The Edinburgh Academy

Was Emily Dickinson a religious poet?

by Watson Pringle

Emily Dickinson was born in a small, puritan community in Amherst, Massachusetts.  Her parents were strictly religious, and it is therefore not surprising that her poetry contains some overtly religious themes.

The poem "I went to heaven - ", for example, depicts heaven in terms of a fantasy, and Emily creates an extraordinary sense of luxury, by means of her imagery.  She talks, for example, of how it was "lit - with a Ruby".  That is, there was an unusually magnificent quality of light.  It was also "Iathed - with down", so it appeals to yet another sense; it feels soft underfoot.  The duties in this heaven are "of Gossamer", the fine material which comes from small spiders' webs. There would certainly be no hard labour going on here.  The picture is one of beauty, and of luxury.  The whole of this poem, however, is undermined by the use of the phrase 'Almost - contented - /I - could be - " near the end, for surely one could not be unhappy with this kind of Paradise?  It suggests that this is too good to be true, that there is something missing in our conventional picture of heaven.  So although at first sight, this is merely a confirmation of a stock religious image: heaven, there is definitely some element of doubt, and of speculation. However this is quite normal in Emily's poetry, for although it constantly poses questions, it never answers them.  Its beauty is in the sense of mystery which it creates.

Another poem that certainly has a religious message is "Four Trees ", and this poem creates an even greater sense of mystery.  It concerns four trees, standing " - upon a solitary Acre - ". Emily wonders what their purpose is.  They have no "Design /" Or Order, or Apparent Action - ". So what are they doing there?  The final word of the first stanza; " - Maintain - " is very interesting, and is made to stand out by punctuation.  It suggests that they have a sort of presence, but again, we cannot pin down what it is, or of what sort.  The third stanza suggests that there might be a sort of reciprocal relationship between the trees and the acre.  It gives thein " - Place - ", and they give it ' Attention of Passer by - ". This almost human relationship is emphasised by Emily's personification.  However it is in the fmal stanza that she really asks questions about the purpose of these trees.  What do they contribute to creation, to "the General Nature - ". Do they reflect some "Plan"?  Immediately we think of God, the Divine Architect, and again we return to religion.  Emily seems to provide all and none of the answers to her questions.  These trees have a significance that she cannot interpret.  It is imminent, but not available.  They are purposive, that is, they indicate conscious intention.  But they are not purposeful; they do not have a definite purpose in view.  So again, she has opened up an overtly religious theme to discussion, but has ultimately not resolved anything.

Another important aspect of her poetry is thresholds, and especially that between life and death. For even in her visionary state, she could not penetrate to death itself 'Death would carry her and her sagacity clean through the riddle.' Through her poetry, therefore, she goes as close to this moment as one could possibly go.  An obvious example of this is "I heard a Fly buzz - ". This poem is a first-person account of someone dying in a room, surrounded by people, presumably friends and relatives.  Emily creates a dangerous, bristling stillness, and a sense of terrible anticipation, in the first stanza.  Her imagery, i.e. the "Stillness in the Air - 1, Between the Heaves of Storm" is vivid.  It suggests that the air, although quiet, is charged with possibility; something is about to occur, the room is full of tension.  The situation is a role reversal; the dying person is watching the living, that is the "Eyes around".  And what this person sees is a room full of people, anxious about the moment of death.  However it is not the fate of the person in front of them which worries them, so much as that "The King", i.e. death itself might soon be present in the room.

The approach to the climax is like a nightmare.  The image of this bluebottle, with "Blue - uncertain stumbling Buzz" is intriguing.  With the transferred epithet ("Blue... buzz",) she draws our attention to the moment.  Her sight gradually blurs, until the final pun; "I could not see to see - ". That is, the person in the poem cannot, physically see any more, but also, and more importantly, Emily cannot 'see', or understand beyond this threshold.  This is as far as she can take it and so, once again, the mystery remains unsolved.

