Dickinson on Isolation from Society Emily Dickinson’s poems “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” and “The Soul selects her own Society--“ both discuss the idea of reclusiveness and consciously separating one’s self from the general masses. Dickinson asserts the idea that it is beneficial for people to choose a few companions who matter to them and exclude all others from their inner consciousness. In her poem “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” Dickinson cleverly satirizes the public sphere, public officials who try to establish their own self-importance through popularity, and the masses who grant them popularity. In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker declares himself of herself as “Nobody,” declaring that he or she functions outside of the public sphere. This idea is consistent with Dickinson’s famed reclusiveness—ironically, her fame for being un-famous during her time. Next, the speaker asks the reader “Who are you? / Are you—Nobody—too?” (116). The speaker is inviting the reader to take part in the speaker’s privacy or private life. The speaker’s questioning “Who are you?” establishes a playful tone, suggesting that being a “Nobody” is no detrimental or upsetting. …show more content…
Dickinson’s use of an exclamation point here suggests that the speaker is delighted to be a part of this failed couple. The last line in the first stanza further separates the speaker from those in the public sphere. The speaker instructs his or her new partner in solitude, “Don’t tell! they’d advertise—you know!” (116). The reader learns in the next stanza, this “they” the speaker refers to are the “Somebodys.” The speaker is afraid that if the peaceful secret of solitude, of being a “Nobody” gets out, the speaker would lose his or her ability to separate from the
She claims, “How dreary to be somebody! How public like a frog” (Dickinson). Shunning away from the blind conformity of the masses and focusing on oneself a transcendentalist idea that Dickinson values. Both Emily Dickinson and Mr. Keating believe that individuality trumps conformity, and they both inspire others to view life in the same light.
In Dickinson's poem # 1510 she also focuses on loneliness. In the first two lines,
The last two lines of the poem are a timid reflection on what might happen “Had I the Art to stun myself/ With Bolts—of Melody!” (23-24). The idea that creation is a power that can get loose and injure even the creator illuminates why in this poem the artist positions herself firmly as a mere spectator. In these first two poems, we meet a Dickinson who is not entirely familiar to us—even though we are accustomed to her strong desire for privacy, these poems can be startling in the way they reveal the intensity of Dickinson’s fears. She is, after all, shrinking from what is dearest to her—nature, one of her favorite subjects, becomes a harsh judge, and poetry, her favored medium of communication, can suddenly render the reader “impotent” and the writer “stun[ned]” (19, 23). The extremity of her positions in shrinking from the small and beautiful things she loves creates the sense that this is just the beginning of a journey by leaving so much room for change.
Their works show that one can strive to be self-reliant and self-reliable. Through their own lives they were in solitude away from people and society. Although both were very reclusive, Dickinson’s life is very unknown in contrast to Thoreau’s, giving her a more mysterious edge “Little is known in her own lifetime, she was first publicized in almost mythic terms as a reclusive, eccentric, death-obsessed spinster” (Dickinson’s bio 1189). Thoreau unlike Dickinson interacted some with society and people despite being quite reclusive. He talked mainly to Emmerson and his wife while living as a handyman at Emmerson’s house “Thoreau lived there on and off as a handyman and general help to Emmerson’s wife Lydia” (Thoreau’s Bio 841).
In Success..., Dickinson reflects on the nature of success and how, ironically, it can be best appreciated and understood by those who have not achieved it and have no taste of it. As in "Faith"..., Dickinson powerfully presents her thoughts in a few lines. The poem deals only with one, ironic but universal, idea in its short length. It is the bitterness expressed at this irony (as found it Dickinson's juxtaposition of the words sweetest and sorest, separated by two lines) that is most felt by the reader. While the previous poem expresses the poetess' bitterness and sorrow with one aspect of her life, I'm Nobody! Who Are You? uses humor without irony to address another. In this poem, Dickinson style appears almost child-like in its of descriptions including frogs and bogs, as well as the lively energy expressed by the poem through its use of dashes and brief wording. Dickinson seems to be addressing her spinster, hermit-like existence (I'm Nobody) and her preference to it.
Emily Dickinson, recognized as one of the greatest American poets of the nineteenth century, was born December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts (Benfey, 1). Dickinson’s greatness and accomplishments were not always recognized. In her time, women were not recognized as serious writers and her talents were often ignored. Only seven of her 1800 poems were ever published. Dickinson’s life was relatively simple, but behind the scenes she worked as a creative and talented poet. Her work was influenced by poets of the seventeenth century in England, and by her puritan upbringing. Dickinson was an obsessively private writer. Dickinson withdrew herself from the social contract around the age of thirty and devoted herself, in secret, to writing.
