“The Soul Selects Her Own Society”
...Ruskin, and Sir Thomas Browne. Dickinson's emotional life remains mysterious, despite much speculation about a possible disappointed love affair. (105) Two candidates have been presented: Reverend Charles Wadsworth, with whom she corresponded, and Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican, to whom she addressed many poems. (Seawall 101-106) After Dickinson's death in 1886, her sister Lavinia brought out her poems. She co-edited three volumes from 1891 to 1896. Despite its editorial imperfections, the first volume became popular. In the early decades of the twentieth century, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, the poet's niece, transcribed and published more poems, and in 1945 Bolts Of Melody essentially completed the task of bringing Dickinson's poems to the public. The publication of Thomas H. Johnson's 1955 edition of Emily Dickinson's poems finally gave readers a complete and accurate text. Dickinson's works have had considerable influence on modern poetry.” (97) Her frequent use of dashes, sporadic capitalization of nouns, off-rhymes, broken metre, unconventional metaphors have contributed her reputation as one of the most innovative poets of 19th-century American literature. Later feminist critics have challenged the popular conception of the poet as a reclusive, eccentric figure, and underlined her intellectual and artistic sophistication. (Gelpi 97) “The Soul selects her own Society” Emily Dickinson The soul selects her own society, Then shuts the door; On her divine majority Obtrude no more. Unmoved, she notes the chariot's pausing At her low gate; Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling Upon her mat. I've known her from an ample nation Choose one; Then close the valves of her attention Like stone. This poem about friendship or of love, which ever you prefer, illustrates why Dickinson has been called the poet of “exclusion.” (12) The poem describes choosing a friend (or lover), and rejecting (excluding) all others. Dickinson presents the individual as absolute and the right of the individual as unchallengeable. In this poem, the soul's identity is assured. The unqualified belief in the individual and in self-reliance is characteristically American. (Bloom 12) “The Soul Selects Her Own Society," Dickinson shows us that no matter what, she will never do wha...