This dissertation illustrates that Emily Dickinson’s poetry is characterized by hesitation. The hesitating attitude results from the view of alterity. For Dickinson, the other refers to something other than self, such as ‘lover,’ ‘nature,’ or even ‘death.’ She suggests that the other can’t be fully ...
This dissertation illustrates that Emily Dickinson’s poetry is characterized by hesitation. The hesitating attitude results from the view of alterity. For Dickinson, the other refers to something other than self, such as ‘lover,’ ‘nature,’ or even ‘death.’ She suggests that the other can’t be fully grasped on the part of the self or assimilated into the self, for she admits there is otherness in the other that can’t be overcome on the part of the self. Dickinson restrains self-asserting or self-expanding power over the other by deferring the moment of sublimation that makes a poet feel the elevation of his or her poetic power when assimilating the other into the self. Hesitating to arrive at the final commitment, she tries to reserve certainty or finality in her poetry. So her poetry becomes a poetry that embodies the otherness of the other through which she experiences a kind of self-dissolution and by which her poems are left unfinished or ended open. Attending to the Dickinson’s hesitant attitude of not intruding upon the impenetrable domain of the other and at the same time not asserting the transcendent power of poetic self, in the first part, I will show Dickinson’s poetics of hesitation contrasted with self-centered attitudes. The romantic sublime sees the poet as a kind of hero in that he can master the world through his spiritual vision. Dickinson stays away from the general romantic practices by accepting that nature can’t be explained or defined on the part the poet herself. Instead, she thinks nature is characterized as simplicity of maintaining each other without controlling others. She thinks her poetry should be like nature and redefines the power of poetics by emphasizing hesitation, not self-expansion. In contrast to Dickinson’s poetic attitude, ‘Calvinist God’ or ‘Master’ represents self-centeredness that is symbolized as ‘prose.’ Through the daunting, controlling and patriarchal attitude of God or Master toward a speaker, usually a little girl, of the poems, Dickinson tries to deconstruct the relationship of subjugation and subordination. In the second part, I will deal with how she keeps away from the self-centered attitude toward others. Choosing to reject the prose, a poet rises to the rank of royalty or ‘queen.’ But paradoxically she gets it not by asserting her power but by accepting that she as a self can’t be a center. The poet is rather exposed to the otherness of the other that can’t be fully assimilated into her own and then experiences a kind of self-dissolution. Her poetry expresses the dissolution itself by denying the poet’s power of reaching final poetic sublimation in her poetry. It becomes an open-ended poetry that leaves the poems unfinished and simultaneously makes the poetic room for the reader to participate in. Denying her self-centeredness results from admitting and respecting the otherness in the other. In the third part, it will be investigated how Dickinson tries to be faithful to alterity in the poems about ‘Nature’ or ‘Death’ and how eagerly she concentrates on the relationship itself between self and other through the poems usually about ‘Love.’ ‘Nature’ is a mystery that can’t be grasped or understood fully and by which she rather feels intimidated. ‘Death’ is a name for alterity itself, because human beings can never confront death that is out of time or change. So death is an absolute other which can’t be knowable from a point of human being. Paradoxically, the distance caused by the otherness itself makes the subject and object keep craving each other, for there always remains some desire for each other because of the distance between them. ‘Love’ is a subject that reveals Dickinson’s interest in the relationship itself. It is not a transcendent or ahistorical value, but an experiential reality within a specific context and history. So love exists not as an union of lovers but as an duality of lovers. What matters in love is to make relationship with the lover by keeping the distance with him or her as proximately as possible without mastering or being controlled by each other. Hesitation is a sort of expression of love and care for the other, for it results from the acceptance of the other as other and necessarily makes both of them keep in contact with each other. There is no aim or target in relationship between subject and object, but the relationship itself is the end of the relationship during which they feel the breath of each other. That’s why Dickinson calls her business is to love no matter how people are laughing at her. Through this dissertation emphasizing alterity and Dickinson’s hesitation, it will be found out how much Dickinson’s poetry is full of love for others and how intensely she is sociable, not as separated or lonely as she looked. And Dickinson’s poetics is known to be a puzzle which is very ambiguous and difficult to know. Some critics tend to regard this puzzle-looking poetry as Dickinson’s lack of controlling abilities of making the poetry systematic and consistent. But if we look at the Dickinson’s poetry from the perspective of hesitation that is grounded on the purpose of maintaining the relationship with readers, another kind of congruencies will be found.
