Critics have argued that the three-stanza poem, "The Soul selects her own Society," composed around 1862, alludes to the kind of steadfast friendship or passionate love that excludes all others. However, the language of the poem itself – when considered in relation to the poet’s life – suggests an alternate interpretation that involves only the poet herself.
Stanza 1: Closing the Door
In the first four-line stanza, ‘The Soul’ refers to a person’s truest self, the essential core of being. And it is here, that ‘The Soul’ in question might be identified as Dickinson herself, especially since “The Soul” is identified as female within this line. When Dickinson continues with the phrase ,“selects her own Society,” she indicates that she alone chooses with whom she wants to live. “Society,” in this context, means immediate company. Afterwards, the door to others is closed. The last two lines, “On her divine majority/obtrude no more” can be interpreted as a command to others not to impose themselves on her absolute independence. If the “Soul” here is indeed Dickinson, she desires solitude, where she alone comprises a majority vote.
Stanza 2: Unmoved by Either Multitudes or Distinguished Visitors
In this stanza, Dickinson indicates that she is indifferent to the multitudes of fine people who deign to stop at her gate, which bars their entrance. Similarly, even the presence of an emperor, genuflecting on her door mat, ostensibly in an attempt to gain an audience with her, does not tempt her into re-entering the larger society. She remains steadfast.
Stanza 3: Identification
The first line of the final stanza indicates a personal relationship with the female “Soul” that serves as the poem’s subject. The poet says she has known her and indicates that she is from “an ample nation,” which we can interpret to mean a realm inhabited many people. Then comes what seems like the imperative to “Choose one,” implicating the reader and advising them to choose one person. However, it might also refer to the Soul, who chooses just one from among the nation’s many. The last two lines, “Then – close the Valves of her attention--/Like Stone –“ points to the fact that no attention will flow for others. The Soul has hardened the plumbing--from which the flow of attention might otherwise have continued--into an unyielding material from which nothing can be wrung.
Who is the ‘One’?: Dickinson’s Seclusion
By her late twenties, Emily Dickinson curtailed her social experiences, eventually living in virtual seclusion within her family’s home. A literary critic of the period, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, noted her intense social discomfort, indicating that his meeting with her was an anxious affair that drained his own nerves. Eventually, dressing entirely in white, Dickinson was rarely seen outside the home at all and often retreated to the privacy of her bedroom.
Still, she continued to carry on heavy and animated correspondence with literary figures of the period, often revealing a capacity for great sentiment and wit. During her self-imposed confinement, which lasted for the rest of her life, she also produced approximately 1,700 poems, which were found sewn together into little booklets by her sister, after Dickinson’s death. In light of this biographical knowledge, it can be argued that the “Soul” was indeed Dickinson, and the society she selected was her own.
Savannah Schroll Guz - Savannah Schroll Guz holds a Master's Degree from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1997-1998, she was a Fulbright Scholar and worked as a ...
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