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North American Literature - Coggle Diagram
North American Literature
Emily Dickinson
1830-1886
health and isolation
tuberculosis feared
experienced health issues in youth and withdrawn from school
serious eye condition, restricted ability to read and write
increasing withdrawal in social life from early adulthood - deliberate choice or anxiety?
poetry and style
experimental form + strong first-person voice, observation and introspection
recognizes limitations imposed by society while imagining possibilities beyond them
language elliptical + indirect, abstract ideas without rigid meanings - exploring what is possible but not fully realized
liberation but also instability/uncertainty
"Before I Got My Eye Put Out"
reflects on perception, loss + imagination
contrast ordinary sight w/ overwhelming possibilities from having unlimited vision
complete access to the world - meadows/mountains/sky - unbearable
limitation safer than excess
in relation to Dickinson's eye condition, but also as meditation on knowledge + perception - seeing/knowing too much overwhelming, limitation creates imagination
Writing + Publication
didn't publish poetry widely - post death 1800 poems discovered
manuscripts revealed deliberate attention to form - dashes and unconventional punctuation
early editors altered her work to fit conventional standards
Dash + form
punctuation disrupts conventional grammar + rhythm, creating pauses + multiple possible readings
replacing her dashed changes meaning and flow of poem - form + content inseparable in her work
dash allows to suggest rather than define - meaning open and fluid
Reception + Legacy
first published in 1890 - widespread attention
continues to be studied
Treatment of manuscripts
instability of textual legacy
Smith argues omissions + alterations are deliberate - erase references to Susan, obscuring depth + nature of their relationship
interventions reshape Dickinson's voice, suppressing expressions of intimacy and desire
erasures function as acts of control over meaning, producing a version of Dickinson that aligns w/ "acceptable" cultural narratives
legacy inseparable from processes of mediation- writing not a fixed body of work but shaped by censorship + editing
"Morning--means "Milking"--to the Farmer"
single concept can hold different meanings depending on perspective
"morning" shifts across social roles - work for farmer, risk for lover, revelation for beloved, apocalypse for brides
meaning not fixed but relational + shaped by experience, position + expectation
"Because I Could Not Stop for Death"
death personified as courteous figure who gently takes speaker on carriage ride
journey moves from scenes of life - children playing, fields, setting sun, arriving at grave
death is not violent or abrupt but calm + inevitable - transition rather than end
poem shifts perspective from moment of death to a timeless state beyond it - brief journey becomes centuries
horses' heads pointed toward eternity suggest death leads to ongoing + incomprehensible state beyond human time, not to nothingness
Fame and fragility
"Glory is that bright tragic thing"
fame fleeting + unstable
glory briefly elevates a name - giving it warmth and recognition - moment quickly fades into oblivion
fame powerful + temporary, only visibility for an instant
recognition doesn't provide lasting meaning or permanence
"My Life Had Stood - a Loaded Gun"
speaker who describes herself as a weapon waiting to be activated - identity tied to the "Master" and her actions serve his purpose
initially passive, only powerful when claimed by an "Owner"
once active, gains agency, voice + force participating in action + violence
power can exist in a latent state, requiring recognition or external authorization to emerge - power also deeply dependent
despite appearing strong + dominant, her existence is instrumental - power to kill but not power to die, limited form of existence defined by function
exploration of constrained female agency - potential is real but only realized through figure of authority, women's power historically mediated by patriarchy
even when empowered, speaker acts within boundaries set by another - power + dependence coexist, enabling or restrictive?
"The Brain is Wider than the Sky"
relationship between mind/world/divinity
poem argues that human mind can contain and comprehend vast physical realities like sky + sea
brain wider + deeper than these elements - imagination + consciousness exceed physical world in scope
comparison w/ brain + God - both intangible yet powerful, capable of shaping reality
close connection/near equivalence between human consciousness + divine power - relationship unresolved, difference minimal
questions of limits of human understanding + nature of existence
Dickinson and the Cult of Domesticity
seclusion either deliberate strategy to protect her poetry or form of withdrawal due to anxiety
relationship w/ her father - he provided financial stability + space for her to write, while also embodying restrictive expectations placed on women
Dickinson outward conformity to social norms not a belief but more a survival strategy
Dickinson doesn't reject ideals but inhabits them in ways that allows for subtle resistance
her life negotiating constraints from within, using social roles to create room for intellectual independence
Purity
white clothing - form of self-determination
appears as moral innocence but its a conscious withdrawal from marriage and social obligation - protects her autonomy + allows her to remain dedicated to writing
purity into resistance not passivity
Piety
redefined as intensely private and intellectual engagement w/ faith
refuses public declarations of religious conversion, not due to lack of belief but she rejects performative + institutional forms
poetry acts as personal spiritual practice, confronting death+ eternity
Domesticity
from a space of comfort into confinement
home initially supports intellectual + emotional life, gradually becomes restrictive
Dickinson's engagement with domestic tasks a negotiation - exchange that grants her solitude to write
arrangement leads to increasing isolation, domestic sphere an enclosure
Submissiveness
performance - appears to comply w/ patriarchal authority but maintains strong intellectual independence
"sovereign mind" resists domination internally while outwardly conforming to expectations