Discuss the mysticism used in Dickinson’s poetry.

Answer

Discuss the mysticism used in Dickinson’s poetry. [NU: 2016, 20, 22]       

Mysticism is the belief in a direct union of the soul with God. It is a process of knowing spiritual truths through deep inner experience. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is famous for her mysticism. She lived a quiet life but wrote about the deepest truths. Her poems often explore themes such as union with God, the soul, immortality, and the mystery of death. These themes show strong mystical qualities in her work.   

Mystic View on Love: Dickinson treats love as more than a human feeling. She sees it as eternal and divine. In her poem “Poem 809,” she writes that those who are truly loved never really die, because love itself is eternal. Love makes people live on forever, even after physical death. In “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!”, she writes:

“Rowing in Eden – 

 Ah – the Sea! 

 Might I but moor – tonight – 

 In thee!” 

The image of “Eden” and “Sea” makes love feel like a spiritual voyage. The beloved may be human or divine. Love becomes a way to reach mystical union. 

Mystical Attitude to Death:  Dickinson wrote more than 500 poems on death. She does not see death only as pain. She treats it as a door to a higher truth. In I Felt a Funeral in my Brain, she writes,

“I felt a Funeral in my Brain 

 And mourners to and fro 

Kept treading – treading – till it seemed 

 That sense was breaking through.” 

Here, death is not just the end. It feels like breaking through into a new stage of the soul. This mystical view makes death a path of knowledge and growth. 

Mysticism in Nature: In Dickinson’s poetry, Nature often reveals the divine. She feels joy and spiritual power in simple natural things. In I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed, she writes:

“Inebriate

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