Dickinson's Non-Holding, "Sumptuous Destitution" and Emerson

The backgrounds of Puritanism, transcendentalism and gender issues have been explored in discussions of Emily Dickinson's poetics of renunciation. Most notably, in his 1959's essay "Sumptuous Destitution," Richard Wilbur observes that Dickinson "elected the economy of desire...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ANQ (Lexington, Ky.) Ky.), 2023-10, Vol.36 (4), p.593-599
Main Author: Kang, Yanbin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Literary criticism
Poetics
Poetry
Poets
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:The backgrounds of Puritanism, transcendentalism and gender issues have been explored in discussions of Emily Dickinson's poetics of renunciation. Most notably, in his 1959's essay "Sumptuous Destitution," Richard Wilbur observes that Dickinson "elected the economy of desire, and called her privation good, rendering it positive by renunciation". One insufficiently recognized aspect is that psychological detachment lies at the heart of Dickinson's letting go, the highest phase of her cultivation targets at the fruit of cultivation itself and thus a cultivated mind remains receptive, staying aloof toward the (dis) appearance of the perfect joy. In relation to Dickinson's creative conversation with Ralph Waldo Emerson, this essay (re)reads two closely-connected subsets of her poems about spiritual cultivation, arguing that Dickinson insists both physical and psychological renunciation and considers unconcern as requisite to the ultimate peace.
ISSN:0895-769X
1940-3364
DOI:10.1080/0895769X.2021.1966608