Jessica Lee
Professor Lloyd Pratt
English 364
4 May 2011
Emily Dickinson: A Disciple of Emerson
While Emily Dickinson’s poetry is well known and well analyzed , much of her appeal seems to derive from the reputation Dickinson had as a recluse .
Indeed, her self-imposed retreat from society is still an intriguing point of discourse between modern readers. The fascination with the person (as opposed to a fascination based solely upon her work) also extends to her religiosity, with critics arguing that Dickinson’s, “all-absorbing religiosity, so unworldly and severe as to seem virtually monastic…stands between her poems and those readers most apt to confront them today” (Spengemann 84). Yet , critic William Spengemann remarked that , “The trouble here is that her poetry is about her life far less than her life was about poetry .
Poetry was her life” (124) .
By this , he implies that the poetry of Emily Dickinson does not reflect the living person or any events in her life .
Rather , Dickinson lived to write poetry and did not simply write poetry about her life .
In light of the few biographical facts about Emily Dickinson available to readers , much of the analysis of her poetry alludes to her personal struggles with depression and religion .
The point of this paper is not to prove that
Dickinson’s poetry is not about her depression or religion , instead , I intend to explore the
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2 notion that Dickinson’s poetry (poem 78 in particular) , when read in a slightly different vein , functions as an exemplar of transcendental thought .
While Emily Dickinson undoubtedly struggled between transcendentalism and the fierce
Calvinism under which she was raised , she by no means had “nothing in common with
Emerson’s message of liberation from the Church and the strenuous individualism that must follow that” ( Kazin , 152) .
Her poetry does in fact explore the concept of the individual , as is seen in a later reading of her poem “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” .
Yet , critics like Kazin still insist that Dickinson lacks Emerson’s fundamental “cool mythologizing of general subjects , his professional nature , and above all his sly preachiness” (Kazin , 152) .
This comparison between the two poets seems too simplistic after reading Dickinson’s poems .
For Kazin to imply that
Dickinson is somehow a weaker transcendentalist , or a less “strenuous” individual because she questions and doubts her place in her poetry , while Emerson exudes a “cool…professional nature” ignores the importance placed on one’s journey to self-realization .
Transcendentalism is as concerned with the varying stages of discovery as it is with the end result of selfrealization .
Dickinson allows her reader to view her journey in her poetry , which was not “just a passive medium for the expression of feelings regarding the problem of a belief , but a means of solving it” (Spengemann , xiii) .
Dickinson did not write to complain , but rather to gain some understanding of the situation at hand and to freely explore the world around her , much like
Henry David Thoreau sets out to accomplish in Walden.

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In his article about Henry David Thoreau’s relationship with nature , Lawrence Buell states that “Thoreau has to struggle to arrive at the deep understanding of nature…” which means that even for Emerson’s most devout and advanced follower , transcendentalism was a continual process that required constant exploration and growth in one’s relationship with
Nature (Buell , 527) .
By emphasizing the importance of the process behind self-realization ,
Dickinson’s habit of “openly thinking her way through” is just as steeped in transcendentalism as Emerson’s habit of “giving us his positive conclusions on every topic” (Kazin , 152) .
Dickinson , unlike Emerson and Thoreau , was famously a writer for the drawer and her poems “were never intended to be published and so make no effort to be understood by anyone other than the person who received them” (Spengemann , 89) .
Yet even though this lack of clarification for the benefit of the public makes Dickinson’s poetry complex , it also exudes a candor oftentimes excluded from poetry intended for the publication .
Dickinson’s writing , having never been intended for publication , exemplifies the “Poetry of the Portfolio” that was lauded by Emerson:
…the most interesting department of poetry would hereafter be found in what might be called , “The Poetry of the Portfolio” ; the work , that is , of persons who wrote for the relief of their own minds , and without thought of publication .
Such poetry , when accumulated for years , will have at least the merit of perfect freedom ; accompanied , of course , by whatever drawback follows from the habitualism of criticism .
(Higginson , 20)

