Emily Dickinson’s Work, Research Paper Example

Emily Dickinson was an American poet prior to the modernist age. Although her work did not conform to any type of format with dashes, and capitalizations throughout her poems, she is considered a predecessor to the modern age of poetry precisely because of her nonconformity. Her themes of mysticism, religion and the natural world echo the Transcendentalist era as well as the free verse era that Whitman presided over, her work during the 19^th century was rebuffed as juvenile wanderings of an isolated woman. Now, her poetry is given the breadth and genius it deserves. This essay will seek to compare, contrast and analyze three of Dickinson’s poems (“I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed,” “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church,” and “Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers”) focusing on the poet’s use of images.

Dickinson used natural or religious images and juxtaposed them with a mundane setting. That is not to say a banal setting, but rather a setting in which modern activities and thoughts occurred. In “I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed,” Dickinson uses all naturalistic images to counter the very earthly or of this world element, liquor. Dickinson makes mention of “Tankards” (line 2), “berries” (line 3), and then “alcohol” (line 4) in her poem making use of worldly object in the first stanza. The reader becomes familiar with what is surrounding the speaker in their time of inebriation. With these things however, the reader must also bring to the forefront of their analysis, why is the poet making mention of common enough things. Dickinson is using common objects, or earthly objects in the first stanza because she wants to set a realistic stage by which the reader may have a sense of grounding because the rest of the poem is going to analyze space in a more celestial way (Dickinson poems tend to focus on heaven, or death, and the things that represent either of these; in this poem’s case liquor may be a metaphor for seeking the divine as in church services the congregation is made to drink the blood of Christ represented by wine. In nature, liquor can be the liquor of the gods found in various elemental objects such as honey, water, or flowers. Here, Dickinson is making use of both mythical and religious connotations for her poem). In the second stanza, Dickinson, states that she is “Inebriate of air” (line 5), meaning she is drunk of air, something that is impossible in the real world, and thus the reader must assume that the speaker is talking metaphorically, or using a figurative language device in order to get at a deeper meaning. The image of “molten Blue” (line 8) suggests that something is burning so hot that it’s burning blue. Dickinson goes on to pull from the natural world as she uses the words “drunken Bee” (line 9), “Foxgloves door” (line 10), and “Butterflies” (line 11) in the third stanza. Each of these stands in relation to each other because they help to expound on the idea of being drunk off of nature, of its very air. Not only is Dickinson appreciating the natural world in her poem, but also she is figuratively (and perhaps literally, depending on the extent of the metaphor) drunk off of it (Pollak 35). This third stanza also offers the reader a type of realistic peek into Dickinson’s world as the poet makes mention of drunkenness throughout the work with words such as “drams” (line 11) and “but drink the more” (line 12). The last stanza of the poem references “Seraphs” (line 13) and “saints” (line 14) as if there was a type of apocalypse occurring in the poem’s world as these two entities are rushing through their movements in order to look out of windows or to tip their hats. Since both of these actions refer to an end, and whenever an end is in sight along with mentions of angels in a Dickinson poem this usually signifies death.

In Dickinson’s poem “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” a similar theme is devised. Dickinson brings about the usual reference to nature and religion in this poem. Dickinson seems to carry a theme in her work in which the natural world trumps the celestial world. In the first stanza the speaker states that some people keep faith in God by going to church but the speaker finds this same faith at home (lines 1-2). Dickinson references a “bobolink” (line 3), which is a type of reedbird, and an “orchard” (line 4) as proof of her new church stating that the former represents a “chorister” (line 3) and the latter represents a “Dome” (line 4). Similar to “I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed” Dickinson is using natural references to replace a more religious feel. While in the “Liquor” poem Dickinson makes mention of tankards and bees, she is using similar words to represent a similar theme: that of mundane vs. celestial. Here the allusion is more aptly defined by comparing a bird to a chorus and a grove of trees to a dome.

In the second stanza Dickinson states that she has “wings” (line 6). This could mean that Dickinson is referencing being an angel, or that she desires as much. In this desire is the more prominent line found in most of Dickinson’s poems, one that points to an obsession with death and dying (Patrino 31-32). Again however, a strong case for a more mythical reference may be at hand for another way to get wings would be to build them like Icarus. A strong case can be made in comparing the last line of “Liquor” to this stanza in which “Liquor” references the “Sun” (line 16) in which the speaker, after drinking, leans against the sun. If the speaker in “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” has wings in the second stanza, then these wings may either be celestial or manmade (Dickinson does not say which) and if they are manmade and the speaker in the former poem is leaning against the sun then the Greek myth would make a strong allusion choice. If the speaker is indeed wearing wings and leaning against the sun then perhaps the image the poet wants the reader to have is one of not heeding fatherly advice and dreaming too big and getting too close to a metaphorical sun, only to plummet in failure. Perhaps these two poems combined tell of her reasons not to try and publish her work: fear of failure may be the impetus for such lack of actions (Stratman 55).

