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POR
MÁRCLA. T. ZATHARIAM
FLORIANÓPOLIS
FEVEREIRO DE 1994
ü
Esta dissertação Toi julgada adequada e aprovada em sua forma fínal para a
obtenção do titulo de
MESTRE EM LETR4S
Banca Examinadora:
AGR.4DECÏMENTOS
ABSTRACT
Language is a theme which has always puzzled scholars and poets due to its
complexity and its implications in human relationshiops. The belief on the effective
communication and create their own code, language loses its aura and power of
poems on language and its impact on human lives. In Aiese poems, the poet hi^ili^ts
analysis of the poems itself is in the third chapter, whidi is foUowed by the conclusion
of the dissertation as a whole. In general, I tried to read her poems closely, keeping
track of her paradoxical views on language, as somefliing that "fails, but entertains...*'
VI
RESUMO
próprio. A linguagem perde, então, o seu status do veículo da verdade. Esta dissertação
sua importância na vida humana. Nestes poemas, a poeta joga com o paradoxo
Dicldnson. Grande paríe desta crítica contribui muito para a análise e a compreensão
dos poemas. No próximo capítulo, eu faço uma breve leitura de alguns textos teóricos
CONTENTS
AGRADECIMENTOS.................................... ................................................... iv
ABSTRACT................................................................................................... ...... v
RESUMO....................................................................................................... .......vi
CHAPTER IV : CONCLUSION.....................................................................79
INTRODUCTION
"co rre ction s." Though the originality and newness of her poetry;
to w ards a m o re c o n v e n t i o n a l po e tr y .^ P e r h a p s f r u s t r a t e d w i t h this f i r s t
and fam ily and frien ds p u b l i s h e d some s e le c te d poe ms.^ Her early
his c a r e f u l e d i t i n g , w h i c h in c l u d e d a l is t o f m a n u s c r i p t v a r i a n t s ,
p r e v i o u s p u b l i c a t i o n d a t a , and e m e n d a t i o n s o f e a r l ie r e d i t o r s . ^
b e e n d o ne by any o t h e r w r i t e r p r ev io u s ly . A l s o , she u se d a s s o n a n c e ,
the r e l e a s e o f a sm a ll d i s c o n c e r t i n g m y s t e r y r e d i s c o v e r e d . I n fact,
h e r p o e try has t h e ^ f a a g m e n t a r y c h a r a c t e r i s t i c w h i c h w ^ l d be l a t e r
lit e r a t u r e ." ^ 1
A c c o r d i n g to Ja m es W o o d re s s , c r i t i c i s m o f D i c k i n s o n 's work
D i c k i n s o n 's r e p u t a t i o n . The a f o r e m e n t io n e d C o n r a d A i k e n a nd A l l e n
f req ue n tly.
poetry.
S t i l l w i t h i n the c a t e g o r y of i m p o r t a n t e arly c r i t ic s , D o n a l d E.
a t t i t u d e t o w a r d s l a n g u a g e and w o rd s , an d d i s c u s s e s her m e t h o d o f
c o m p o s i t i o n , as w e l l as t h e p o w e r o f the i n d i v i d u a l w o r d s in h e r
e x p lo r e s th e p a r a d o x p o w e r / i n e f f i c i e n c y o f l a n g u a g e , and a ls o h e r
The c r i t i c is c o n c e rn e d o n ly w i t h po e tr y as A rt a n d e x p lo r e s d i f f e r e n t
inner world," and "The other paradise." Like Thackrey, Anderson deals
w ith m etalanguage and metapoetry, and lays em p hasis on D ick in son 's
on her poetry and letters was p u blish ed . We w ill deal here w ith some
faith , and p oetic ex p ressio n , pervades a ll the poet's works and is her
Poets: From the Puritans to the P resent, works sp e c ific a lly w ith the
puritan p ersp ective, but through a transcendental one, and states that
poet's major concern and presents an actual 'riddle' in her poetry. She
a n a ly ses D ick in so n 's experim ent o f the riddle, trying to exam ine her
critic ism on D ick in son 's work. Among many prominent authors, one
relevan t exam ple is Sandra Gilbert and Susan Oubar in The M adwom an
the them e o f en closu re and escap e in D ick in son 's work, they explore
and fiery in teriors." '^ D ick in so n 's work is said to fo llo w the pattern
stu dies in w h ich they bring about different themes: Poliak lin k s thirst
illu m in a tes the d iscon tin u ity o f the "lyric-self" in contrast to the
vs. poetry, consid erin g D ickinson's struggle for creative autonomy and
for avoiding the bias o f being a woman writer. The creative power o f
concerned w ith some poems w h ose central theme is language and its
poem s about langu age and com m unication, as i s the case o f poem J.