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While Dickinson’s work does exhibit a freedom from public opinion , and covers a wide array of personal topics , her poetry also lacks certain aspects of professional poetry—such as the lack of a clear speaker , or the lack of a subject .
Critics would have pointed to these attributes as
“flaws” , and publishers , while making grammatical changes that would have made the poetry
“easier” to read , would have also eradicated the underlying meaning and freedom of expression found in Dickinson’s work .
Dickinson’s poem “I felt a Funeral in my Brain” , while traditionally read in an autobiographical vein (in regards to her battle with depression) , can also be read as a journey to reclaim one’s genius:
Emily Dickinson , 78
I felt a Funeral , in my Brain ,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading-treading-till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through—
And when they all were seated ,
A Service , like a Drum—
Kept beating-beating-till I thought
My Mind was going numb—
And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead , again ,

Then Space—began to toll ,
As all the Heavens were a Bell ,
And Being , but an Ear ,
And I , and Silence , some strange Race
Wrecked , solitary , here—
And then a Plank in Reason , broke ,
And I dropped down , and down—
And hit a World , at every plunge ,
And Finished knowing-then-
This poem , when read alongside Emerson and Thoreau , eulogizes the process of breaking free of society’s restraints and its demanded conformity .
Emerson once wrote that , “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members…the virtue in most request is conformity” (122) .
Emerson’s claims about society aiming to break down the freedom and importance of the individual by way of requesting conformity of the masses , relates directly to Dickinson’s poem .
The mourners in poem 78 could be read as the personification of a society who repeatedly tries to dissolve the narrator’s sense of originality until it seems that she has conformed to their standards of normalcy .
The Mourners
(“Mourners to and fro”) are not mourning her lack of genius , but rather are dismayed at her flight from conformity and aim to beat her into submission (“kept treading-treading-til is seemed/That Sense was breaking through”) .
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The concept of the narrator conducting an imaginary “funeral” in the opening lines have prompted many critics to analyze the poem in terms of a symbolic death ; Dickinson is mourning her loss of sanity .
James Olney asserts that , “all of us have experienced funerals…and I suppose after reading the poem we are ready enough to see how incipient madness , which most of us have not experienced , might be imagined as being like a funeral in the brain”(57) .
While it is possible that Dickinson wrote this poem as a way of coping with her loss of “sanity” , this poem could also explore the sense of digression and loss when one conforms to society’s wishes instead of trusting herself .
In her article on Thoreau’s use of symbolism in Walden , Barbara
Johnson writes that , “[symbols] are , in other words , catachreses—‘figures of abuse’ , figurative substitutes for a literal term that does not exist” (486) , meaning that Dickinson’s metaphorical use of “Funeral” does not necessarily translate to the literal meaning of the word .
The term
“Funeral” could be a figurative way of illustrating her sense of loss at something more difficult to process than a physical death , or a mental breakdown .
The second stanza illustrates society’s methods of enforcing the “virtue” of conformity:
And when they all were seated ,
A Service , like a Drum—
Kept beating-beating-till I thought
My Mind was going numb—
As society has seemingly won because sense was “breaking through” , the proprietors of society take their seats and are at peace with the narrator’s presence in their company .
Notice

7 how the “Service” does not begin until “all were seated”—the service does not begin until each mourner has extolled the “virtue of conformity” required by society .
With everyone seated , the funeral service is allowed to begin , with drums keeping a static beat , “ like a Drum-/Kept beating- and beating- till I thought my Mind was going numb” .
The beating of a drum recalls a military march , which is fitting with the narrator’s “death” as a result of conformity .
When marching , every participant marches to the same beat , at the same pace , and are all heading to the same destination .
In keeping with the procession (or conforming to society-at-large) , the narrator’s mind further retreats from any original thought (“My Mind was going numb”) .
The next stanza goes into further detail regarding the actions of the “mourners”:
And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead , again ,
Then Space—began to toll ,
The lifting of the box could be interpreted as the official removal of her genius and her Truth , as the sound of its removal makes a “creak across [the narrator’s] Soul” .
The use of the term
“creak” exemplifies the Soul’s protest against the loss of individualism the narrator is undergoing .
In essence , the Soul is protesting its own imminent death—indeed her Truth is being trodden upon—this time by “boots of lead” which evokes the image of a weight so heavy it would crush anything beneath it .
Emerson wrote that on the path to realization that “you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you…” (124) which implies

