This is an analysis of the femist approach of the Emily Dickenson.

1. Emily Dickinson
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Universidad Latina
Faculty of Social Studies
English Language Teaching
The Feminist Approach / Historical – Biographical Approach
Professor: Jonathan Acuña
Of
The Bustle in the House
“Why do I Love” You,Sir?
By Emily Dickinson
Analysis
By Erik García
July 21 , 2016

2. Emily Dickinson
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Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 to a prominent family. Her roots traced back to
Samuel Fowler Dickenson and Lucretia Gunn Dickinson. They were Emily Dickinson`s
grandparents and prominent people in Massachusetts. Fowler Dickenson was a
contributor to the Amherst Academy. He held fervent beliefs in the virtue of education for
both sexes, which evident in the admission policy of the Academy. The following is an
excerpt of a public address he did in 1831:
A good husbandman will educate well his daughters… daughters should be
well instructed in the useful sciences; comprising a good English education:
including a thorough knowledge of our language, geography, history,
mathematics and natural philosophy. The female mind, so sensitive, so
susceptible of improvement, should not be neglected… God hath designed
nothing in vain.” (Yale University Press, para, 2)
In the same way, her father carried on the legacy from his family. He became a U.S.A
congressman in 1846-1847 and other several occasions. He took his role as head of his
family seriously, and within his home his decisions and his word were the “Law”. A prove
of this is an incident which Emily Dickenson described : “ I never knew how to tell time
by the clock till I was 15.My father thought he had taught me but I did not understand and
I was afraid to say I did not, afraid to ask anyone else least he should know” ( Yale
university Press, para, 3)
We can certainly see a contrast between two male figures in Dickenson`s life.
Unlike her grandfather her father was as a chauvinist who educated his daughter to be
subservient to men. Indeed, he bought her many books but begged her not to read them
because he feared they would joggled her mind. Despite all this, she went to Mount

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Holyoke Female Seminary where she learned to be aware of common political affairs.
According to Leigh- Anne Urbanowics he says: Dickinson established the link between
her poetry and the Civil- War by being well-informed about the issues and events of her
day. For example, she exchanged letters with Thomas Wentworth Higginson who had
liberal views on slavery and women`s rights.
Her father`s contempt did not prevent her to write poetry for according to John
Green, (2014) Dickinson wrote 1800 poems. Dickinson published few than a dozen
poems in her lifetime because she was against publication; against the auction of the
mind of man. In fact, no one knew that she`d been nearly so prolific until her sister (Lavina
Norcross Dickinson) best known as Vinnie discovered more than 1800 poems after
Emely`s death in 1886. Unfortunately, her agony within her life drove her to be confined
to her home through most of her life, and eventually, rarely left her room. Actually, she
talked to visitors from the other side of a closed door, and did not even leave her room
when her father`s funeral took place downstairs.
This situation make people believed that Dickinson was an eccentric. In her town
she was known locally for only wearing white when she was spotted outside the home.
For Emily white was more than a purity and virginity; she associated with passion.
Supposedly, she held an affair with Judge Otis in her late forties. Indeed, John Walsh
(2016) mentions that she wrote the following to a married man.
Proud of my broken heart/
Since thou didst break it/ Proud of the pain I Did not fell till thee/ Proud of my
night since thou with moons dost slake it/ Not to partake thy passion, my

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humility.// (Consecration, Emily Dickinson)
The poem above serves to exemplify that Emily had a private sex life that was conceal
by her camouflage but revealed in her poetry. Indeed, this serves to explain why she
wrote the poem, “ Why do I love” You, Sir? Which talks about this infatuation to a man.
Being born in a rich family gave her a good education; nonetheless, that did not
prevent her from being sad. The nineteenth hundreds were a period very scary for most
Americans. In fact, the pressures of the Civil-War had a horrific influence in the society of
Massachusetts. The bodies used to come back to town for funerals; there was an
atmosphere of dead. She had personal losses and actually she was affected with the
death of Francis H. Dickinson and the Adam boys. She thought that she was haunted for
what she called the menace of Death. Admittedly, her poems have a lot to say about the
relationship between death and life, between faith and doubt, between the death and the
aftermath that results from death.
In order to exemplify this themes in her poems it is worth considering two of her
poems. The Bustle In the House and “Why do I love” You, Sir? On the first poem she is
sharing this private agony after the lost of a love one. In the second she sharing how is
impossible is to know the way in which love works. In the first poem, she capitalizes the
words Bustle which gives a great source of intensity to this agony that overwhelms the
persona. In the second stanza is capitalized The Sweeping up the Heart / And putting
Love away/…. (Line 5 & 6). This two sentences expresses how as humans we need to
let those feelings go in order to have a happy life. This last stanza is a reminiscent of this
calmness that is needed after losing someone.