1651:
It may expire i f He —
Could c o n d e sc en sio n be
w ith e xp ressio n from her e arliest years." And in many o f her poem s,
w h ic h has its own life and f u lf ills an em p tiness in human life (This
and other aspects in her poetry w ill be explored with more details in
chapter III.)
D ic k in so n 's poetry. John G ross, for exam p le, in "'Tell A ll the Truth
But — refers to D ick in son 's 'noncom m unication,' that is, the
other nineteenth-century artiats who experienced the same fear for the
'obliquity' o f m ethod, w hich allow ed them to 'tell the truth ' slan tly, as
w ith the process o f nam ing th in gs. The poet as 'namer' is the one who
sees and feels nature se n sitiv e ly enough to create the names for its
e lem en ts. For Mann, though, D ick in son 's attitude differs from
Em erson's, for she is c o n scio u s o f the dou b len ess o f things and o f the
h ig h lig h ts D ick in son 's sed u ction for nam es, their power and
In this sen se, D ick in son 's poet is the namer and the creator o f the
w orld, that is , the poet " p o ssess[es] the world by naming it," what is
attempt to "define the indefinable," hence, the irony resu ltin g from
d e fin itio n is none — we can see the poet's attitude towards the
com m u n icab ility o f langu age. But even sh ow ing the 'failure' of
lan gu age has much impact on human rela tio n sh ip s, and the power and
ind ep en dence o f words are made e x p lic it by the poet in many poem s,
such as J.8:
There is a word
On patriotic day.
Is a soul "forgot!"
own life and the "living word has re-creative p o w e r . " B y "living
word", she means the word that is uttered and used, not the one that
lie s inert in a dictionary. The poet, then, b e lie v e s in this higher power
12
o f words and o f eloquence itse lf, even w h ile recog n izin g the am biguity
w h ich can surround such a power. B ecau se o f this b e lie f, her language
i t s e l f is creative, and she can discover the "inner paradise o f art by the
am b ig u ity , sin c e , once created, words have their own life and may
concern w ith craftsm anship and w ith the im portance o f the poet. The
in a th eatrica l one. D ick in son 's poet is extrem ely human, private and
d evoid o f d ivinity.
a ffe c tiv e power o f poetry in w hich "impact and inn ovation are
"surprise o f discovery in the fam iliar i s s u e s ,"20 and the poet is the
one who has "supreme o b lig a tio n s and power" to reveal language's
13
tw ofo ld . She sees in words an pow erful and creative power; at the
sam e tim e, she r ecog n izes their in e ffic ie n c y in com m unicating. In his
the differences betw een D ick in son 's and Emerson's assum ptions on the
nature o f lan gu ag e, he show s that, for D ick in son , words have som e
kind o f destru ctiven ess and their power is exp losive; the "dangerous
bu ild s up a d ifferen tiation betw een the transcendental sig n and the
the irreducibly lin g u is tic nature o f all kn ow led ge and, therefore, o f all
r e a lity ."22 The sig n s t ill keeps the 'autonomy' o f the object; the
the sym b ol, and she is aware o f the lack o f convention e x is tin g
betw een word and reality. M ean w hile, D ic k in so n is con sciou s o f the
14
lim ita tio n s o f language in com m unicating, she works w ith it in self-
Another critic who exam ines this double attitude o f the poet
before language is Murray Arndt in "Emily D ick in son and the Limits
lan gu age are examined. W hile language has " resonances that range
beyond the lim its o f l o g i c , "24 these same lim its can confine language
u n til it "no longer has the power to dom inate [D ickinson's] v i s i o n . "25
E ven recogn izin g the lim its o f w ords, she wants to break the lim its o f
)
grammar "push[ing] her poems beyond lo g ic a l lim its o f l a n g u a g e . "26
P o etic Mode," m entions the inab ility to grasp m eaning, p osin g that
"meaning does not lie in the world o f external reality, and the sen ses
15
are not to be trusted entirely, although they are all that can be relied
straightforw ardly; som etim es lan gu age is even unable to reflect truth.