8 that the “boots of lead” are crushing the narrator’s genius because they believe that conformity is the only suitable option for her .
The next line signifies a shift in the battle for the narrator’s genius .
As her genius is being beaten down by the overwhelming majority , “Space—began to toll” , which implies that the narrator is beginning to become aware of the world around her again as she is no longer “going numb” or hearing sounds from afar (“I heard them lift a Box”) , but is having a first-hand sensory experience .
“Space” lends itself to the notion of the cosmos , or of heaven itself , and it is undoubtedly significant that the narrator is jolted from her numbness after having her genius “creak across my soul” .
That heaven (“Space”) would begin to “toll” after this action signifies a shift in consciousness ; it is almost as if heaven is making an announcement to the narrator that her conformity is futile , as Thoreau pointed out in Walden ,
“In accumulating property…in founding a family or a state or acquiring fame even , we are mortal , but in dealing with truth we are immortal” (71) .
Thoreau , and the narrator , both seem to understand from some divine intervention that the actions which society endeavors one to undertake are transitory .
Additionally , this shift in consciousness is important because ,
Like her view of most subjects , her scrutiny of consciousness is colored by her religious predisposition—in this case her tendency to identify unconsciousness with prelapsarian innocence , [and] consciousness with the shame , guilt , and impaired reason brought on by the Fall .
(Spengemann , 134)

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Thus , the narrator , in a state of unconsciousness after having her genius beaten out , has a more direct relationship with God than the fully conscious society does .
The use of “reason” in
Spengemann’s analysis also lends itself to the notion that the ideas of Reason and Sense , because they come from man , are inherently flawed .
Emerson claimed that , “To believe your own thought , to believe that what is true for you in your private heart , is true for all men—that is genius” (121) .
Disregarding the Reason and Sense of the masses would encourage one to believe her “own thought” and to drift into an unconscious state in which she is more aligned with the innocence before the Fall of Man .
The fourth stanza of the poem further explores the relationship between the narrator and her conscience:
As all the Heavens were a Bell ,
And Being , but an Ear ,
And I , and Silence , some strange Race
Wrecked , solitary , here—
Because her genius has been beaten down , and her Soul thus weakened , the narrator finds herself with a foreign acquaintance: Silence .
The narrator acknowledges her current state as being as a desolate one: she is “wrecked” and “solitary” in her coffin , without her Truth
(“here”) .
The “Heavens” as a “Bell” are calling out to her “Being” to leave her current companion , “Silence” and regain her genius .
Dickinson’s comparison of her Being to an “Ear”

10 that is attuned to the “Bell” of the heavens corresponds to Emerson’s experience while in
Nature .
Emerson declares that , “I become a transparent eye-ball ; I am nothing ; I see all ; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me ; I am part or particle of God” (29) .
The narrator , if in her ideal state of genius , would function like Emerson’s “transparent eye-ball” and would be a vehicle (“an Ear”) with which the Heavens could communicate (as “a bell”) .
However , in her limbo between conformity and genius she is left “wrecked” and “solitary” with
“Silence” .
Silence , for Dickinson , would have been the dreariest companion imaginable .
Dickinson
“regarded words as necessary to thought , the medium in which thinking takes place and has its very being” (Spengemann 90) .
Words , therefore , supplied her genius—Emerson’s definition of genius was someone who believed her own thought ; without words , the narrator cannot think and cannot establish her genius .
When read in this light , the fourth stanza becomes less about how “to be lost is to lose all” and the narrator “ passing out… [due to] a psychotic episode”
(Cunningham 45) and instead articulates how it is one can “lose” their genius .
The final stanza , when the poem is read as an ode to depression , functions as the breaking point for the narrator:
And then a Plank in Reason , broke ,
And I dropped down , and down—
And hit a World , at every plunge ,

