dickinson (Cambridge Mass: Harvard. numbers following an abbreviation “Fr” which stands for Franklin. After the. ‧ 國. 學. introduction in chapter one, in chapter two, I start with four poems which relatively. ‧. explicate the failing of the poet’s real home, and how she transfers the reclusion as a. sit. y. Nat. resource to her richness of inner life. In “Houses - so the Wise Men tell me - ” (Fr. io. er. 139), the poet expresses her doubt of the unknown owner of the house , which causes her hesitation of going back to such home. Being unfamiliar with the house owner, the. al. n. v i n poet ultimately expresses a sense ofC unwillingness which U h e n g c h i makes her “trudge” on the way back home. In “You love me - you are sure - ” (Fr 218), there is a painstaking. process of realizing a broken relationship. Though the poem manifests the pain after an expectation, it indeed shows how home fails to serve as a comforting place for the poet whenever she needs warmth. Later in the chapter, I focus on the poet’s reclusion, which enables her to face the innermost private presence of herself. Realizing there is a deep presence inside her, the poet probes into her inner realm, and discovers the power that lies inside her. Poems that support my idea in this part are “The Soul selects her own Society” (Fr 409) and “One need not be a Chamber - to be Haunted - ” (Fr 407). 10.

(18) In chapter three, I explore how Dickinson probes into her inner realm, which consists of heart, soul, and mind, and discuss how she makes an inner realm a home with a possibility of dwelling. The inner realm, though intangible, has a power to contain and a nature of extensibility. Poems in this chapter will respectively illustrate how the poet sees the expanding nature of her inner realm. In “I thought that Nature was enough” (Fr 1269), the poet expresses her surprise of the capacity of human nature. And in “Our own Possessions though our own” (Fr 1267), the poet links the nature of capacity with possibility which enables an expansion from inside to outside.. 政治大 1178). It illustrates the power of a heart’s extension, which can even be greater than 立. Poem that explicates the extensibility of heart is “The Life we have is very great” (Fr. Life. And, “There is a solitude of space” (Fr 1696) depicts the depth of soul, which is. ‧ 國. 學. regarded by the poet as the most profound site of the inner realm. The last poem in the. ‧. chapter depicts the extensibility of mind. In “The Brain is wider than the Sky” (Fr. y. sit. io. er. its capacity.. Nat. 598), the poet expresses the strong flexibility of human mind and the measurement of. In chapter four I select four poems to illustrate Dickinson’s home-making and. al. n. v i n C h of a figurative home. how she draws the circumference The loss of a center in life engchi U indeed grants the poet with possibility, which is as a threshold to construct her. figurative home. Without the rigidity of a solid core of rules, the center can be built with flexibility. The poems explicating such idea are “I dwell in Possibility” (Fr 466) and “The way Hope builds his House” (Fr 1512). The possibilities that happen in the poet’s life lie in the encountering moments. The third poem “I started Early - Took my Dog - ” (Fr 656) illustrates the power of encountering moment which can be turned as a source for accumulating experiences and richness in life. As the soul, which is the core of life, is empowered with accumulations, it is able to support the figurative home. To conclude with the idea of home-making, the poem “The Props assist the 11.

(19) House” (Fr 729) explicates the process of building a house. The poem is organized first with outer structure of a house, and then deals with the inner core of the house. Each poem conveys a sense of home-making that answers to the poet’s question of “what a home is” (L 342b). Emily Dickinson’s figurative home is an inwardly and outwardly expanding home. It is kept secretly and carefully in privacy, and performs a high selectivity that will not be exposed easily. The home is a home within itself. Like the poems that Emily Dickinson did not intend to make known to the public, which was according to. 政治大 into her inner realm, Dickinson discovers a great possibility inside. And by the 立. her will, she did not aim to build a home that explicitly revealed itself. By probing. encountering moments in her life, she is able to reach out from the enclosed interior,. ‧ 國. 學. and touches the distant exterior. Her life is not one that is confined, but is granted with. ‧. possibility to communicate to the world and to those whom she loves. Though being. y. sit. io. n. al. er. cannot be ignored.. Nat. enclosed, Emily Dickinson’s inner realm has much profundity as well as secrets that. Ch. engchi. 12. i n U. v.