th« sp ace it must faith fu lly r e c o r d " 2 S ^ and that D ick in son is con scio u s
o f th is m ourning that is langu age. The experien ces w h ich the speaker
interpretation o f that ex p erien ce, w h ich is not the event anymore, but
the representation o f it. But even i f the speaker is con scio u s o f this
for our m ental im ages and. so m etim es, "unable to say what we mean,
unique attitude in relation to the com plex and d ia lec tic a l relationship
16
other w ords, langu age w ould be the theater through w hich what is lost,
our only protection in a w ild ern ess o f natural facts." He show s the
relation la n g u a g e /iif e /lie in D ick in so n 's poetry. Language can turn life
into lie and, co n seq u en tly , distant from the "terrible harmony o f
w ill be to analyse som e o f D ick in son 's poem s w hich have language as
their m ain them e, trying to come to some c o n clu sio n about the function
sile n c e — g iv en the n on com m u nicab ility o f words and the task o f the
17
poet as a namer. At the end o f the a n a ly sis, I w ill try to answer the
relation sh ip s?
Many o f D ick in son 's poems give a clue to the answer o f these
negation.
concerning lan gu age and human com m unication. In that chapter, I w ill
NOTES - CHAPTER I
5 - W oodress 188.
19
^ - W o o d re ss 1 90.
^ - Anderson 3.
® - Anderson 11.
E m e r s o n So c iety Q u a r te r l y 7 7 ( 1 9 7 4 ) : 89.
- Anderson 32.
11 - P o r te r 87.
12 - W oodress 197.
13 - W oodress 206.
15 - A n d e r s o n 36.
1^ - A nderson 30.
1^ - Anderson 46.
19 - P o r t e r 89.
20 - P o r t e r 89.
2 5 (1 9 7 9 ): 140.
20
22 . H a g c n b ttc h le 143.
23 . Hagenbtkchle 153.
25 - Arndt 2 1.
26 . Arndt 27.
336.
29 - Cameron 141.
30 - Cameron 145.
21
CHAPTER II
ON LANGUAGE
d e fin itio n may seem paradoxical at tim es, and this paradox has been a
The poem above is not only about the word it s e lf, but about
langu age, on her ow n instrument o f working. But this chapter does not
con sid eration s on the topic. In other w ords, I want to read other
Perhaps, Language's se lf-r efle x iv ity came about when the very first
langu age has alw ays been complex and paradoxical for p eop le, due to
its unlim ited realm o f p o s s ib ilit ie s , and, som etim es, blankness.
before I go on w ith the an alysis o f D ick in son 's work, sin ce it may be
on, but help creating it. A lso , I think it is important to have different
D ick in son 's own v ie w s and see how the poet's ideas on it can be
exp ressin g fe e lin g s and em otions. Shifting the focus now to the
th eoretician s, w e can surely find the same concern w ith the 'sayable'
24
and the 'unsayable.' This is probably the track I w ill follo w in the
com m u nicates, langu age is som etim es a fa ilu re, som etim es su c c e s sfu l,
d istin ctio n b etw een 'sign ifier' and 'sig n ifie d .' For the lin g u ist, the link
betw een the nam e and the thing it refers to is not ph ysical; it is
arbitrary and m ental. Instead o f 'name' and 'thing,' Saussure u ses the
terms 'sound im age' and 'concept.' These tw o elem ents are united in a
w h ich is the 's ig n ifie d .' The two o f them make up the sign. The sig n
com bination o f sig n ifie r and sig n ifie d , but it is ordinarily view ed as
the sound im age itse lf. A ccordin g to Haris, then, Saussure's merits lie
25
in d istin g u ish in g betw een "The 'sound' o f a word in the sense of its
phenomena. "2
asso cia ted ac o u stic phenomena relates to the lin g u istic sign being
betw een sig n ifier and sign ified is arbitrary. This is an important
langu age how ever, has nothing to do w ith ind ividu al ch o ice , but with
langu age being a so c ia l institution w hich goes beyond all others and
entity w hich e x is ts "only through the a sso c ia tin g o f the sig n ifier with
Identity can be v iew ed as the word itse lf, but the value o f a word is
not w ith in the word itse lf. It has to do w ith what the word brings to
o p p o sitio n o f concrete unions. The sig n ified and the sign ifier com pose
the sig n . The sig n , then, is the arbitrary name. Thus, language is an
lie o u tsid e the word. Saussure sees it as "the most com plex and
o f the m ost important, we must say, but it is not reality itse lf.
