Stefany Guido

Dr. Scanlon

ENGL 457P

4/14/11

Calvinism and Dickinson: Her Struggle with a Sovereign God

One of the major areas of study when looking at Dickinson is her religious poems

because of the sheer quantity and the complicated relationship she establishes with God, as seen

in these poems. Her Calvinist background is something that greatly affected her image of God

and it’s with this image that she spends her entire life struggling, but I would argue that, while

some scholars posit that in her later life “agnosticism and even atheism” (Zapedowska 379) were

positions that Dickinson was comfortable with, this isn’t an apt description of her religious

beliefs at the end of her life.

Looking throughout the three major periods in Dickinson’s life –her early years (1858-

1861), her prolific period (1862-1865), and then her later life (1866-1886)– the changes in her

outlook on God go through cycles, but overall by the end of her life the anger and resentment

that’s apparent in her earlier poems is still just as striking in her later years. But she’s never

comfortable with the assertion that there isn’t a God; furthermore, while she’s incredibly

dissatisfied with the Calvinist representation of God throughout her life, she continually

represents God with the traits and characteristics of the Calvinist image of God. In the end,

Dickinson maintained a complicated relationship with this figure, but never fully renounced or

Guido 2

replaced this figure with another that wasn’t representative of Calvinism. By looking at her

poems throughout the major periods in her life it’s possible to track this difficult relationship

with God and this religion.

In order to understand Dickinson’s struggle with Calvinism you need to first understand

the basics of this religion. Calvinism is a branch of Protestantism that’s most often attributed to

the teachings of John Calvin. One of the most important tenets of this belief is that God is seen as

“absolutely sovereign” (“Calvinism”), thus his word has complete power. Another major belief

of this branch of Protestantism that differentiates it from the others is the idea of predestination;

this is the concept that God has already chosen those who’re going to be saved and those who’re

going to fall and nothing can change this decision. During the Synod of Dort (1619-1619) they

defined the five canons of Calvinism: that because of original sin man is unable to achieve

salvation without God’s grace, that the saved are only saved because God has chosen them, that

Christ’s only died to save those that God has already chosen for salvation, that those that are

predestined cannot resist God’s grace, and that those that have been predestined cannot lose

God’s grace (“Calvinism”). It’s with these five points that Dickinson would have been very

familiar with because of Calvinism’s popularity in New England.

The God figure that’s described above through these five points wasn’t ideal for

Dickinson and in her early years this figure was something that she struggled with and continued

to struggle with throughout her life. In Calvinism, the godhead is not one that lends itself to a

personal relationship–something Dickinson reached out for–because this figure is “hidden on

high, absent from human affairs, and unmoved in his sovereignty” (Zapedowska 382). This isn’t

the only troubling image that Dickinson had to work with because in the Westminster Assembly’s

Shorter Catechism (a work that was still used for teaching during Dickinson’s time) God is

Guido 3

defined as being “infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness,

justice, goodness, and truth” (Zapedowska 384); so, this figure of God is not only cold and

absent from human life, but this is how he’ll remain for eternity. He’s frozen forever as an

unapproachable figure that Dickinson depicts in her poems and attempts to rework into

something she’s able to relate to; ultimately her attempt failed in this regard.

In her early life this figure would have been inescapable for Dickinson, especially with

the onset of several religious revivals that occurred in 1844-1845, 1848, 1850, and 1858. The

Second Great Awakening had begun in New England and was categorized by “revival meetings

and emotional conversion experiences” (Boyer). This extremely religious atmosphere saturated

the world around Dickinson, but early on she’d begun resisting the revival meetings, and in 1845

she opted to not to attend the prayer meetings that occurred during this year’s revival

(Longsworth 338). This resistance was due to the fact that in 1844 Dickinson and her cousin

Sophia Holland had been deeply involved in the prayer meetings, but Sophia suddenly died; this

experience had left Dickinson feeling betrayed and when she wrote about her reasons for not

joining the prayer groups she said it was because she didn’t want to “again be deceived”

(Longsworth 338). Dickinson, throughout her life, was deeply affected whenever someone close

to her died and because of this she was unable to come to terms with this growing image of a

cold and distant God figure who ‘deceives’ her and takes those who she cares about.