(20) Chapter Two Emily Dickinson’s Domestic Perception. 2.1 Chapter Focus There was a perplexing emotional link between Emily Dickinson and her home. In her reclusive life which has maintained for nearly thirty years (from 1850s to the year she passed away, 1886), Dickinson remained mostly indoors, relied heavily on the house. She avoided face-to-face meeting with people, and demanded for a total. 政治大 with dwelling space. In another sense, home was often described by the poet as a 立. privacy. In one sense, Dickinson’s home served as a secured place which provided her. restraining prison which she expressed a desire to escape from. The perplexity of. ‧ 國. 學. Dickinson’s emotional connection with her home lied in such contradictory responses. ‧. that the poet showed in her works. Home was where she “ran to” when being. sit. y. Nat. “frightened” (Fr 218). At the same time, home also failed to comfort her in this. io. er. frightening moment because she “found the windows dark” (Fr 218). There was a sense that Dickinson felt estranged from home, and she was living like an independent. al. n. v i n C materially individual in her house. Home figuratively influenced Dickinson to U h e n g and i h c. form a conception of the interior space. She turned her face away from the external world, and faced inward. In the firm construction of the house, Dickinson dwelled in this private space, and learned to face the innermost realm of the interior—herself. The significance of Emily Dickinson’s reclusion has long been explored by numerous scholars. It is a way of living that shapes her perception of domestic space. In the mid-1850s, Emily Dickinson silently and slowly withdrew herself from the society, rejecting invitations of and avoiding participation in social activities. In the beginning the refusal was a decision made under a reluctant condition; however, it later became the poet’s style of living in the rest of her life. The reclusion began under 13.

(21) two circumstances. One was Dickinson’s refusal to join the religious heat and the socialization of the local church. Another was the mother’s chronicle illness and Dickinson’s increasing domestic responsibility. Under the shadow of the mother’s illness, Dickinson played the role of an obligated daughter to share the domestic duty with her sister because of the mother’s heavy reliance. As the mother’s health continued to decline, Dickinson’s domestic responsibilities weighed more heavily upon her and she required herself to remain at home. In a letter written in 1858, Dickinson kindly refused an invitation, saying that she could not make a visit to the. 政治大 explain: “I do not go out at all, lest father will come and miss me, or miss some little 立. friend because she could not leave “home, or mother” (L 191). The poet continued to. act, which I might forget, should I run away—Mother is much as usual. I Know not. ‧ 國. 學. what to hope of her” (L 191). Forty years later, Lavinia Dickinson, the younger sister. ‧. in the family, stated that because their mother was chronically ill, one of the daughters. sit. y. Nat. had to remain always with her. Emily Dickinson took up the role, and “found the life. io. er. with her books and nature so congenial, continued to live it” (Habegger 342). She enjoyed the life which was withdrawing from the outside world, thus the reclusion. al. n. v i n C hliving mostly indoor, was internalized as a life style. Though strangely, Emily engchi U. Dickinson was trying to give her own definition of “what the home [was]” (L 342b) in her entire life as if she did not know her home at all. Home could be a protective shelter that provided for her reclusion and living; home could also be a space that restricted her and oppressed her. What is a home to Emily Dickinson, and how Dickinson responds to such a home will be illustrated in this chapter. Home, stood as a strong shelter for Emily Dickinson, molded her comprehension of the interiority and the exteriority. Staying at home always, the enclosed space became the most intimate space that Dickinson encountered with. To explore Dickinson’s understanding of the interior, there are three words needed to be 14.

(22) examined: “interior,” “home,” and “house.” According to the Emily Dickinson Lexicon, the word “interior” is figuratively defined as “internal, mental, spiritual, inward.” The definitions are not different from that of the general meanings of the word. However, in the webplay suggestion by the Lexicon, 7the scholars connect the word with that of “apartment, house, [and] within.” Thus, in Dickinsonian study of interiority, the enclosed life style is connected closely to her domestic living. The words which are highlighted in the dissertation are “home” and “house.” The definitions from the Emily Dickinson Lexicon of the two words are interrelated. The. 政治大 residence.” And for the word “house,” the Lexicon’s first group of explication for the 立 first explanation for the word “home” is “house, habitation, dwelling place, place of. word is “home, dwelling, building, habitation for humanity.” Both words are linked. ‧ 國. 學. with the definitions as “haven and nest.” And the difference lies in that “house” can. ‧. be related with “death, tomb, residence of the soul, and church,” while “home” is. sit. y. Nat. explicated as “one’s personal abode” and “mortal existence.” Since both words can be. io. er. studied as “home,” the analysis of the poems in the dissertation can be given wider suggestions. Both words can be suggested as the dwelling that provides shelter, the. al. n. v i n C can definitions of home and house of limitation in meanings. U h ebenfreed i h gc. Indulging herself in this enclosed domestic space, Dickinson learns of staying. most of the time with the profoundest site of her self. She does not confront the outside world, but chooses to explore the innermost privacy within her. Her soul stood solitarily but independently, erect but lonesome. The first half of the chapter will. 7. The use of Webplay is introduced in the Lexicon’s Introduction page: “Webplay collocations appear. in parentheses after the EDL etymology. Using an electronic WordCruncher concordance program, we have systematically documented lexical ties between sets of words in Dickinson’s poems and corresponding entries in Webster’s 1844 dictionary.” Takes the word “adore” as an example, Dickinson uses the words worship, Glory, and adore in Poem Fr 717, and Webster uses similar terms in his definitions of adore.” 15.

