Emily Dickinson: Religious Exile?
Images of Religious Exclusion in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson
The articles analyses images of religious exile and exclusion in the poetry of Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson: Religious Exile?
Emily Dickinson constantly presented herself as being at odds with both nature and religion. Her condensed style employs deceptively simple language to hide rich and myriad layers of meaning and her poetry is often expressive of the desire for exclusion, to stay away from a masculine God whom she appeared to regard as cruel and unforgiving. The language used by Dickinson is sparse and austere, but this has the paradoxical effect of rendering the emotions expressed within it as strong, passionate and deeply-felt. For example, Dickinson’s poem “Why did they shut me out of Heaven?” questions conventional assumptions of the characteristics required by those who desire to enter God’s Kingdom and articulates a sense of exclusion:
First Stanza: “Why – do they shut Me out of Heaven?/Did I sing – too loud?”
There is a distinct feeling here that Dickinson is being mischievous. She was certainly unconventional with regard to religion. Although she believed in the existence of God and Christ, she refused to join in with her local community’s church activities, choosing her own way in such matters. ‘Let Emily sing for you, because she cannot pray’, she once wrote to a friend who was enduring personal sorrow and suffering.
Second Stanza: “But don’t – shut the door!”
Is Dickinson begging for another chance in this stanza, or, as is more likely, asking that those around her open their minds and welcome in the unconventional?
Third Stanza: “Oh, if I were the Gentleman/In the “White Robe” – /And they – were the little Hand – that knocked-/Could – I – forbid?”
Dickinson returns to the image of the cruel God who denies entry for the flimsiest of reasons. Was Dickinson truly doubtful about the existence of God, or was her poetry a means of expressing her desire for a more welcoming, less judgemental Christianity to be practised?
The perception that Heaven is in fact what we desire but can never achieve, is expressed in ““Heaven” - is what I cannot reach!” Dickinson uses the concept of ‘Heaven’ in the abstract. In her hands it becomes a universal trope for the unattainable, although she briefly sustains the religious metaphor with a knowing reference:
Stanza One: “The Apple on the Tree-/Provided it do hopeless – hang –/That “Heaven” is - to Me!”
The evocation of the apple in biblical mythology is indicative of knowledge and sin; the original act of sin occurs in the desire for the apple/knowledge and Dickinson unapologetically owns up to the ‘sin’ of desiring the apple which is turned into ‘Heaven’ all the time it remains unreachable. The trope of Heaven as a symbol for what is out of reach is a theme in the poetry of Emily Dickinson; what is also pertinent is that ‘Heaven’ is not always what the speaker desires, or alternatively it ceases to be the object of desire in the course of the struggle to attain it.
Dickinson fluently articulates the condition of the exile, but she does not necessarily regard exclusion itself as an adverse situation, and frequently and intentionally assumes the role of the outsider. Dickinson’s work is permeated with a tantalising sense of secrecy; something is always on the verge of being revealed, but remains an enigma.