L in gu istica works w ith language through a m eta lin g u istic d iscou rse,
say. L in g u istic s u ses language to go after itse lf. It is langu age trying
human relation sh ip s, and it is d efin itely resp o n sib le for the m oving o f
express what w e see o f the world. C on seq u en tly, what comes to mind
word being the sig n for som ething w h ich is elsew here. The
describ in g. The latter is a p o ssib le operation; the same can not be said
som ething is; nam ing, 'what' it is. In d escrib in g , we must point out
sending the m eaning towards other words that, in turn, try to com pose
the sig n ifica n t w h o le. N am ing is d efin itely more com plex, sin ce saying
what som ething 'is* means g ivin g it a nam e, that represents it. This
name is the arbitrary sig n stated by Saussure. As sign ifican t exam ples,
w e express our thoughts. Then, we have the acknow ledgem ent o f the
clearer, in that the assertion o f it is im p o ssib le, given the fact that the
'What', the e sse n c e , can not be uttered. The 'what' lies outside
sig n ifie d and sig n ifier - but we can not 'assert' them .
30
found in the f o l l o w i n g p a s s a g e by W it t g e n s t e i n :
language is the rep resen tation o f the world, to the fact that there is an
absolute gap b etw een this representation and the world itse lf.
Language is only a mirror for what it reflects. If we take this gap into
or more elem ents and som ething to be said; receptor, sender, and
tw o elem ents in the process must have a sim ilar experience concerning
what is being said. The problem lie s in this sim ila rity o f experience.
31
has her/his own experien ce, that is, if the ou tsid e world causes
there are thin gs that can be spoken o f better than others. W ittgen stein
more d iffic u lt, som etim es im p o ssib le, to talk about. M etaphysics goes
beyond p h y sic s, that is , beyond the elu cid ation o f phenomena w h ich
can be seen or reasoned m ateria listica lly . It deals w ith the realm o f
differentiates th in gs that can be said from those that cannot. But what
can be made out o f what can not be said? Before going to the answer, I
the T ractatus. H aving pointed out all the relativity o f language and
com m unication, all the p o s s ib ilit ie s , and, som etim es, the lack o f
itself;
mirror for it. In other words, lan gu age and reality, language and truth
33
im pose lim its on each other, since they are not compatible. Language
has becom e the m ain v e h icle for hum anity's com m unication, for each
is silen ce.
dressing;
the gap b e tw een representation o f the w o rld (la n g u age) and the word
Steiner in his book Language and S ile n c e . Steiner also evokes the
lim ita tio n s o f language and its failure to com m unicate, but presents
being prim ord ial, as a powerful instrum ent on w h ich humans depended
entirely:
A s a resu lt, langu age lo se s its authority and its aura, and begins to be
p o ssib le to put into words what one s e e s , but not what one fee ls. What
o f im p r essio n com ing from a great novel or poem. In this asp ect,
aw ay from the natural w orld, from the company o f the anim als. In
38
being able to speak, we fictio n a lize our thou ghts, our fe e lin g s, and we
exam ples drawn out o f modern history, and points out the destructive
quality that langu age p o s s e s s e s i f used for n eg ativ e ends. The German
langu age, for him , not only happened to be the language o f nazism , but
power o f lan g u a g e, o f its use as a w eapon . In poem J .8, for exam ple,
There is a word
On patriotic day.
(...)
Here w e see clearly that w ith her game o f words -— w ords/sw ord,
"pierce an armed man." And, in fact, a weapon that can k ill. The
"epauletted Brother" who "gave his breath away" is not only the victim
sw ord w hich can be used to k ill and be 'mute' again. Here w e have the
danger o f the words in use, o f language being able to destroy and fall
lan gu age. The question w hich arises from Steiner's d isc u ssio n is
paradox. The title Language and S ilen ce m akes, then, se n se, in the
context o f D ick in son 's poetry: "Beyond the poems, alm ost s t r o n g e r
pow er, the poet e le cts sile n c e as an answer the lim itation s of
lan g u a g e, not to say as a refuge for such. This 'retreat' from language
lan gu age.
p lays the role o f master o f langu age, and escap es from it. As the one
who creates w ords, who renews them, and keeps them a liv e , the poet
can be com pared to god. R eca llin g D ick in so n 's poem J.569, w e have a
So I w r i t e — Po e ts — All
(...)
sum m er — and even the m ystical — heaven. He is the first o f the lis t,
and the others are even 'need less' when compared to him. But, anyway,
about sile n c e as one p o ssib le solu tion to the poet involved w ith
NOTES - CHAPTER II
59.