(23) examine the moments when home disappoints an eager heart that needs comfort. Four poems will be examined in the chapter. First two poems explicate a sense of distance that home presents, illustrating how the poet finds home disappointing in different situations. Poems that are examined are “Houses - so the Wise Men tell me - ” (Fr 139) and “You love me - you are sure - ” (Fr 218). In “Houses - so the Wise Men tell me - ” (Fr 139), the poet states an ideal home that provides comfort and protection. However, not knowing who the owner of the house is, the poet expresses her hesitation and doubt to such ideal home. In “You love me - you are sure -” (Fr 218), different from. 政治大 painstaking moment that the poet experiences when finding an empty home. The 立. the general analysis, the examination of the poem focuses on the disappointing and. second half of the chapter will examine two poems that illustrate the enclosed. ‧ 國. 學. interiority. In “The Soul selects her own Society” (Fr 409), the poet describes a state. ‧. of an enclosed soul that is not easily accessible. In “One need not be a Chamber - to. sit. y. Nat. be Haunted - ” (Fr 407), the poet describes an experience of encountering the most. io. er. private site of her self, stating an unforgettable moment of such confrontation. Both poems illustrate the enclosing status of the poet’s life, and how these poems reflect. n. al. Ch. Dickinson’s perception of an enclosed home.. engchi. i n U. v. 2.2 The Failing Home Though in the poems the poet defines the terms “house” and “home” with only slight difference, in Dickinson’s personal life the difference between the house and the home seems to be greater. As what is illustrated in the introduction, the Homestead that Dickinson moved back in her adolescent years did not mentally satisfy her. Indeed, she was reluctant to move back to the Homestead, because the house on Pleasant Street brought her more pleasant memories and she spent her energetic youth there. She felt like belonging to that house but not of the Homestead. When Dickinson 16.

(24) went on her once and only away-from-home trip to study in Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1847, the house stood as a comfort and warmth for the homesick girl. She longed to go back home, when she was confronting a huge struggle over the seminary’s strict religious principles and teachings. Once mentioning her love to this home in a letter to a friend, Dickinson wrote: “I’m afraid I’m growing selfish in my dear home, but I do love it so, and when some pleasant friend invites me to pass a week with her, I look at my father and mother and Vinnie, and all my friends, and so no—no, can’t leave them, what if they die when I’m gone” (L 86). It was in this house that Dickinson defined. 政治大 The significance of the moving back lies in the girl’s remark of a definition of 立. her home as “a holy thing” (L 59).. home. According to Alfred Habegger, “The move brought confusion or collapse to. ‧ 國. 學. [Emily Dickinson] and Mother” (Habegger 341). As Dickinson reported in her letter,. ‧. she was “lost in the melee” and was “out with lanterns, looking for” (L 182) herself.. sit. y. Nat. The memory wasn’t a pleasant one. Seeing a proverb “home is where the heart is”. io. er. shown in a hackney on moving day, Dickinson made a sardonic correction: “I think it is where the house is, and the adjacent buildings” (L 182). Though the correction. al. n. v i n Ctravel, might be a result after a tiring hints of how Dickinson is having in U h e nit gprovides i h c mind with the definition of “home.” Home with warm memories seemed to replace. home that provided shelter. The house on Pleasant Street took the role of a symbol of home, providing perhaps a little bit of the definition of home; the Homestead was a shelter that provided a place for the poet to recede from the outside world. The design of the Homestead did bring influence on how the poet perceived interior space. During the chaotic time to acclimate herself to the new home, Dickinson had an inner struggle over living in the house that appeared remote to her. She quietly formed an estrangement to home. She often recalled the old days with her close friends in adolescent years (which she spent the years in the house on Pleasant Street). The 17.

(25) result of such nostalgia and her resistance to the Homestead caused her not able to “erase the earlier inscape” of a stable home that she once had (Mudge 80). “Her search for a true home is unsatisfied, even through the act of composition. She begins the poem speaking of her home; she ends it fleeing from the house” (Mudge 82). Emily Dickinson’s preference to stay inside the house became stronger after her mother’s increasing illness. “As was always the case during Mrs. Dickinson’s illnesses, the poet’s domestic responsibilities had become much heavier . . . The odd parallel between Mother’s not leaving her chair and Emily’s not going out leaves us. 政治大 was reluctant to move to her new home; at the same time, she would not leave the 立. wondering how much the daughter truly wished to ‘run away’” (Habegger 342). She. house.. ‧ 國. 學. The house that does not provide her with comfort and link result in a remoteness. ‧. and distance. Just as the poem “Houses - so the Wise Men tell me - ” shows, the poet. “Houses” - so the Wise Men tell me “Mansions”! Mansions must be warm! Mansions cannot let the tears in, Mansions must exclude the storm!. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. io. sit. y. Nat. was hesitating about going back to this home:. i n U. v. “Many Mansions,” by “his Father,” I don’t know him; snugly built Could the Children find the way there Some, would even trudge tonight! (Fr 139). The first stanza begins with the poet’s reception of her knowledge of “houses” from a group of the wise men. The houses, as the poet continues to describe, is a place of comfort and warmth. The “mansions” must not let “the tears in.” Moreover, the house 18.