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The second poem, Dickenson expresses that whatever happens in the nature
happens just “because”. In other words, there is simply no answer. She is also conveying
a message that love works in mysterious ways and there is no way to understand why
people just fall in love. On this poem she is trying to emphasis that love has not a
predictable formula and that is unavoidable for humans to happen. In my opinion, what
Emily is trying to communicate to us is that love and death are unavoidable that both
happen “because”. The whole purpose of life is: to live, to love and to die.
Now that I have mention about Emily Dickinson` biography and two of her poems,
it is time to talk about the role of women in the nineteenth century. America in the mid to
late nineteenth century was still full of turmoil. Women were still considered second-class
citizens and they were dependent on men. Most states forbid women from voting and
from owning property. This virtual enslavement is made evident by Emily Dickenson. We
can certainly see her as a feminist now. She lived a transcribed life. She lived in her
father`s home for her entire life. It was believed that women in the nineteenth century
were not supposed to think for themselves. According to Matt Brundage (2016),
Dickinson believed that men, in a marriage overpower women a feeling which she
rejected and she tried to exemplify in her poems. In some respects, she was among the
women who started the women`s revolution.
It is clear how the role of women was precarious but my personal point of view
is the following.The Bustle in a House is a poem that is focusing on the death of someone
who is loved dearly by the persona in the poem. Also, it is about house cleaning, which
in terms of being compare may imply that after the death of someone we love, we must
understand this unavoidable situation and we have to move on. Another point that is worth

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mentioning is that Dickenson has strong beliefs in religion; therefore, she believed in
Heaven and the live after death. For her death was not the end of a relationship because
memories could be carried to the afterlife.
On the other poem, “Why do I love” You, Sir? Dickenson shows us a personal
situation in her sentimental life. Despite the fact that she lived recluse in the house, she
maintained love encounters with some male figures that she discreetly practiced in her
apartment. Now, I am trying to disgrace her by saying this; I am just speaking out of
supposition from the poem because admittedly she shows that she cannot avoid to have
human desires.
In the end, I believe that Emily Dickenson in now recognized as one of the
greatest poets who ever lived, yet her life remains a mystery. Some of the features in her
poems have the combination of feelings for love, and others her taught about death. On
the other hand, she also expresses her agony for the death of love ones in the Civil-War;
as well as he dispassionate affection for religion. Nevertheless, she believed in the
afterlife which is present in many of the themes. Admittedly, Emily was obsessed with
death and the circumstances that follows. I truly enjoyed making this historical-
Biographical analysis because I learnt many personal things surrounding Emily
Dickinson`s life. I have come to concur that she suffered from this chauvinist society and
that in her writings she showed her mind up about themes that now sound feminist. It has
become clear that she was a revolutionist that started to fight for recognition in a literary
field dominated by man. Summing up, her poetry is dark and mysterious just as her life
was.

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Refence List
Benfey, C. (1999). The Mystery of Emily Dickinson. Retrieved on July 23,2016 from the web page
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1999/04/08/the-mystery-of-emily-dickinson/
Brundage, M. (2016). Women`s roles in the nineteenth century. Retrieved on July 23, 2016 from the web
pagehttp://www.mattbrundage.com/publications/women-19th-century/
Green, J. (2013). Emily Dickenson`s Poetry. Retrieved on July 23, 2016 from the web page
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4WwhOdk_Eg
Hess, G. (2016.). Poemof Quotes. Retrieved on July 23, 2016 from the web
page://www.poemofquotes.com/linktous.php
press, Y. U. (1960). Emily Dickenson Family and Friends, Retrieved on July 23, 2016 from the web page
http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/book/export/html/38
Urbanowics, L. A. (2012). Emily Dickinson and the Civil War. Retrieved on July 23, 2016 from the web
page https://muse.jhu.edu/article/245326