This, however, was not the only threshold which Emily reached, for she also had the gift of visionary experiences.  It took both positive and negative forms, and she writes about both in her poetry.  She often experienced these while looking at nature, and one example of this is "Bloom upon the mountain - stated"  This form of message, 1 think, needs some explaining. For when the pilgrims first went across to America, they were sailing not from England, but from Babylon.  They were not sailing across the Atlantic, but rather across the Red Sea.  Or at least, they believed themselves to be.  For at this time, everything was symbolic.  When Ernily is in touch with the natural world, she often sees it as emblematic of something beyond.  Her poetry is visually striking, due mainly to its lack of punctuation, in favour of dashes.  With these dashes, she often highlights words which she considers vital.  In the first line of this poem, she does this with the word 'stated'.  This helps us to understand one theme in the poem, and that is the classification of the natural world.  This was an issue which was being extensively investigated in Emily's time.

The image which Emily is looking at is mysterious; it is "Blameless of a Name - ". That is, it escapes categorisation.  There is, indeed, some ambiguity as to whether this is a poem about flowers, the sunset, or both.  The phrase "Efflorescence of'a Sunset " would suggest that these flowers are generated by the light,  and this is reinforced by the alliterative "Tropic of a Twilight".  But surely flowers should be created by man sowing them? The fourth stanza would back the suggestion that she is looking at a sunset; "expanding - / Culminate - in Rest". It is in the final stanza, however, that Emily's message really comes through.  Especially when she says "His Countenance - / Indicating, by no Muscle - / ]'he Experience - ' This seems to indicate a visionary experience.  There is no face, she says, that would show an experience such as this, no external indication of the intensity of the moment.  Just a 'peace that passes understanding', as it were.  So by means of this poem, she expresses the extreme joy of these trance-like movements between time and eternity.

The same ecstasy is expressed in a short poem starting "Exultation is the going".  In this poem, she likens the transition to the sea voyage of someone from the land, an "inland soul".  The experience is very sudden; one minute one is surrounded by "houses" and "headlands" ' the next he is in "deep Eternity" ' Again, the idea is very much one of crossing a threshold When one reaches Eternity, the feeling of God is described as being a "divine intoxication".  ' Emily's word choice here suggests an overwhelming influence, a definite positive presence, yet wonders "Can the sailor understand".

Her visionary poems, however, did not all present this sort of "Exultation".  On some occasions, there opened to her a vision of a negative final reality, an image of terrible nothingness. One such poem is "He fumbles at your Soul".  If her positive visionary poems are of incredible joy, these are a shattering revelation of quite the opposite.  The imagery is very interesting.  The first image, 'As Players at the Keys / Before they drop full Music on - " is very reminiscent, 1 think, of "Between the Heaves of Storm" ' and indeed there is some suggestion at the end that this poem might actually be about storms. lie moment before an event is something which seems to fascinate Emily, as it comes up on several occasions in her poetry.  Here we are presented with the idea that we are being controlled, and our vulnerability is suggested by the "brittle Nature".  This implies that it might actually be about to shatter.  It certainly does not sound ready for an "Ethereal Blow" ' or an "Imperial Thunderbolt" ' Is this thunderbolt the realisation of nothingness?  Who is 'He'? The build-up to the climax of the poem is so slow and deliberate that the subject has time to get accustomed to the invasion, before the final blow. By the end of the stanza, 'fumbles" has become "scalps", and the soul has become "naked" ' The actions are much more deliberate.  It is a nihilistic vision, and is deeply disturbing.  Emily makes particularly effective use of the dash in this poem.  For example in the two lines "Deals... Soul", the first line has a dash between every word, to build up to the climax, and in the second line, the dashes disappear for the final action.  The last two lines are set apart from the rest.  Are they intended to explain what has gone before them, or to shed new light upon it? They are, 1 think, a confirmation of this revelation of nothingness.  She personifies the winds, so that they are like great cats, bashing the trees about, but despite all this, "The Universe - is still- " So she was prone, at any time, for example during storms, or with glimpses of objects, to experience this visionary The theme raised at the end of the last poem is backed up by this one;

'A Wind that rose Though not a Leaf In any Forest stirred"

Her poetry, as well as being an exploration, became the expression of her visionary experience. I have said on several occasions that her poetry creates a sense of mystery, and that nothing is ever resolved.  Due to this, and to its content, which is overwhelming, considering the conciseness of the verse, we are left pondering some ultimate questions.  What lies behind her visions, positive or negative?  What lies behind the nature all around her, which she examines so closely, and loves so much?  And fmally, what happens after the moment of death, and what is its significance?  Her search for the answers to these questions comes across in her poetry, and although she, like it, is hard to categorise, she can certainly be referred to as a religious poet.