The following paper was written for an assignment that called for an analysis (about 750 words) on any topic that could be traced in three or four poems by Dickinson. The student, Michael Weitz, chose “‘Faith’ is a fine invention,” “I know that He exists,” “I never saw a Moor —,” and “Apparently with no surprise.”
Previous knowledge of a writer’s work can set up useful expectations in a reader. In the case of the four Dickinson poems included in this section, religion emerges as a central topic linked to a number of issues, including faith, immortality, skepticism, and the nature of God. The student selected these poems because he noticed Dickinson’s intense interest in religious faith owing to the many poems that explore a variety of religious attitudes in her work. He chose these four because they were closely related, but he might have found equally useful clusters of poems about love, nature, domestic life, or writing. What especially intrigued him was some of the information he read about Dickinson’s sternly religious father and the orthodox nature of the religious values of her hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts. Because this paper was not a research paper, he did not pursue these issues beyond the level of the general remarks provided in an introduction to her poetry (though he might have). He did, however, use this biographical and historical information as a means of framing his search for poems that were related to one another. In doing so he discovered consistent concerns along with contradictory themes that became the basis of his paper.
“Faith” is a fine invention ca. 1860
“Faith” is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see —
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
I know that He exists ca. 1862
I know that He exists.
Somewhere — in Silence —
He has hid his rare life
From our gross eyes.
’Tis an instant’s play.
’Tis a fond Ambush —
Just to make Bliss
Earn her own surprise!
But — should the play
Prove piercing earnest —
Should the glee–glaze —
In Death’s — stiff — stare —
Would not the fun
Look too expensive!
Would not the jest —
Have crawled too far!
I never saw a Moor — ca. 1865
I never saw a Moor —
I never saw the Sea —
Yet know I how the Heather looks
And what a Billow be.
I never spoke with God
Nor visited in Heaven —
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the Checks were given —
Apparently with no surprise ca. 1884
Apparently with no surprise
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at its play —
In accidental power —
The blond Assassin passes on —
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God.
Suggested Topics for Longer Papers
Irony is abundant in Dickinson’s poetry. Choose five poems from this chapter that strike you as especially ironic and discuss her use of irony in each. Taken individually and collectively, what do these poems suggest to you about the poet’s sensibilities and her ways of looking at the world?
Readers have sometimes noted that Dickinson’s poetry does not reflect very much of the social, political, economic, religious, and historical events of her lifetime. Using the poems in this chapter as the basis of your discussion, what can you say about the contexts in which Dickinson wrote? What kind of world do you think she inhabited, and how did she respond to it?