Emily Dickinson
The soul selects her own society,
Then shuts the door;
On her divine majority
Obtrude no more.
Unmoved, she notes the chariot’s pausing
At her low gate;
Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling
Upon her mat.
I’ve known her from an ample nation
Choose one;
Then close the valves of her attention
Like stone.
1. Discuss the following questions.
1) What is the theme of the poem?
2) Do you feel a difference in her presentation of these two actions, selecting a friend(or lover) and rejecting all others? Does she emphasize selecting the friend more than rejecting all others, or is the act of excluding emphasized?
3) In the poet, what sound is repeated? Is she emphasizing key words with this alliteration?
4) Dickinson has the “soul” doing the choosing. What aspects or part of the human being does “soul” represent?
5) Does using “soul” give a high or a low value to the way this individual selects friends?
6) What kind of a gesture is shutting the door? Is it, for example, an action that leaves open the possibility of change, or is it a final action?
7) What are the connotations of the word “obtrude”? Does it suggest a charming interruption, an offensive action, or some other type of behavior on the part of the people who have been excluded?
8) Who has the superior worldly status? Is there a suggestion of status and superiority in some other scale of values?
9) In Line 3, Stanza 2, who is unmoved?
10) In Stanza 3, Dickinson depicts the rigor and the finality of the soul’s choice. Does the soul have choice or control over valves? Do closed valves allow anything in? Would her valves let anyone in? Is the phrase “like stone” relevant here?
2. Pair Work: Read the following Chinese translation of the poem and discuss in what ways it is good. Try to give your own translation and compare it with your partner’s.