5 - Harris 64.
^ - Harris 69.
5 . Saussure 160.
6 - Saussure 161.
8 . W ittgenstein 45.
9 - W ittgenstein 49.
- W ittgenstein 79.
44
1981) 64.
B o o k s, 1 9 6 9 ) 32.
1^ - Steiner 36.
1^ - Steiner 33.
19 . Steiner 37.
20 . Steiner 30.
21 - Steiner 31.
22 - Steiner 29
23 . Steiner 58.
24 - Steiner 140.
25 - Steiner 41.
26 . Steiner 70.
45
CHAPTER III
many o f them , w e see the con flict betw een elem ents o f power and
J.1261
At distances o f Centuries
There are several elem ents in the poem w hich imply power —
The in flu en ce o f the "wrinkld Maker" over the "eye". That is to say,
seam," stays in the 'seam' for cen tu ries. The reader is even able to
inh ale the despair from 'malaria.' This is a poem about the power and
rather in complicity: the 'eye' and the 'wrinkled maker.' The word
c a r e le ssly dropped by the 'Maker' — the poet — stim ulates the 'eye' —
47
the reader. And there is the link between them — the infection. What
in books? If so, the sim p le reading o f any poem w ou ld 'spread' it. The
independent life o f the word. Here we recall another poem (J.12 12),
A word is dead
When it is said.
Some say.
I say it just
B e g in s to live
That day.
a very d ick in so n ia n thought - v iew in g the word as a live and pow erful
attem pt to show the ind ividu al life and su g g e s tiv e force of each o f
them.
48
J.1332
Covert — in A pril —
Candid — in May —
Nature forswears
A ntiquity —
Nature — com es only at the end. F irstly we have a ll the words and
exp ression s that 'qualify' it — each quality, each descrip tion w ith a
these words seem s to be lying alone on the page bringing forth its
on human life:
50
J.1 409
O f a delivered syllab le
There are several su g g e s tiv e figures in the poem, indicating the speaker's
"could mortal lip divine", takes for granted the human u n co n scio u sn ess
in relatio n to som ething. The next two lin es present a playful op p osition
o f the figures "undeveloped F reigh t/d elivered syllable." The sy lla b le,
the word being d elivered , n e c essa rily leads to the developm ent o f the
"Freight." What w ould Freight here mean? The value o f the sylla b le? Or
the m eaning o f it? In the last lin e, the words "crumble" and "weight"
c o n sc io u s o f the impact that the spoken word has on reality. In the words
o f W ittg en stein ,
book;
J.1263
O f prancing Poetry —
prancing, w h ich gives it movem ent, life . Literature has the power to
take readers on a trip; n on eth eless, we are tempted to say that the poet
is w ritin g about an interior trip, one that does not imply the "oppress
52
o f Toll," and that "bears the Human Soul." But though interior, this
have already seen this aspect in the beginn in g o f this chapter, w hen,
J.1 467
As eloquent appears —
p resen ce, but a temporal one. A lso , the terms Ardor and Tears carry
the poet e sta b lish es the value o f the word as being above that o f time
from gen eration to generation, the word i t s e lf does not change; it stays
eloq uent. Thoughts and ideas grow old; words remain im pervious to
tim e.
concerned w ith the ones who work them. In some poem s, she writes
D i s t i l ls am azing sense
Arrested it — before —
The Poet — it is He —
E n titles U s — by Contrast
To c e a s e le s s Poverty —
In the first stan za, the poet's craft is already defined, the
ren ew in g langu age, i f not creating it. The poet is the one who makes
fam ilia rity unfam iliar and, m ean w h ile, makes the reader also a part in
the crea tive act — "We wonder it was not O urselves/A rrested it —
his superiority is related to his power o f creating and renew ing w ords,
o f d is c lo s in g "Pictures — " and this image may w e ll mean that the poet
So I w rite — Poets — A ll —
the first? The answer comes in the second stanza: the poet is able to
"comprehend" the other elem ents. He is in sid e Nature, but, m eanw hile,
he p o s s e s s e s it, in that he can understand it. More than th is, the Poet
P o ets] "prepare" — that is, the fictio n a l heaven they create w ith words
the last stanza, however, we have a hint ["It is too d ifficu lt a Grace
— ”] that his divin ity is not e a sily understood, the "Dream" is not
im portance o f the poet as the one who deals w ith such an important
57
language can be, in none o f them she mentions real com m unication o f
fe e lin g s and ideas. Our next step w ill be the reading o f som e poem s in
comm unication.