(26) that the poet heard of has a strong protection that it must “exclude the storms.” The usage of two exclamations in the second and the fourth line of the poem highlights the tone of a confirmation. The house, as the poet describes, is with certain qualities. It has warmth, comfort, and protection. The description of the house reveals a high expectation of the dwelling place in the mouth of the wise men. However, in the next stanza, the tone of the poet shifts from firmness to reservation. The numerous houses owned by “his Father” appear to be distant and remote to the poet, because the poet doesn’t “know him.” Thus, even though the poet. 政治大 raises question in the end of the poem, addressing her doubt. She wonders if “the 立. continues to describe the houses as “snugly built,” the hesitation remains. The poet. children” can “find the way there.” The children, being limited with grammatical rule. ‧ 國. 學. of definite article “the,” belong to someone. Then, does the poet doubt the children’s. sit. y. Nat. children even will start to “trudge tonight.”. ‧. finding way back to this house which belongs to the father? Moreover, “some” of the. io. er. The poem reveals the poet’s reserving attitude to this house that belongs to an owner who appears to be distant and unfamiliar. Though the poem can be analyzed. al. n. v i n from a religious perspective,C explicating “the Father” h e n g c h i U as God, it also shows. Dickinson’s tough attitude towards things that she doubts. From a religious perspective, the Heavenly home shows Dickinson’s doubt towards such ideal and warm home. Studying from the word itself, which is explicated in the Lexicon as “abode, domicile, and shelter,” the poem shows another reserving attitude. The poet simply does not totally believe an easy way to this warm home. She is afraid that the children are not able to find the way home. Moreover, even if some do find the way, they meet difficulties along the way when returning. There is a hesitation, which an ideal home is not easily approached and be dwelled. Another poem that expresses an even more severe disappointment is “You love 19.

(27) me - you are sure - ” (Fr 218). Unlike majority studies that examine the poem as a complex friendship between the poet and her sister-in-law Susan Gilbert Dickinson, the poem examined here also suggests how an empty dwelling can disappoint and bring heart-breaking experience:. You love me - you are sure I shall not fear mistake I shall not cheated wake Some grinning morn To find the Sunrise left And Orchards - unbereft And Dollie - gone!. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. I need not start - you’re sure That night will never be When frightened - home to Thee I run To find the windows dark And no more Dollie - mark Quite none?. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Be sure you’re sure - you know I'll bear it better now If you’ll just tell me so Than when - a little dull Balm grown Over this pain of mine You sting - again! (Fr 218). i n U. v. The famous poem is known as one of the Dollie poems that Emily Dickinson writes to her sister-in-law Susan Gilbert Dickinson. In the beginning of the poem, the poet expresses a statement of doubt. She wants to make sure if the addressee truly “love[s]” her. Though uttering doubt, the poet continues to address to herself that she must not fear any mistake or misunderstanding of the fact she is to find out: if there is love. The. 20.

(28) word “love” is specifically explicated by the Lexicon. Other than some general definitions of love, the word here especially implies to “care for, entertain a great affection for, regard with esteem.” Different from that of the affection that is related to heterosexual and homosexual love, the word highlights the care with high esteem. The love is not how the love that used to be defined. Other than the implication of Susan Gilbert’s nickname which is given by the poet, the word “Dollie” is suggested by the Lexicon as “comfort” and “company of another.” Thus, to examine the poem from different aspect, the poem reveals a sense of comfort that the poet is asking for.. 政治大 wound. The tone is full of disappointment and pain. Discovering in “a grinning morn” 立 Continuing to express her fear and uncertainty, the poem expresses a sense of. and finding the “Sunrise left,” the poet indicates that the “Orchards” are being. ‧ 國. 學. “unbereft.” The contradictory description of the morning expresses an opposite. ‧. feeling, leaving the morning not a smiling one but more a chilly one. The plant. sit. y. Nat. “Orchards” here not only indicates that of “apple tree,” but is explained as “cultivated. io. er. land” (EDL). Finding the sunrise gone, the poet describes this “cultivated land” as being abandoned. The word “unbereft” is explicated in the Lexicon as “sorrowing,. al. n. v i n C hmore severely, the poet grief struck, and empty.” Even discovers that “Dollie,” which engchi U. means “comfort and company of another” here is “gone.” The heart breaking moment in the poem becomes more intense in the next stanza. Discovering her comfort and the company are gone, the poet continues to say, that she “need[s] not start.” The word “start” is defined by the Lexicon as “come into. motion, startle, [or] to begin a trip or journey to a certain destination.” The tone of “you’re sure” becomes firm and stately. The narrator then recalls a painful former experience, that when being “frightened,” she runs from home to “Thee.” Home here does not serve as a comfort; instead, when the poet confronts fear, she chooses to run to another. However, the destination that the poet wants to reach disappoints her as 21.

