The Reclusive Emily Dickinson: Why the 19th Century American Poet's Isolation is Understandable

Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886) is considered by most critics and literary historians to be one of the eminent poets of American history. While admired and even revered for her literary prowess today, Dickinson famously had only seven poems published in her lifetime, though after her death relatives discovered more than 1,800 poems and poetic fragments stashed away in her bedroom.

An Overstated Reclusiveness

Much has been made of Dickinson’s seemingly extraordinary and eccentric reclusiveness. Indeed, in many modern, supposedly comprehensive high school and college literature courses, Dickinson’s reclusiveness is sadly and too often the first and last word taught on the poet, thus creating a mythos around her the prominence of which unfortunately distracts from the quality and importance of her work.

Dickinson was indeed renowned for her reclusiveness in her hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts in the later part of her life (residents sometimes referred to her as “the myth”), but it is an unfair assessment to ascribe her reclusiveness exclusively to unsoundness of mind, strangeness or eccentricity. In fact, Dickinson led a relatively normal young adolescence, even spending a time away from home at a nearby boarding school for girls in 1847 (though she dropped out after the year, supposedly because of illness. It is more likely she left due to homesickness, as well as distaste for particular aspects of the school). While she lived and died in Amherst, sharing a home throughout her life with her parents and sister Vinnie (short for Lavinia), it wasn’t until her late twenties that Dickinson fully withdrew herself from contact with those outside of her immediate family.

It is interesting that Dickinson’s serious poetic output seems to have its origin in coincidence with her sudden withdrawal from society sometime around 1858. It is at this time she began to be referred to as “the myth,” her lack of appearance in public leading many to question her frailty of mind. Rumors circulated (and continue even today) that she had been rejected by a love interest.

In truth, Dickinson’s reclusiveness could have stemmed from any number of understandable causes. Her brother Austin, with whom she was very close, married a close friend of Dickinson’s named Susan in 1856. The couple moved into a house built for them by the Dickinson’s father next door to the Dickinson family’s own, and for a while Emily and Susan would visit with each other often.

It is not clear exactly what happened between the two women, but it is well known that Austin’s marriage to Susan was tumultuous and unhappy, and the close friends had a painful falling out. The rift between the two was to the extant that Dickinson’s sister Vinnie claimed the meanness of Susan toward her sister shortened the latter’s life by ten years. The pain caused by the dissolution of this friendship could easily have contributed to a depression in Dickinson that manifested itself in part in her reclusiveness.

Another factor contributing to Dickinson’s reclusiveness was the illness of her mother, contracted in 1855. While the nature of the illness is unknown to us, it is known that Dickinson’s mother needed nearly constant attention and was bedridden for much of her later life, until her death in 1882. Dickinson was so pressed for time between her daily chores, caring for her mother, and her writing that she took to wearing a wardrobe consisting almost entirely of white dresses, which required less care to color coordinate in matching and were quicker to clean because they could be bleached with the sheets and towels.

The seeming eccentricity of her choice of clothing only served to add to the mythos surrounding Dickinson’s exclusive nature, and the longer she stayed in her home, the harder it would have been for her to leave. Many of her childhood friends (some sources say as many as thirty or more) had died by 1854, and numerous others had married or moved away from Amherst. Dickinson’s father died suddenly in 1874, adding to her grief.

Given the circumstances Dickinson lived through, it is not altogether odd that she would lead the type of life she did. Mabel Loomis Todd, a friend of Dickinson (who at one time was having an affair with her married brother Austin), once wrote in her journal that Dickinson wore “her hair arranged as was the fashion fifteen years ago when she went into retirement.” If women in Dickinson’s time are anything like women today, it is understandable she would not want to be seen so ‘out of fashion.’ At one point she became so isolated that she would only entertain visitors from behind a screen or door.

Poetic Justification

After her death of a kidney disease in 1886, Dickinson’s sister Vinnie found her poems tied with care in bundles in her desk. They were published due in large part to Vinnie’s dedication to the cause in three extraordinarily popular volumes throughout the 1890s. The rejection of these same poems by publishers during Dickinson’s lifetime likely was another contributing factor to the poet’s deepening isolation.

Dickinson has been celebrated ever since the appearance of her poems in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a poetic innovator who successfully bridged the gap between the lyric verse of the 19th century and the modern tradition of free verse. Her influence has reverberated throughout American and even international literature, and her poetry has been translated into numerous languages, read and studied throughout the world. Of all the things to remember about Emily Dickinson, the quality and innovation of her work should have not only the first and last word, but all the words between as well.

Jul 22, 2008 12:06 PM

Leatha a Wood :

I understand Emily Dickinson

I am nearly 60 years old when it struck me, I understand Emily Dickinson! After all the years of college and life experiences I could not understand why she felt so lost, out of touch and had such feeling of hopelessness. Often as my Professors spoke of her, it appeared she was suffering from ant-social behaviors or perhaps some organic depression but as I waged my battle to survive being the caretaker of a dying husband I got it!!! What isn’t often expressed is her sole task as a caretaker for her parents. Of course she could not feel hope or look to the future, as this is not allowed!
Okay get off your superior horse and read along with me. We as caretakers know that whenever we speak of getting away our family members will remind us of our duties as a caretaker and their fears of having to care for the dying one. Of course this is said in ways to guilt us from our dreams with hope killers as, “he is dying you can’t leave him he needs you!” “What will Dad so with out you? He depends on you.” “Dad would be lost without you” and the real killer, “How can you think of yourself at a time like this?” If not a million times over it is said,” He will be dead soon enough”. All said with such indignation.

We as caretakers can never do enough or appreciate what little anyone does for us enough. There is after all, Mother’s Day and the trip they take us on to squelch the guilt until they have little else to do. Besides we do get out enough we may get our hair and or nails done one a week or month. We might even get to go to a outing or two a month and don’t forget those of us who work. Just by the sheer bit of luck we can escape the death and dying stuff at work, after all everyone knows how relaxing a job is right? So we have no complaints as far as our family is concerned. If they do manage to suffer with the dying or disabled one for a few hours, our family members will be confused why it is we are stressed and look haggard. After all, Dad or mom was easy as pie to care for while they were there. Certainly they were. After all they rarely get to see you folks and are on their best behavior! They don’t throw tantrums with you, eat things that make them vomit or at least don’t vomit until after you leave. They do not fight the medications; eat food they should not or in amounts that are too little or too much. You don’t bath them get them to go to bed when they should safely or fight the spending sprees with money we don’t have tell people how horrible we are to get sympathy and to turn all against you so they get more attention. We of course tell everyone how wonderful our dying are or we are shrews. Certainly those we care for do not appreciate us but fear we will leave.

Like Emily some of us turn to the written words to escape the hell and place on paper the words that no one else will allow us to say. I believe that Emily coded her words in the event that others might read her private hell, than blame her for being selfish. Fear too, that she might be accused of not loving or appreciating all her parents have done for her. Besides, no one wants to hear the lost dreams and hope of a caretaker. No one wants to hear of the loneliness and despair. So we (some of us as caretakers) write. Others die of cancer, heart failure (which in my mind is loneliness) and death by, “I cannot do this anymore”. There are some caretakers that steal away in the night. Emily asks what does it feel like to be touched and held with love? Emily is not alone, as her parents are as near as death. So what is Emily crying for us to understand? She is the most popular crier of the Caretaker. She is dead but her body and mind continue to remind her of all that died but her duties as the caretaker are still continuing. Isn’t that what Ms Dickinson is saying? She is the caretaker! So now I do understand Emily Dickinson.