J.581
Or N oon — in Mazarin?
into words. The image used, the "Hand [that tries] to chalk the Sun"
im plies huge d ifficu lty, or rather, im p ossib ility. The second stanza
Mazarin. There are, indeed, words for many thoughts, but this
p o s sib ility goes only to one point. There is "One" which "defies" the
poet. What kind o f thought would that be? Here we must also recall
poem J.1668:
I know it is a sign
The first two lin es o f the poem already come up w ith the
d ifficu lty o f com m unicating glad n ess. She names this d ifficu lty after
Here w e have two key elem ents in o p p osition , w hich are e sse n tia l for
such as glad n ess. C onversely, "Eternity" can bring to the reader's mind
59
define "how glad" she fe e ls, she does not go on trying to define, but
fe e lin g s. Her g lad n ess w ould be much more related to "Eternity" than
precise.
Brides — an A pocalypse —
Worlds — a Flood —
< Starting w ith the sin g le word, the poet builds a whole u n iverse o f
m ean ings, bringing to the poem relations betw een "Morning" and other
the first verse, she presents the word to be defined. In each o f the
other v erses, she presents one different m eanings for one different
61
situ ation . The list could continue for much longer, given the infinite
J 988
each other alm ost w ith m athem atical precision. The word "none"
reduces the two verses to alm ost nothing, and g iv es the poem an idea
The im p o ssib ility o f nam ing certain feelin gs is, thus, a great
J.1382
Or D eity —
D is s o lv e s — the same —
Without a Nam e —
It has no home —
Thereafter roam.
63
reportless joy. And even comparing this fe e lin g to Nature or God, she
The em ptiness caused by such a joy or the im p o ssib ility o f naming it?
d is c u s s e s this point:
So easy to be
The p roblem atics o f know ing/n am in g is clear. The first verse already
states the separation betw een thoughts and words. What fo llo w s is an
thou ghts or k n ow led ge. The poet even m y stifies the question by calling
term 'words', as seen , is m entioned only once. What the rest o f the
Would th is d istan ce betw een words and thoughts make the latter more
incom p reh en sib le? W ould thoughts 'which have words' be easier to
way o f an answer:
In many o f D ickinson's poem s, w e can also see the apology o f silen ce.
The poet states that sile n c e is a superior langu age, som etim es more
J.989
O f a T enderness,
A remoter bed?
fe e lin g and it is soon d isso cia te d from sp eak ing — "is not the
she m en tions the sea p la y fu lly as an elem ent o f great power, but also
0
'an sw erless.' The lack o f an answ er does not render the sea weaker,
but "remoter."
J.97
Than P h ilo so p h y .
(•■)
s ile n c e as w ell:
J.1004
As that endured
67
J.1251
she declares her aw aren ess in relation to things w e can 'not' utter and
her worship for sile n c e . If, how ever, we take words and
com m unication as tw o separate and d efin ite th in g s, the con trad iction
is made less strong. D ic k in so n never takes for granted that lan gu age
J.1681
Is heard o f none —
Is had w ith in —
— "heard o f none/had w ith in — ." But the first line o f the poem
J.1700
O f introspective M ines —
stated. At once, the verbs 'tell' and 'state' are d isq u a lifie d , or, at lea st
— i f this term here sounds too strong — not b elieved . T ellin g the
Beauty decreases it. A e sth etics has much more to do w ith fe e lin g ,
to do with t e llin g how beautiful one object is? And a lso , stating
"demean(s)" the Spell; that is to say, utters what can only be felt. The
word that attem pts to utter reality is just a (weak) reflection o f it.