In “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” Dickinson curtails the previous paragraph’s surmising and tells the reader that no matter what she’s getting to heaven, and perhaps the way she’s doing, through nature, is the quicker way. If this is the case, then the image Dickinson leaves the reader with is one that involves a hierarchy in which nature is better than manmade structures and devices. This could also apply to sermons in which the preacher represents the voice of God as interpreting the bible, but Dickinson makes a strong case that perhaps people need to interpret the bible on their own and if they do, they will find that heaven is all around them (Jackson 7-8).

In “Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers” Dickinson makes immediate biblical reference to the resurrection. In the resurrection the dead arise from their graves and return to earth during the second coming wherein the souls commit to an immortal state. Dickinson makes use of earthly elements such as “stone” (line 6) and “satin” (line 5). Both of these objects can be found in churches as churches in the 19^th century were predominantly made of stone and satin was the common cloth of preacher’s robes. Dickinson states that the resurrected have been untouched by “Morning” (line 2) and “Noon” (line 3) meaning that time hasn’t touched them. Things that are untouched by time are celestial things or in some cases stories (Greek myths). Although it’s a stretch one could compare these meek bodies having gone untouched by time as a reference to sex. During the course of Dickinson’s life it is unknown how fervently her suitors pursued her, and if she was a virgin. If the elements she’s choosing to reference are ones of quality and sustainability, then the parallelism them and sex would be that the speaker, Dickinson, also has gone untouched and has retained her “meek”-ness (line 4).

In sticking with images, this poem correlates with the previous two because they are all about knowledge and the difference between knowledge gained from church and gained from the natural world. Here again Dickinson references a “bee” (line 9), which seems to be the harbinger of the natural world in Dickinson’s lexicon. The knowledge gained from church is found in stone and satin, while in the natural world it is found in the bee and liquor and birds. Despite Dickinson’s obsession with death and religion (Dickson 15), she seems to focus primarily on nature and the natural world and there’s a hierarchy involved in this dichotomy; “Dickinson’s choice to create ambiguity in her poetry emphasizes her belief in the importance of the process of discovery, rather than the finding of definitive meaning” (Schlama 4). The final line of “Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers” states, “what sagacity perished here!” (line 11). Perhaps this is a reference to the natural world in which urbanity has ruined people’s attachment to nature and the things that nature offers and people can learn from it, or in reference to sex perhaps Dickinson’s belief that in having sex is a type of death.

Dickinson’s poems present strong images with a background rooted in religion and an inner battle between the manmade world and the naturalistic world. Throughout Dickinson’s work the reader is witness to this struggle, or rather at times this ascent from manmade stones and satin into bird songs and getting as drunk as bees get on pollen. Dickinson’s work shows that images create a world in which interpretation is essential. Dickinson’s ambiguity offers the reader a type of gift; the gift of translation. Dickinson’s poems, because of their ambiguity, can mean whatever the reader desires or needs them to be. Dickinson’s images paved the way for the modernist era in their imagery focusing on everyday things and situations. This trip into the mundane that Dickinson offers her readers is one full of allusions and mysticisms. Dickinson’s grasp on figurative language, as exemplified through these three poems, is without match in her allusion, metaphor, and concrete images.

Works Cited

Dickson, J.P. “The Genesis of Everything.” Iscast. 4. (2008): 2-18.

Jackson, Virginia. Dickinson’s Misery: A Theory of Lyric Reading. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. Print.

Patrino, Elizabeth. “Emily Dickinson and Her Culture.” Critical Insights (1999): 31-32.

Pollak, R.V. “Thirst and Starvation in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry.” American Literature. 51.1 (1979): 33-39.

Sclama, Nicole. “Engaging in Ambiguity: Emily Dickinson’s Use of Imagery, Enjambment, and Dashes to Create Multiple Interpretations of Her Poetry.” The Paper Shell Review (2001): 4-5.

Stratman, Jacob. “Emily Dickinson’s War Poetry.” Teaching American Literature: A Journal of Theory and Practice 2.1 (2008): 50-66.