A Feminist Approach to the Volcanic Imagery in Emily Dickinson’s Poems
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Abstract：Emily Dickinson is one of the most important American poets， who has been hailed as a poet equal to Walt Whitman. This paper provides an analysis of the repressive， destructive and masculine feature of the volcanic imagery in Dickinson’s four poems. Through the analysis， readers can have a channel into Dickinson’s repressed emotion and feminist awareness.
Key words：emily dickinson;volcanic imagery;feminist awareness
中图分类号： I712.072 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1005-5312（2016）05-0269-02
一、Introduction
Among more than 1，775 poems and 1，409 letters， there were only several poems published during Dickinson’s lifetime. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 with content heavily edited. A complete and unaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955 when scholar Thomas H. Johnson published The Poems of Emily Dickinson.
In the early period， Emily Dickinson’s poems were much criticized for her unconventional style. It was after 1920s that Dickinson’s achievements in poetry were commonly confirmed. Because of the publication of The Poems of Emily Dickinson， a vogue of academic interest in Dickinson appeared in 1960s.
This paper selects four poems using volcanic imagery from The Poems of Emily Dickinson by Thomas H. Johnson， which are “Volcanoes be in Sicily”， “I Have never seen ‘Volcanoes’―”， “On my volcano grows the grass”， and “A still ―Volcano Life”. It will analyze the repressive features， the destructive force and masculine features of volcano images and through the analysis we can gain a channel into the feminist consciousness and suppressed life of Emily Dickinson.
二、The repressive feature of volcanic imagery
In Dickinson’s four poems， all the volcano images possess the repressive and silent features， which are the reflection of Dickinson’s repressive emotion and her belittled status in a patriarchal society.
In “I Have never seen ‘Volcanoes’―” （Johnson 1748）， Dickinson described volcanoes as “phlegmatic mountains， usually so still” and said volcanoes have “smouldering anguish”. She also commented the volcano life has “a quiet―Earthquake style” in “A still―Volcano Life”.
From these descriptions， we can conclude that the images of volcano in Dickinson’s poems are still and silent. But under the silence and stillness lies “smouldering anguish”. And a volcano life has an earthquake style， which suggests an eruption can happen at any second. These quiet and still volcano images stand for the repressed and secluded life of Dickinson and “appalling Ordnance， fire， and smoke， and gun” are metaphor for her suppressed emotions.
Besides the image of volcano， there are other images serving as a symbol of repression. Liu Shouren said “To give a more vivid description of the limitation she received， Dickinson also compared her as a girl confined in a wardrobe， which could not speak or move” （154）.
The reason why Dickinson chose the silent volcano images to stand for her can be feminist. “Adrienne Rich provides one of the most enduring metaphors for the feminist potential of Dickinson’s silences in her essay “Vesuvius at Home： The Power of Emily Dickinson.” She makes Dickinson’s volcanic imagery―a smoldering that can destructively erupt― into a figure for Dickinson’s poetics and， as the title of the essay suggests， argues that this explosiveness is domestic and feminine” （Evans 72）.
三、Volcanic imagery standing for a destructive force
If we say the description of the silent volcanoes is a reflection of Dickinson’s feminist consciousness， then the destructive force that she gives these volcanoes is a better and stronger reflection of her feminist consciousness.
Dickinson describes the damage done by the destructive force of volcano. In “Volcanoes be in Sicily”， the damage is “A Crater I may contemplate Vesuvius at Home” （Johnson 1705）. In “A still―Volcano Life” （601）， the damage is “cities ―ooze away”.
The most clear description of damage appear in “I have never seen ‘Volcanoes’” where it says volcanoes “Taking Villages for breakfast， And appalling Men”. A repressive volcano can take appalling men for breakfast when it erupted. Dickinson did not choose this image accidently， by which she gave us a possible result caused by a long repression to women in a male-oriented society. That is， the destructive force or the anger of women could erupt at any time， causing destructive and damageable damage to the patriarchal society.
What’s more， there are other images in Dickinson’s poems which are similar to the volcanic imagery in the sense that all of them possess a kind of destructive force. For example， the loaded gun appears as an image which has the power to kill at any time in “My Life had stood―a Loaded Gun―” （Johnson 754）. “Albert Gelpi sees the poem as an expression of ‘the psychological dilemma facing the intelligent and aware woman， and particularly the woman artist， in patriarchal America. He notes that the speaker kills her own feminine side （the doe） to adopt male destructiveness” （Leiter 146）.
“Emily’s cousin Martha mentioned her aunt’s feminist potential in The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson in 1924. She said every time her aunt was treated unfairly in the male-oriented society， she always showed extreme anguish” （Liu 151）. Emily Dickinson’s usage of an image with destructive force was an outlet for her extreme anguish.
四、The masculine feature of volcanic imagery
In addition to the destructive force， repressive and silent features of volcanic imagery， another apparent one is its masculine characteristics. The masculine feature of the volcano is a symbol of Dickinson’s male identity， her ability to perform male function and her desire to gain man’s power.
In many literary works， the image of mountain is used as a universal symbol of male features such as power and strength. In these four poems， the speaker either appears or speaks as a volcano or lives “a still―Volcano Life”. Jin Wenning said the image of “Vesuvius at Home” was a best conclusion of Dickinson and her poetic creation; from her poems we can feel her pursuit for extreme strength （15）. The use of a powerful volcano image reflects Dickinson’s desire to gain power like a man.
As a matter of fact， there are various male images such as a boy， a male name， etc. The use of this kind of male images reflects the bisexuality of Dickinson， which shows her feminist consciousness. In fact， many feminist studies on Dickinson have analyzed the male images by the application of Freudian bisexual theory to show Dickinson’s female consciousness. The meaning of bisexuality in Freud’s early work is that each gender carries with a bit of the other. （Cui 7）”
In these four poems， Dickinson appears beneath the mask of the male image of volcano which is strong and powerful. Dickinson’s frequent use of male image shows her quest for power and status like a man.
五、Conclusion
Though Emily Dickinson did not claim herself a feminist， her feminist awareness can still be reflected in her poems by the analysis of the volcano images. The repressive and silent features of the volcano images reflected her suppressed emotions and secluded life. But her silent life is never passive; on the contrary， it is her own way of showing protest to male-oriented society. The destructive force of the volcano image shows her rage against the patriarchal society and the masculine feature of the volcano image reflects her desire to gain power and status like men.
参考文献：
[1]Dickinson， Emily. The Poems of Emily Dickinson， 3 vols. Ed. Thomas H. Johnson.MA： The Belknap P of Harvard UP，1955.
[2]Evans， Meagan L. “Sounding Silence： American Women’s Experimental Poetics”. University of Oregon.2012.
[3]Leiter， Sharon. Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson. New York： Facts On File，2007.
[4]Bianchi， M. D. The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson. Boston： Houghton Mifflin Company， 1924.
[5]金文宁.艾米莉・狄金森诗歌的自我否定研究[M].上海：上海大学出版社，2014.
[6]刘守兰.狄金森研究[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2006.