Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2020

Abstract

In opposition to those who might read Emily Dickinson’s opus as emblematic of nineteenth-century empiricism, or at least the work of a poet enthralled with and enchanted by modern science, a close examination of Dickinson’s poems demonstrates her attention to the constructedness of empirical science. The roots of Dickinson’s examination of empiricism lies in her exploration of selfhood and the relationship between experience and knowledge. As such, Dickinson’s critique of empiricism is contained within a critique of secularizing visions of human autonomy. In a few isolated poems Dickinson explicitly addresses empiricism, but on the whole she prefers to approach empiricism at the level of its axiomatic assumptions about the nature of the self and its relationship to sense experience. In contrast to much of the scholarship on Emily Dickinson’s attitude towards religion and science, this essay will not seek to interpret Dickinson’s poetry through the lens of what books she may or may not have read on the subjects of science or religion, nor will the essay make assertions about what Dickinson may or may not have believed about science and religion. This is not to say that biographical and psychoanalytic methodologies are without merit, but rather to focus attention to the fact that one’s reading habits do not necessarily comfortably correlate to one’s views on this or that topic, and also—more importantly—to let Dickinson’s poetry speak for itself.

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