Also, during this time period Dickinson was slowly becoming isolated due to her

resistance against the revivals. In a letter to a friend Dickinson writes that “Christ is calling

everyone here, all my companions have answered, even my darling Vinnie believes she loves,

and trusts him, and I am standing alone in rebellion” (Longsworth 345). In this excerpt it’s

interesting to note Dickinson’s use of the term “rebellion” because she’s not saying that she

Guido 4

doesn’t ‘hear’ Christ’s call, just that she’s chosen to ignore what everyone else takes in good

faith. Even in her early years Dickinson was skeptical of this figure that she’s not even permitted

to ‘see’ or commune with. It’s interesting to note that, as stated above, one of the five points of

Calvinism is that those who’re chosen cannot resist God’s grace, and Dickinson actively resists

what those around her see as ‘Christ’s call’. Her inability to simply join in with these revivals

ultimately sets her with those who’re not saved, thus her rebellion against this religion becomes

easier to understand; she’s trapped in a unacceptable fate within this religion, but she’s unwilling

to completely denounce God altogether and unable to break with Calvinism.

This is what categorizes this period of time, her rebellion against this God head is shown

in her anger and resentment towards a religion that she’s literally surrounded by. During this

period she periodically tries to work her ideas of religion into a system that suits her, but the

figure of God continually complicates this; several of the Calvinist ideas that she attempts to

work around are predestination and God as absolute ruler. These points prevent her from

accepting this religion, thus she needs to pick them apart to understand not only her God, but

herself and why she’s unable to accept this God.

In the poem “I never Lost as much but twice-” (39), which was written early in

Dickinson’s writing career in 1858, is about the loss and grief of the narrator asking God to

change his mind:

I never lost as much but twice –

And that was in the sod.

Twice have I stood a beggar

Guido 5

Before the door of God!

The anger that Dickinson felt towards God is obvious in her tone and word choice. She

describes herself as a “beggar” (3) before God; this places the speaker at a vulnerable position to

God in the poem. Also, while she stands “Before the door of God” (4) it’s not God that comes

to “reimburse” (6) her for her losses, but rather the “Angels” (5) that come to help her in the

second stanza:

Angels – twice descending

Reimbursed my store –

Burglar! Banker – Father!

I am poor once more!

The speaker is quite literally begging this God to give back what she’s lost, but it’s not

enough. She refers to God as “Burglar, Banker – Father!” (7), which is an interesting graduation

of terms; she goes from naming him as an impersonal thief, to accusing him of being a business

man simply collecting his dues, but it gets really interesting when she elevates this by calling

him “Father” in the end. This is a strong indication of the confusion that Dickinson was feeling

towards this God. She’s setting herself apart by rebelling, but this wasn’t a simple decision she

made; this line shows the close personal relationship that Dickinson yearns for with God, but is

ultimately denied. Calvinism just doesn’t allow for this type of bond. Ultimately, she calls out

to God in the end of the poem because, while she’s angry at him, she still seeks him for comfort.

Guido 6

The business-like language that Dickinson uses in the above poem to talk about God, i.e.

“reimburse,” and “Banker,” is continued in the poem “Victory comes late-” (195). In this poem

Dickinson is discussing how frugal God is with his love:

Victory comes late –

And is held low to freezing lips –

Too rapt with frost

To take it –

How sweet it would have tasted –

Just a Drop –

Was God so economical?

His Table’s spread too high for Us –

Unless We dine on Tiptoe –

Crumbs – fit such little mouths –

Cherries – suit Robins –

The Eagle’s Golden Breakfast strangles – Them –

God keep His Oath to Sparrows –

Who of little love – know how to starve – (195)

Guido 7

The offhand and curious tone that’s established in the beginning with the discussion of

death as a simple loss of “Victory” and musings of “how sweet it would have tasted” is offset by

the business like word choice used in the rest of the poem and the striking bitterness in the last

two lines. The turning point is when she asks: “Was God so economical?” (7). The word

“economical” sets the reader up with an image of God budgeting out his love; this illustrates the

distant and impersonal relationship that the figure has with his followers.