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And Finished knowing-then-
Helen Vendler wrote that “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” should have ended with the fourth stanza , with the narrator being “wrecked , solitary” .
Yet , Vendler states that through the final stanza ,
Dickinson reveals that her mind cannot maintain the stasis and stability of that sepulchral survival .
Her floor of reason suddenly gives way , and she falls further and further into the abyss at each stage colliding with a plane of existence , until consciousness is wholly abolished .
(72)
Which is to say that Dickinson , overcome by the weight of maintaining her sanity , is pulled down into the “abyss” of depression .
Yet Spengemann’s previous argument that Dickinson associated consciousness with the Fall of Man would indicate that this stanza is not about a death , but rather is about the rebirth of the narrator’s genius .
If Dickinson , as Spengemann argued , associated consciousness with “shame , guilt and impaired reason” , then Vendler’s assertion that “consciousness is wholly abolished” by the end of the poem would be an optimistic sign for the narrator .
If consciousness has been destroyed , the narrator is now free of “the virtue of conformity” and has broken away from all contrived
Sense and Reason , and is believing her own thought once again .
The final stanza also has remarkable similarities to an actual birth: the narrator is set into a free fall (“dropped down , and down”) after a “Plank in Reason” breaks .
The notion that the narrator “hit a World , at every plunge , / And Finished knowing-then-” is reminiscent of

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Thoreau’s request that every writer provide “a simple and sincere account of his own life…some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land , for if he has lived sincerely , it must have been in a distant land to me” (5) .
During the narrator’s re-birth , she discovers different “Worlds” at every “plunge” , which could mean that she is in the process of finding other geniuses .
If a genius needs to , “believe your own thought , to believe that what is true for you in your private heart , is true for all men” , then each genius would have her own absolute truth by which she lives .
This is what Thoreau meant when he said a sincere man “must have been in a distant land to me” ; each genius would also have to dismiss consistency for , “with consistency a great soul has nothing to do…Speak what you think now in hard words , and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again , though it contradict every thing you said to-day”
(Emerson 125) .
The “Plank in Reason” that prompted the narrator’s rebirth could have been the reliance on consistency .
In the second stanza , the narrator is kept in submission by the constant
“beating” of a “drum” .
This consistent beat leaves the narrator alone with “Silence” as “some strange race” and leaves no opportunity for the narrator to form an original thought , much less believe in it .
The last line , “And Finished knowing-then-” serves as an affront to the “Mourners” who , as Emerson would put it , “think they know your duty better than you know it” (Emerson 124) .
The narrator has broken free from society’s hold and can now exude the qualities of a “great

13 man…who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (Emerson 124) .
The narrator is no longer interested in society’s Sense , Reason , or
Knowledge , but is instead venturing back onto the path of genius and self-reliance .
While Dickinson’s “writing for the drawer” prevents any reader from truly knowing the inspiration for her poems , reading poem 78 alongside Emerson and Thoreau reveals an aspect of Dickinson’s poetry that is often underappreciated or ignored .
Emily Dickinson read the works of both Emerson and Thoreau , and was clearly influenced by them .
“I Felt a Funeral in my
Brain” serves to function as an example of how transcendental thought is a constant process of re-discovery , as well as occasional relapses into the “virtue of conformity” society tries to force upon individuals .
By disregarding the autobiographical lens with which many critics have analyzed this poem , Emily Dickinson’s relationship with transcendentalism becomes a clear and eloquent exemplar of what it means to be a “free- thinker” .

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