(29) well. She finds “the windows dark, And no more Dollie.” While seeing the vacant house with no light and no comfort, the poet wonders if there is truly nothing. The question mark in the end of the stanza expresses a painstaking confirmation. The bitterness in the end of the line expresses the pain of being abandoned. Realizing the situation of being bereft, the poet ends the poem with a distancing tone. The statement in the beginning of the stanza expresses a sense of warning: “Be sure you’re sure.” The trust between the poet and the addressee is broken now. The pain is caused, and the distrust is formed. The wound that this addressee causes is so. 政治大 expresses the disgust of such pain. When the little comfort is growing to cover the 立. great that the comfort can only last for a short moment. In the ending lines, the poet. pain, the poet says, “You sting again!” The poet does not reveal who or what this. ‧ 國. 學. “You” stands for; however, it represents the old wound which is caused by the broken. ‧. relationship still exists. Though the painstaking broken relationship between the poet. sit. y. Nat. and the addressee is significant in the analysis, the failing of a home cannot be. io. er. ignored. When feeling upset, the poet does not rely on her own home, but she decides to run to another place for comfort. Though her destination fails her as well, it is. al. n. v i n ironic enough to see how home failsCto comfort the poet. The h e n g c h i U preposition “to” not. only suggests a directional function, it is also suggested by the Lexicon as “with the purpose of” and “arriving at.” It is not hard to imagine how big the expectation the poet has in mind to “run to” another place for comfort. And thus the pain of disappointment and abandonment is so great that the wound is difficult to recover. Both poems shows how home fails to serve as a comfort and a protection to the poet. Although in the first poem the poet does express the splendid and protective home, the unknown owner of the home makes the poet trudge and doubt such ideal home. In the second case the poet does not directly express a failure of a home; however, it is introduced in an implicit way. The pain is there, but home cannot 22.

(30) provide comfort; the resident dwells in the home, painfully feeling bereft and abandoned. Perhaps just like the home in reality, Dickinson dwells in her home, struggling with her inner turmoil, and feeling forsaken.. 2.3 The Enclosed Home The preference of avoiding meeting people face-to-face was formed in Emily Dickinson’s youth. Some historical researches even show that the withdrawal from the society probably happened earlier before the family moved back to the Homestead.. 政治大 the house on Pleasant Street, which was often flooded with people. Due to the father’s 立 The poet’s early anxiety of meeting people started when the family was still living in. hospitality, the house was used as an open environment. And recorded in Lavinia. ‧ 國. 學. Dickinson’s diary, the sisters were often asked to greet the father’s guests, and they. ‧. seemed to be troubled by such requirement. 8 Once addressing to her brother Austin. y. sit. io. er. people:. Nat. Dickinson in a letter, Emily Dickinson expressed her disgust and fear of “welcoming”. Soon after tea, last night, a violent ring at the bell—Vinnie obeys the. al. n. v i n C h Brainerd, would U summons—Mr. Harrington, like to see me at the door. I come engchi walking in from the kitchen, frightened almost to death, and receive the. command from father, “not to stand at the door” —terrified beyond measure, I advance to come in. . . Another ring at the door—enter W [Cowper] Dickinson— soon followed by Mr. Thurston! I again crept into the sitting room, more dead. 8. As Fuss’s background study of Emily Dickinson’s house on Pleasant Street shows, Emily Dickinson. did live a social life in her youth. The house was often visited by numerous visitors. “As a moderator of local town meetings, a twice-elected Massachusetts state senator, and a representative to the Thirty-third United States Congress, Edward Dickinson attracted to his home a steady stream of visitors, among them, newspaper editors, bishops, preachers, judges, lawyers, politicians, academics, writers, generals, and senators” (Fuss 53). 23.