Dickinson is rejecting this relationship, though, in the last two lines, “God keep His Oath

to Sparrows- / Who of little Love – Know how to starve -” (13-14). The curious tone that is set

with the line, “How sweet it would have tasted -” (5), which is rather lighthearted wondering of a

different life. In this life, victory would not have come too late; that is to say if God’s love had

not been offered to only those after their death. This echoes the belief that one needs to devote

their life to “glorify[ing] God” (Zapedowska 384) and only then in death will they receive their

salvation. Here Dickinson is striking out against this school of thought because she doesn’t want

to have to “starve” (14) for his love in life. While the previous poem, written three years earlier,

was angry and hurt with the Calvinist God head, this poem is much bitterer in its overall tone.

She’s hurt by the “economical” (7) distribution of his love, but she’s not going to sit back and

accept this because while these “crumbs” (9) of God’s love might “suit Robins -” (10) because

anything more might have strangled “Them” (11), she’s not a part of this group. Dickinson puts

herself outside this group so, when she says that they “know how to starve -” (14) the inverse is

that she doesn’t know how to starve and is therefore going to find an alternative. This God isn’t

providing the stimulation that Dickinson finds that she needs.

This realization that the Calvinist God head isn’t measuring up to expectations continues

in the poem “The Skies can’t keep their Secret” (213):

Guido 8

The Skies cant keep their secret!

They tell it to the Hills –

The Hills just tell the Orchards –

And they – the Daffodils!

In the first stanza Dickinson is exclaiming that the world created by God, i.e. the “Skies”

(1), “Hills” (2), “Orchards” (3), and “Daffodils” (4), “can’t keep their secret” (1), but

paradoxically the speaker doesn’t want to know and she sets this up in the second and third

stanzas:

A Bird – by chance – that goes that way –

Soft overhears the whole –

If I should bribe the little Bird –

Who knows but she would tell?

I think I won’t – however –

It’s finer - not to know –

If Summer were an axiom –

What sorcery had snow?

Guido 9

If she were to “bribe” the bird to tell its secrets she’d loose interest in the world around

her; “If Summer were an axiom - / What sorcery had snow?” (11-12). If summer were an

absolute truth that everyone accepted, why would the beauty of a snowfall have any value?

Therefore, because Dickinson doesn’t know the secret of the world, she’s able to fully enjoy the

“snow” (11) or life around her. This desire to enjoy the world was another tension in Dickinson’s

life in regards to her religion because she felt that she’d have to “give up the world for Christ”

(Longsworth 338) and for someone who derived such passion from the outside world this wasn’t

easily acceptable. In contrast to this desire to not know there is still an indignant tone present in

the last stanza:

So keep your secret - Father!

I would not - if I could -

Know what the Sapphire Fellows, do,

In your new-fashioned world!

In the line, “So keep your secrets – Father!” (13), she’s come to the conclusion on her

own that she wouldn’t want to know “secret” (12), which we find out is the knowledge of what

the angels, “Sapphire Fellows” (15), do in Heaven, “your new-fashioned world” (16), but she

still resents God for not allowing her to make this choice. This is indicative of the concept of

predestination that exists within Calvinism. Dickinson resents these secrets overall because she

has no real power to make the choice if she wanted to, “I would not –if I could- ” (16). Here she

casually inserts the line “if I could - ” using dashes, which make this sound like an afterthought

and give this line more bitter quality. Dickinson’s still struggling to place herself within this

religion and as with the previous two poems this one just illustrated another failing of this system

Guido 10

of belief, but like the poem “Victory comes late - ” she ends up referring to God as “Father” (17).

This signifies, again, her inability to separate from this figure; she still sees him as someone

deeply connected to her life, like a father figure.

In “Some Keep the Sabbath going to Church-” (236), which was written in the same year

as “The Skies cant keep their secret” (212) Dickinson expounds upon how she chooses to

worship. The important thing about this poem is that it illustrates that she still chooses to

worship, even if it’s not in a traditional way:

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church -

I keep it, staying at Home -

With a Bobolink for a Chorister -

And an Orchard, for a Dome -

Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice -

I, just wear my Wings -

And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,

Our little Sexton - sings.

God preaches, a noted Clergyman -

And the sermon is never long,

Guido 11

So instead of getting to Heaven, at last -

I'm going, all along.