Sea here im p lie s the im m ensity and com p lexity o f what is reflected in
the truth:
J.1129
The poet states her fear in relation to 'tellin g the truth,' as it may not
be directly told. T e llin g "slant" is her su g g e s tio n , sin ce, otherw ise,
truth can 'blind'. Would her su g gestion for ind irectness have any
con n ection w ith her fear o f the void in com m unication in language? In
and in e ffic ie n c y ?
she ia even c o n sc io u s o f her failure; "My w ill endeavors for its word /
And fa ils..." H agenbtlchle says that her poem s are often records o f
failu re and [that] she works in se lf-n eg a tio n ." !^ As a poet, she is
aware that her 'w ill' fa ils . But the fo llo w in g words make the poem
problem atic; "And f a ils , but entertains." This verse could sound like;
'I know la n g u a g e is a failu re, but 1 like to w rite, to speak, to hear the
sound o f w o rd s, to have the illu sio n o f real com m unication. After a ll,
in poem J. 1681. W ould language not be one affection ate link betw een
j" '
us?
J.1651
It may expire i f He —
Flesh." Would that be the act o f speaking? The word in its m aterial
realization when delivered through human's lips? But, i f so, the act o f
sp eak ing is unique and alm ost always solitary — "seldom / And
the idea o f the act o f speaking being ind ivid u al and im p o ssib le to
exp lain , to report? That means to say that words are not able to report
o f the stanza, how ever, we see the idea o f w ords in u se, h elp in g
w hich sa tiates our "strength." And this is a fact that briiags "ecstasies
"Partook" but fu lf ills a human need for strength, and, in d eed , brings
"ecstasies o f ste a lth .” And here again we have the idea o f the act o f
speaking being ind ividu al and even secret, in the word 'stealth.'
Speaking w ould bring, thus, som e inner sa tisfa c tio n . Its im pact i n the
Words are v iew ed as food and drink — the bread and the w ine that fed
not only the body, but rather the spirit. A s in the aforem entioned poem
sim ply any character, is made strong through w ords, and in a way, is
perpetuated through them. This we can infer from the im age "frame
was Dust-." After havin g drunk and eaten the words, "He" knows no
75
more that "his frame was Dust." The "frame," his im age, w ill not
van ish like "Dust" anymore, or at le a st, the words made him b elieve
The secon d stanza brings, thus, the statement that his joy was
loo sen s the spirit. The power o f w ords, then, is like the power o f God
who also gave Jesus r e lie f and freedom. The poem brings this power
J.1261
for the word as a tim e le ss and pow erful elem ent. We view ed the term
role that language has in our relation s causin g despair for its own
void. But hum anity does not e a s ily g iv e it up. The "infection" can last
past and future. Our k n ow led ge and history, although so many tim es
J.26
By u sing words the poet brings us lan g u age and her heart,
2 5 (1 9 7 9 ): 139.
^ - Hagenbtkchle 139.
5 - H agenbtichle 198.
^ - M ann 485.
. HagenbOchle 149.
79
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
J.26
The poem is all the poet has "to bring today." Literature,
langu age is what the poet can offer us "This, and my heart beside
lan gu age and literature. Why us^ langu age, why be a poet, why try to
have seen some hints w hich led us to some c o n clu sio n s towards
chapter w e w ill review some o f the m ain poin ts that were brought up
critic a l tex ts, many aspects o f her poetry became clearer to me. In
important a sp ects, such as the role o f the poet as the language-m aker
81
pow erful weapon. These asp ects, naturally, are a ll im plicated in the
pointed out the power o f words for her; som e h igh ligh ted their
in e ffic ie n c y . Some worked w ith both a sp ects. After having read her
this asp ect has been explored by other critics. What I wanted,
in trigu in g poetry.
com m ents on texts by W ittgen stein , Saussure and George Steiner, the
rela tin g to lan gu age and life , and sh ow s us the distan ce b etw een truth
and w ords, reality and language. He a lso brings the poet as a s ile n c e
com m u nication .
J.1700
(•••)
As a poet, though, she s till u ses langu age to express its own
w as not an easy task, due to the idiosyn crasy o f her sty le, but in som e
J.1639
A Letter is a jo y o f Earth
e a s ily understood.
other subjects and them es may be analysed and pursued not only in
another one o f D ick in so n 's poem s in w h ich she states her b e l ie f that
literatu re, her "letter to the World," w ill keep her in contact w ith other
J.441
Judge tenderly — o f Me
86
NOTES - CHAPTER IV
B o o k s, 1 9 6 9 . 37.
87
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P rincenton U P , 1961.
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