(31) than alive, and endeavored to make conversation. Father looked round triumphantly. (L 79) The sisters constantly had a feeling that the house was being invaded because of the sudden visits, which appeared to be annoying and bothering, especially to Emily Dickinson. The tension of confronting people thus became another reason to prompt the poet to retreat to her private space. After the family moved back to the Homestead, Dickinson’s refusal of social participation became stronger. While the outside world was ongoing with changes and development, Dickinson was engaging in her. 政治大. self-immersing composition world. And she did not intend to make her voice be heard.. 立. Yet, Dickinson did not reject the society, neither the contemporary culture.. ‧ 國. 學. Indeed, it was culture that empowered her to grow stronger in making her own. ‧. decision. Roger Lundin, the author of Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief states,. sit. y. Nat. “cultural forces also worked upon Dickinson to keep her from joining the church. One. io. er. of the most powerful was the conception of the self that she had already begun to cultivate in adolescence” (54). She would if she found the answer that could convince. al. n. v i n her witty mind. She was encouragedCby contemporary culture h e n g c h i U trend. 9. to think and to. create. Emily Dickinson took the idea and used her own imaginative interpretation on thinking about God, which later formed as a supporting idea to cultivate her own thoughts. Moreover, the nation at the time urged the people to take on their right of. 9. In 1850, another voice which was diverse to the religious teaching was Ik Marvel’s (Donald G.. Mitchell) novelty of imaginative idea. Marvel’s Reveries of a Bachelor encouraged young men and women in mid-nineteenth century to spend time on “day dream and reveries” which help them develop independent interpretations of “thinking about God, truth, and the self” (Lundin 59). Reverie cultivated imaginative minds, which served as an outlet for Dickinson’s young contemporaries and their enthusiasm for literature. 24.

(32) liberty and exercise such right of choosing and making their own decision. 10 Under the influence of numerous flourishing ideas, it was not surprising that Emily Dickinson could choose to be one of those “lingering bad ones” (L 36). Religious stimulation was one factor that prompted Dickinson to withdrawal more completely into her own world, and she merely enjoyed living in such seclusion. Not participating the rush of the religious wave in the family, Dickinson “concealed her distress from her family” (Lundin 71), and quietly rebelled against it. The silent and solitary situation enlarged the poet’s realization of her isolation, which gradually led her to the. 政治大 Emily nonetheless found within her family’s home a shelter of inestimable value, as 立 discovery of her “poetic calling” (Lundin 65). “However homeless she felt at home,. she set out to map the uncharted territories of consciousness” (Lundin 74). She. ‧ 國. 學. became a good example which “inner realities outweighed the whole of the outside. ‧. world,” and “by forsaking the social world and its allotted roles” the poet finally. sit. y. Nat. released the intensity of “the infinite possibilities of the inner life” (74).. io. er. In a famous poem “The Soul selects her own Society” (Fr 409), the poet expresses a retreating soul who rejects the outside world. In the poem, the soul who. al. n. v i n has the strong will to “selectC her society” reflects that h e n g c h i U of Dickinson’s solitary soul: The Soul selects her own Society Then - shuts the Door To her divine Majority Present no more 10. Lundin applied the poet W. H. Auden’s saying to explicate the contemporary collective conviction. that “for the principle that liberty is prior to virtue, i.e. liberty cannot be distinguished from license, for freedom of choice is neither good nor bad but the human prerequisite without which virtue and vice have no meaning. Virtue is, of course, preferable to vice, but to choose vice is preferable to having virtue chosen for one.” Thus, as Lundin proposed, when Emily Dickinson was wrestling with “decisions about faith, marriage, and life in public, Dickinson was hammering out an understanding of the self that was unique to her but also reflected crucial changes in American culture” (55). 25.

(33) Unmoved - she notes the Chariots - pausing At her low Gate Unmoved - an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat I’ve known her - from an ample nation Choose One Then - close the Valves of her attention Like Stone (Fr 409). 政治大 has a firm choice: to select her立 own society. The word “society” denotes a community, In the beginning of the poem, the poet makes a strong statement about the soul who. ‧ 國. 學. nation, and a broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests. 11 However, other than general definitions, “society”. ‧. is explicated in the Lexicon as “shared existence, interaction, friendship, and expanse”. sit. y. Nat. (EDL). This self-ruling soul selectively makes her interaction with the outside world. n. al. er. io. and even decides whether to share her existence, then, with a fast gesture, the soul. i n U. v. “shuts the Door” to the majority. Without hesitation, the highly selective soul is. Ch. engchi. determined to reject the “divine Majority.” The Majority, with the implication of the mainstream in a certain community or a larger group of union, is described by the poet as “divine.” Strangely, the poet does not capitalize “divine,” but emphasizes “Majority” with a conflicting indication. The word “divine” denotes deity, God, or a god, suggesting that something or someone divine can be distinctively absolute. The soul firmly rejects the dominant majority with a gesture of enclosure, and “Present[s]”. 11. In referring to the definitions of the words, I apply Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which has history. over one hundred and fifty years, in print and “now online, Merriam-Webster has been America’s leading and most-trusted provider of language information” (Merriam Webster). “society.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2011. Web. 8 May 2011. 26.