She writes that she keeps the Sabbath at “Home” (2) with nature as her fellow worshipers

and sacred artifacts; the “Bobolink” (3) and the “Sexton” (7) are the singers in the choir and the

“Orchard” is the church. Nature replaces the traditional aspects of religion and in this way

Dickinson is able to worship comfortably. And by surrounding herself with the world that she

loves she doesn’t have to wait till death to reach heaven, (“So instead of getting to Heaven, at

last -” (11)), she finds Heaven in the world around her, (“I’m going, all along” (12)). In

comparison to the rest of the poems in this section this one seems much calmer than the rest,

except for the line “God preaches, a noted Clergyman - ” (9). In this line she demotes God to a

“noted clergyman” essentially belittling his importance in the religious experience. He’s not even

a very important Clergyman, just one of some importance. This is where some of the earlier

anger comes through; she may have an idea of how she wants to express her worship, but the

God’s place in this experience is still not something that she’s fully comfortable with.

The next period of Dickinson’s life is categorized by an outpouring of poems. During

this time her productivity skyrocketed to an impressive rate, that some attribute to the presence

of a love interest, but while this is point of great debate what really interests me is how her image

of God changed while she was in such a state of passion –for whatever reason– to create this

impressive amount of poetry.

By this time the revivals had died off and in 1865, but this didn’t mean that Dickinson’s

image of this Calvinist God head crumbled with the unpopularity of this religion; while it faded

from the world around her this image of God remained an imposing figure in her poetry.

Guido 12

In “I know that He exists” (365) written in 1862, Dickinson sets the reader up with this

declaration of faith in the beginning of the poem:

I know that He exists.

Somewhere - in Silence -

He has hid his rare life

From our gross eyes.

She asserts the authority of this God figure in the first line, but by the next line things

begin to deteriorate; she states that he exists “Somewhere –in silence -” (2), so while she’s

certain of his existence, she’s unclear on exactly where he is in her life. This is an interesting

thing to note because traditionally in Christianity, God is represented as a constant presence in

the world around man, but here Dickinson is noting that his presence is hidden from “our gross

eyes” (4). We’re not seen as fit enough to gaze upon this figure; here’s yet another reference to

one of the main points of Calvinism, that man is initially considered depraved because of original

sin. It’s also significant that God is seen “in silence” because it reintroduces the detached nature

of the Calvinist deity that Dickinson struggles with, but this poem isn’t just a critique of this

aspect of God. In the second stanza Dickinson is using the poem to plead with this deity about

the way in which man is made to seek him out:

'Tis an instant's play -

'Tis a fond Ambush -

Just to make Bliss

Guido 13

Earn her own surprise!

She uses a few positive words to describe a life spent searching for this deity, “play” (5),

and “fond” (6), but each of these words is qualified in the same line so that they’re backhanded

in their praise. Finding this figure is an “instant’s play” (5), so while the experience is positively

described as something enjoyable it’s also fleeting; in the next line the experience is a “fond

Ambush” (6); the word ambush juxtaposed with fond sets up an incompatible image with the

reader because it’s hard to visualize something as abrupt and often violent as an ambush as fond.

She’s using this careful choice of contrasting words to express her feelings of skepticism and

frustration with this religion in this stanza.

In the next two stanzas she drops the layered use of word choice and the poem turns to

hesitant:

But - should the play

Prove piercing earnest -

Should the glee - glaze -

In Death's - stiff - stare –

Would not the fun

Look too expensive!

Would not the jest -

Guido 14

Have crawled too far!

She questions if the game is worth the cost of “Death’s – stiff – stare - ” (12); Dickinson

finds that this price is “too expensive” (16) in the long run, but what’s interesting is that she

frames her critique as a question in the last stanza: “Would not the fun / Look too expensive! /

Would not the jest - / Have crawled too far!” (13-16). While she’s obviously upset about the fact

that this God is only present in death and not in life, she’s unwilling to straightforwardly assert

this. Dickinson is unhappy with this religion but from her continued reference of Calvinist traits

and practices she’s still trapped within it.