Emily Dickinson’s reclusive life was arguably a result of her proposed bi-polar disorder. This life and disorder unduly influenced the themes of her poetry. She chose not to associate herself with society and volumes of her poems, published posthumously, examine this idea as well as the themes of nature and death. The clearest examples of these themes are presented in the following analysis of just of few of her
Emily Dickinson was an exceptional writer through the mid-late 1800’s. She never published any of her writings and it wasn’t until after her death that they were even discovered. The complexity of understanding her poems is made prevalent because of the fact that she, the author, cannot expound on what her writing meant. This causes others to have to speculate and decide for themselves the meaning of any of her poems. There are several ways that people can interpret Emily Dickinson’s poems; readers often give their opinion on which of her poems present human understanding as something boundless and unlimited or something small and limited, and people always speculate Dickinson’s view of the individual self.
Emily Dickinson’s “The Soul selects her own Society-” is a poem that deals with love and heartbreak. The first line of the poem clearly sums up the meaning that the “soul” chooses which people to let into their life. The opening line represents the overall message of the poem and the rest of the poem elaborates on this line. Emily Dickinson’s “The Soul selects her own Society” is filled with dark and powerful images that represent the isolation that the soul wants to achieve.
Emily Dickinson was one of the best American poets, but she is very famous for being a secluded writer. Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1846 in Amherst, Massachusetts and she died on May 15, 1886 at the age of 55 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her isolation from the outside world still confuses literary critics and readers of her poetry and letters. There are many theories developed over time about her seclusion. Some people believe her secluded way of life was her own choice but she was very close to her family. Emily Dickinson lived in a happy home and went to a school during her life. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1830 and lived there all her life most of her life. An introduction into Emily Dickinson’s poetry themes, and discussion about the isolation in her life, and discussion about the isolation in her poetry will be examined in the paper.
Emily Dickinson was one of the best American poets, but she is very famous for being a secluded writer. Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1846 in Amherst, Massachusetts and she died on May 15, 1886 at the age of 55 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her isolation from the outside world still confuses literary critics and readers of her poetry and letters. There are many theories developed over time about her seclusion. Some people believe her secluded way of life was her own choice but she was very close to her family. Emily Dickinson lived in a happy home and went to a school during her life. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1830 and lived there all her life most of her life. An introduction into Emily Dickinson’s poetry themes, and discussion about the isolation in her life, and discussion about the isolation in her poetry will be examined in the paper.
The controversy surrounding Emily Dickinson is her odd lifestyle and her tendencies to be somewhat of a recluse. She is sometimes considered abnormal because she does things differently from most others. She spends much of her life dressed in white and withdrawn from much of society. Of course, her peers take this negatively, but what they do not understand is that her being so private is more of a meditation to her, instead of a hiding. She just wants to escape the pressures she feels are normally required of women. She does not want to be a servant to sick and elderly. She feels she has more potential for her mind to grow, and those obligations would just be hindrances to her writing (McQuade 1255). Her childhood and her staying out of society as an adult, along with many other aspects known and not known, influence her poems and the style in which she goes about writing the works. Her techniques of writing are completely different from any other writer, whether prose or poetry. Dickinson composes her phrases by marking them off with a dash, placing a space before and after. This small maneuver places more emphasis on her “impress of the mind in its analysis of experience” (McQuade 1256). Her slant thymes and unique form of expression produces more of an oddness to the audience.
“I’m Nobody! Who are you?” by Emily Dickinson reveals the invaluable aspect of remaining a “Nobody”—a person of little fame and stature. The poem examines the short monologue of a speaker as he or she confides with another “Nobody” and pities the life of a “Somebody”—a person with fame. The speaker finds the life of the famous boring; he or she finds being unrecognized much more comforting. This can be seen through the author’s varying tones in the first and second stanza: the first being more secretive, and the second being more pitiful. The secretive tone is present in the line “Don’t tell!” and brings about a sense of excitement as the speaker remains out of the public’s eye. In contrast to the excitement, the second stanza reveals the speaker’s viewpoint of the life of the recognized: it is mundane and “dreary” (Dickinson 838). The distinct contrast between the secretive tone and the mundane tone reveals why the speaker has a fondness towards being a “Nobody”: the life of a “Nobody” is—ironically—more exciting than the life of a “Somebody.” Another use of irony in “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” is the companionship found within being unrecognized versus the loneliness created from being famous. The speaker finds another “Nobody” to share his or her opinions with, stating that “there’s a pair of [them]” while being “Somebody” results in being a frog alone talking to an “admiring Bog” (Dickinson 838). The significance in this irony is that the speaker identifies the
Seventy-five years after the 1890s publication of the premier volumes of Emily Dickinson's poetry, critics still squabble about the poet's possibly lesbian relationship with her sister-in-law, Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson. Indeed, the specifics of Dickinson's relationship to Susan are ambiguous at best. All of the critical attention that her mysterious sexuality
In the poems of Emily Dickinson, there are many instances in which she refers to her seclusion and loneliness, and how wonderful the two can be. In a book entitled, Emily Dickenson: Singular Poet, by Carl Dommermuth, she writes: "She (Dickinson) apparently enjoyed a normal social life as a school girl, but in later years would seldom leave her home. She was passionate yet distant." This distance Dommermuth speaks of is quite evident in Dickinson's works. Dickinson not only loves her loneliness but also feels as though she cannot live without it.