(34) no more. The word “Present,” which can be taken as a verb and an adjective, both indicate a condition of existence, exposure, and accessible. The soul closes the door, and dwells in her own space, and not appearing and even count as “existing.” After the firm attitude of the gesture of “selecting,” the soul stays “unmoved” in her dwelling place. Though staying inside, the soul pays attention to what is happening outside this enclosed world. She notices there is a “Chariot” stopping by her door, making a visit. Along with the shut door, the Gate, which is described as “low,” implicates an oxymoron. The door which is closed by the “unmoved” soul. 政治大 entrance, is indeed firmly closed. The two adjectives “unmoved” and “low” thus 立. shuts off the access. Though the Gate is “low,” seeming to grant an accessible. contrast to each other. Even an “Emperor be kneeling upon her Mat,” the soul would. ‧ 國. 學. not open the door. The repetitive usage of the word “unmoved” suggests the firmness. ‧. of rejection that the soul presents to the outside world. Physically speaking, the Gate. sit. y. Nat. is low; however, the undertone within the introduction of the adjective “low” is. io. not opened.. er. pregnant with pride. The visitors can stop by the soul’s residence, but the entrance is. al. n. v i n C h the soul’s uniqueness. The closing stanza suggests However, the subjective “I” in engchi U. the beginning of the line appears to be problematical. The previous two stanzas show a highly autonomous soul who selects her own society, rejecting the majority. The insertion of the “I” seems to interrupt the narration by shifting from a third person narrative to a first person narrative. 12 The pausing with dashes inserted in the first. 12. In Emily Dickinson: Monarch of Perception, Domhnall Mitchell notes the problematic interruption. of the subjective “I.” Mitchell focuses on the variorum versions of the poem (including the edited versions of the poem and the handwritten versions) to argues the relationship between the poet and the speaker, and the “poem’s appearance and its contents” (238). Here Mitchell sees the appearance of the “I” as mirroring “nearly exactly traits that exist in the author” (238), which suggests the “I” is Dickinson herself. The participation of the “I” voices another authority, and the “I” can switch the total 27.

(35) line of the stanza suggests two indications. The soul, who is known by the “I,” is “from an ample nation.” 13 The passage, if read reversely as “Choose One/ from an ample nation,” makes firm the poet’s strong will in decision. However, if the passage is read with the given order, the origin or the identity of the soul is still unknown. The soul, withdrawing herself from the nation and “selects her own society,” stands out her individuality among the well-populated nation. She only accepts one. The word “Choose” is differently suggested by the Lexicon as “accept, receive, desire.” Limiting her choice of “accepting one,” the soul closes the door again, and shuts her. 政治大 outlet” (EDL) shows the soul’s enclosing nature. The door, which can only be 立. attention. Among all the explications for the word “Valves,” the meaning of “one-way. accessible with one way, reflects the dweller’s fastidiously selective personality. The. ‧ 國. 學. poet ends the poem with a metaphor, describing once again that the soul’s state is hard. ‧. as “stone.” The poem reflects the poet’s highly selective way of life as well.. sit. y. Nat. Dickinson’s exclusive soul sees the outside world, but chooses to stay inside and. io. er. enclosed, rejecting the openness to expose herself. She is the one who withdraws from the outside world, living with solitude.. al. n. v i n C hand there is such feeling The solitude grows more intense, of estrangement to the engchi U. world and to her self. 14 Dickinson sees her self as a stranger living in the world, with perspective of discussing the poem. Different from Mitchell, I see the interruption of the “I” as a. strengthening of the poet’s strong will. It is “I” who ultimately chooses the retreating soul as a dwelling space, and at the same time the selective and independent soul reflects the poet’s self-reliant life. 13. The word “nation” is not capitalized in the poem.. 14. I separate “her” and “self” in order to explicate the intimate strangeness of the self which is. highlighted in the chapter. The chapter’s usage of the separation of “her” and “self” is only to show the difference between the speaker and her awareness of “the self.” Emily Dickinson’s usage of the self with capital “S” is also noticed by Mary Cappello, the author of the essay “Dickinson's Facing Or Turning Away.” Cappello in the essay states that “unlike the work of contemporary lyric poets, the aim of Dickinson’s art wasn’t self-expression, but an exploration of self with a capital S – the production of a Self through art but also an inquiry into its conditions of possibility” (580). 28.