This dissertation illustrates that Emily Dickinson’s poetry is characterized by hesitation. The hesitating attitude results from the view of alterity. For Dickinson, the other refers to something other than self, such as ‘lover,’ ‘nature,’ or even ‘death.’ She suggests that the other can’t be fully grasped on the part of the self or assimilated into the self, for she admits there is otherness in the other that can’t be overcome on the part of the self. Dickinson restrains self-asserting or self-expanding power over the other by deferring the moment of sublimation that makes a poet feel the elevation of his or her poetic power when assimilating the other into the self. Hesitating to arrive at the final commitment, she tries to reserve certainty or finality in her poetry. So her poetry becomes a poetry that embodies the otherness of the other through which she experiences a kind of self-dissolution and by which her poems are left unfinished or ended open. Attending to the Dickinson’s hesitant attitude of not intruding upon the impenetrable domain of the other and at the same time not asserting the transcendent power of poetic self, in the first part, I will show Dickinson’s poetics of hesitation contrasted with self-centered attitudes. The romantic sublime sees the poet as a kind of hero in that he can master the world through his spiritual vision. Dickinson stays away from the general romantic practices by accepting that nature can’t be explained or defined on the part the poet herself. Instead, she thinks nature is characterized as simplicity of maintaining each other without controlling others. She thinks her poetry should be like nature and redefines the power of poetics by emphasizing hesitation, not self-expansion. In contrast to Dickinson’s poetic attitude, ‘Calvinist God’ or ‘Master’ represents self-centeredness that is symbolized as ‘prose.’ Through the daunting, controlling and patriarchal attitude of God or Master toward a speaker, usually a little girl, of the poems, Dickinson tries to deconstruct the relationship of subjugation and subordination. In the second part, I will deal with how she keeps away from the self-centered attitude toward others. Choosing to reject the prose, a poet rises to the rank of royalty or ‘queen.’ But paradoxically she gets it not by asserting her power but by accepting that she as a self can’t be a center. The poet is rather exposed to the otherness of the other that can’t be fully assimilated into her own and then experiences a kind of self-dissolution. Her poetry expresses the dissolution itself by denying the poet’s power of reaching final poetic sublimation in her poetry. It becomes an open-ended poetry that leaves the poems unfinished and simultaneously makes the poetic room for the reader to participate in. Denying her self-centeredness results from admitting and respecting the otherness in the other. In the third part, it will be investigated how Dickinson tries to be faithful to alterity in the poems about ‘Nature’ or ‘Death’ and how eagerly she concentrates on the relationship itself between self and other through the poems usually about ‘Love.’ ‘Nature’ is a mystery that can’t be grasped or understood fully and by which she rather feels intimidated. ‘Death’ is a name for alterity itself, because human beings can never confront death that is out of time or change. So death is an absolute other which can’t be knowable from a point of human being. Paradoxically, the distance caused by the otherness itself makes the subject and object keep craving each other, for there always remains some desire for each other because of the distance between them. ‘Love’ is a subject that reveals Dickinson’s interest in the relationship itself. It is not a transcendent or ahistorical value, but an experiential reality within a specific context and history. So love exists not as an union of lovers but as an duality of lovers. What matters in love is to make relationship with the lover by keeping the distance with him or her as proximately as possible without mastering or being controlled by each other. Hesitation is a sort of expression of love and care for the other, for it results from the acceptance of the other as other and necessarily makes both of them keep in contact with each other. There is no aim or target in relationship between subject and object, but the relationship itself is the end of the relationship during which they feel the breath of each other. That’s why Dickinson calls her business is to love no matter how people are laughing at her. Through this dissertation emphasizing alterity and Dickinson’s hesitation, it will be found out how much Dickinson’s poetry is full of love for others and how intensely she is sociable, not as separated or lonely as she looked. And Dickinson’s poetics is known to be a puzzle which is very ambiguous and difficult to know. Some critics tend to regard this puzzle-looking poetry as Dickinson’s lack of controlling abilities of making the poetry systematic and consistent. But if we look at the Dickinson’s poetry from the perspective of hesitation that is grounded on the purpose of maintaining the relationship with readers, another kind of congruencies will be found.
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