Her critiques of this religion continue in “God is a distant –stately Lover-” (615), written

just a year after the previous poem, where she compares the relationship between God, Jesus, and

man to the characters in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Courtship of Miles

Standish:”

God is a distant -- stately Lover --

Woos, as He states us -- by His Son --

Verily, a Vicarious Courtship --

"Miles", and "Priscilla", were such an One --

But, lest the Soul - like fair "Priscilla"

Choose the Envoy - and spurn the Groom -

Vouches, with hyperbolic archness -

Guido 15

"Miles", and "John Alden" are Synonym -

In this poem the character Miles Standish asks his friend John Alden to court Priscilla

Mullins on his behalf, but Priscilla ends up choosing John instead of Miles because of the lack of

involvement attempted by Miles. In Dickinson’s poem, God is the Miles character who “Woos,

as He states us – by His Son – ” (2) and, as this line states, Christ is the John figure. Her

observation in this poem is that if the Soul “like fair Priscilla” (5) were to choose the “Envoy”

(6) over the “Groom” (6), it would find that these two are in fact the same.

So, while Priscilla had a choice between a suitor that who couldn’t “speak for himself”

(Longfellow 43) and one that can, we are not given this luxury. It’s with “hyperbolic archness”

(6) that the soul is tricked into a situation were the only option is this “distant – stately Lover - ”

(1) who uses cunning and exaggeration to manipulate the soul. This isn’t a positive

representation in any sense of the word; Dickinson is, again, lashing out at this god figure for the

standoffishness that he exudes.

This poem differs from the previous poems, in that she has become completely cryptic in

her meaning. The anger and resentment is no longer as obvious as it was in the earlier period of

her life and unlike “I know that He exists,” which slowly dissolves into a more transparent

critique, this poem remains obscure during the first reading. She’s become more cautious in her

anger at this religion.

This trend towards the abstract, when writing about religion, is also seen in the poem

“Four Trees –opon a solitary Acre-” (778). In this poem, Dickinson describes a simple plot of

land:

Four Trees - opon a solitary Acre -

Guido 16

Without Design

Or Order, or Apparent Action -

Maintain -

The Sun - upon a Morning meets them -

The Wind -

No nearer Neighbor - have they -

But God -

God isn’t even present, he’s only casually mentioned as a “Neighbor” (7) to the natural

world, but his lack of involvement is more telling than any actual action on his part. The narrator

diminishes God’s position within this natural world by having him off to the side. This lack of

direct involvement is something that any Calvinist would be comfortable with because according

to this faith God isn’t actively involved in the life of man. Everything is predetermined, so that

he’s more of a spectator to the events that have been set into motion, but in this poem Dickinson

is placing God outside this natural world and remarking on the existence of these “Four Trees”

(1) without this figure. These trees not only exist without God, i.e. “Without design” (2), but

they are able to continue this existence or “Maintain” life without any involvement by God. Here

she is positing the thesis that while God is definitely a presence in life he’s not the force that

drives it along.

Guido 17

This poem and the others in this period of Dickinson’s life exhibit some of the earlier

characteristics she’d developed when writing about this difficult God figure, but they approach

the subject in a more subtle manner. She broaches the subject indirectly and throughout these

poems she attempts to work through the problems that she has with this God. Like the earlier

period, during this time she explores the subjects with which she feels that this religion deals

poorly with, i.e. predestination and the sovereignty of God, but her solutions to these problems,

religion through nature, don’t assuage her religious anxieties.

From 1866 until her death Dickinson’s poetic outpourings have slowed. While the poems

from the previous years become more and more cryptic in their criticism of the Calvinist

representation of God, this period is marked by her return to expressing blatant anger with this

figure.

In the poem “Apparently with no surprise” (1668), she lays out a analogous situation of

the tough life of a flower to the life that man lives:

Apparently with no surprise

To any happy Flower

The Frost beheads it at its play -

In accidental power -

The blonde Assassin passes on -

The Sun proceeds unmoved

To measure off another Day

Guido 18

For an Approving God.

Dickinson is critical of the “Approving God” (8) that sat by and watched the destruction

of the “happy Flower” (2). On top of this, this poem also brings to light the apathy at which

nature goes through the passing of time. The flower shows “no surprise” (1) and the Sun is

“unmoved” (6) by this event; this is very uncharacteristic of Dickinson, who has seemed to find

her own faith through the natural world, but here nature is simply perpetrating Gods plane. Here

the world is just cycle of life and death for God to sit back and observe. Nothing can ever

change.