(36) the world being strange to her as well as she once mentions in a letter: “All we are strange —dear—The world is not acquainted with us, because we are not acquainted with her” (L 203). Alfred Habegger, a prominent Dickinson biographer who provides scrupulous details of Emily Dickinson’s life, proposes that “no matter whom she addresses, Dickinson spoke of herself as living in exile, prison, destitution, [and] wilderness” (488). The estrangement both to outside and inside her enclosed world enables her to deal with the interior realm. Realizing there is an irreconcilable self inside her, Dickinson is prepared to confront that stranger who lives within: “We meet. 政治大 wave, not being washed by the force coming unto her. However, when she encounters 立 no Stranger but Ourself” (L 348). She is willful to stand alone among the religious. the perplexing coexistence inside her inner realm, the anxiety and fear is what has to. ‧ 國. 學. overcome. The more she attempts to run away from the forcefulness coming inside,. ‧. the more she discovers her smallness and frailty in the face of the intimate stranger.. sit. y. Nat. In a poem “One need not be a Chamber - to be Haunted -” (Fr 407), the poet. io. er. expresses the experience of being frightened by the vivid existence of self, in one’s own chamber. In this most private space of one’s own, the poet encounters the deepest. n. al. Ch. existence that dwells inside her:. engchi. i n U. One need not be a Chamber - to be Haunted One need not be a House The Brain has Corridors - surpassing Material Place Far safer, of a Midnight Meeting External Ghost Than its interior Confronting That Cooler Host. Far safer, through an Abbey gallop, The Stones a’chase 29. v.

(37) Than Unarmed, one’s a’self encounter In lonesome Place Ourself behind ourself, concealed Should startle most Assassin hid in our Apartment Be Horror’s least. The Body - borrows a Revolver He bolts the Door O’erlooking a superior spectre Or More (Fr 407). 立. 政治大. In the beginning of the poem, the poet states her idea of a haunted experience. It. ‧ 國. 學. happens in a Chamber or a House. Differently, the experience of being frightened here happens in another space. The haunted experience happens in an enclosed and private. ‧. space of one’s mind, which is being highlighted by the poet. Such horrific experience. y. Nat. sit. happens in “the Brain” that has “corridors.” The description of the brain reflects. n. al. er. io. Emily Dickinson’s well-use of her knowledge of domestic space. The passages in the. i n U. v. brain connect each room, showing the spatiality of the human mind. Such intangible. Ch. engchi. house even “surpasses” that of material ones. Then, the poet points out the time when the horror experience takes place. Moreover, this horrific feature that frightens the poet is even more severe than “External Ghost.” Encountering in midnight, the poet expresses this inner confrontation of one’s self, which is a “cooler Host.” The word “cooler” is differently suggested by the Lexicon as “more detached and more passionless.” The line here reflects Dickinson’s estrangement to herself, that this self appears to be “more detached” and more indifferent. Then, the poet compares such horrific experience of encountering one’s self to two other experiences: meeting with an external ghost in midnight and being chased 30.

(38) by “Stones” in a haunted sanctuary. The stones, being explicated by the Lexicon as representations for “grave, crypt, and mausoleum,” highlight the terror that the poet intends to express. The second comparison of the encountering experience shows an even higher level of horror, because the fright cannot even be compared with encountering “one’s self in Lonesome Place.” The word “lonesome” suggests the “having feelings of solitude and being “secluded from society” (EDL). In such privately enclosed space inside one’s own, the peot describes the most intense horror she could ever experience. What’s more, the frightening experience is highlighted. 政治大 Dickinson, is explicated as “true identity, own soul, and inner being” (EDL). 立. when the poet is “unarmed” to meet the self. The word “a’self,” being used by. Confronting the very being that dwells inside her makes her chill. A “concealing” soul. ‧ 國. 學. that hides behind “Ourself” is what appears to be more terrible than a true “assassin. ‧. hid in our apartment.”. sit. y. Nat. The poet does not reveal how the horror experience will end. It is “the Body”. io. er. that “borrows a Revolver,” completely shuts down the door. But the gesture of holding a handgun paused, and the poet shifts to describe “the Body’s” next gesture. It. al. n. v i n C hwhich indicates thatUthe Body chooses to ignore the overlooks a “superior spectre,” engchi presence of a greater horror. The word “spectre” is explicated by the Lexicon as. “terror, object of dread, thought, prospect that perturbs the mind.” Overlooking this higher existence of horror, the Body shuts the door and stays totally closed. The experience of meeting the most terrific feature is the one that cannot be escaped. Since one’s soul lives inside, it is not possible to run away from the presence of this intimate stranger. The poem reflects Dickinson’s conception of that inner being of the soul, and shows how the poet describes and sees this intangible spirituality. Would Dickinson ever be frightened in her own house, and that the poem reflects how an enclosed house can appear to be so terrifying? The solitude, though appears to be 31.