In this next poem Dickinson provides the reader with a short and simple message. In “A

Letter is a joy of Earth - ” (1672) Dickinson delivers a short and simple message about the

importance of the life that man can experience that is “denied the Gods” (2). Man is able to enjoy

something as simple and pleasant as a letter (something that Dickinson vested great value in),

while the Gods are never going to be able to have this experience. Also, she makes God plural

so that she’s including all religions not just the God present in Calvinism; here she’s commenting

on how this is something that is only granted to man. She’s putting the experiences that man is

able to have on earth above those that these gods are able to offer. As stated before, in

Calvinism man is supposed to live life to serve God, but here Dickinson is pointing out the things

that are only available to man; the life that we live is just as important as the afterlife.

This value that she places on the human experience is brought up again in, “Of God we

ask one favor, that we may be forgiven-” (1675). In this poem Dickinson lays out the purpose of

life, according to Calvinism:

Of God we ask one favor, that we may be forgiven -

Guido 19

For what, he is presumed to know -

The Crime, from us, is hidden -

Immured the whole of Life

Within a magic Prison

We reprimand the Happiness

That too competes with Heaven.

The last lines in this poem, “We reprimand the Happiness / that too competes with

Heaven - ” (5-6) make this point. Man is made to “reprimand” the joys that are found in life

because they are, by their very nature, seen as less than those found in Heaven; they compete, but

because God is sovereign these mortal happiness’s are subservient to his own. Dickinson’s

frustrated with the fact that the only thing that man asks of God is to be forgiven for a crime that

“is hidden” (3) from us and that God is “presumed to know” (2) about; the skepticism around the

line addressing God’s knowledge of this crime is heavy and Dickinson’s tone moves towards

more sarcastic than anything else.

She writes how man spends all his life “Immured” (4), trapped or confined, in a “magic

Prison” (5). In this line Dickinson is using the word magic to mean something “invisible, hidden,

or secret” (“Magic”). So, this “Crime” (3) that we have committed, but have no knowledge of,

traps us in an secret prison throughout life. Through her sarcastic language and tone we see how

Dickinson resents the confinement that this religion places on its followers for original sin. Like

the previous poems from this section she’s direct in her criticism and isn’t posing it as a question

like she did in “I know that He exists.”

Guido 20

The last poem that I’d like to analyze for this period, “God is indeed a jealous God-”

(1751), is undated but I feel that it shares several characteristics with the poems in this period: its

length and the brevity with which she discusses her point. This is Dickinson at her harshest and

most direct:

God is indeed a jealous God -

He cannot bear to see

That we had rather not with Him

But with each other play.

She’s angry at this God for the suffering that he heaps upon man because he “cannot bear

to see” (2) that we’d much rather “play” (4) with each other on earth that with him. By saying

that God is “a jealous God” (1), she’s also saying that what we have in life is something that God

desires; he’s jealous of what he lacks. This idea echoes back to “A Letter is a joy of Earth - ,” in

that here she is placing more value on human experience than anything else. This poem also has

traces of Calvinism, in that, man is supposed to spend his life in service to this God, so he’s

“jealous” (1) when man spends his life “with each other” (4) and not worshipping God.

All throughout the poems covered in the above periods of her life it’s clear that God

remained a difficult figure for Dickinson to grasp; this is largely because Dickinson desired a

sympathetic God figure and this wasn’t one that Calvinism offered. And even though the

popularity of Calvinism faded over her life, the impacts of the revivals and popularity in her

community that she witnessed in her youth made it so that Calvinism held a strong hold on her.

Her early struggle with this God is characterized through her anger and frustration with the

Guido 21

distant and cold quality of God; the years in which she’s most productive poetically her anger

has calmed some and this period is mostly spent attempting to provide a solution to the problems

that caused her earlier anger, and these solutions usually revolve around worship through nature;

the later years of her life are a regression back to her years of frustration, but she’s much more

direct and confident in her assertions against this God figure. Dickinson never truly comes to

grips with the obstacles (predestination, an impersonal God, and God’s sovereignty) that prevent

her from understanding this God, but she never breaks with this religion. Furthermore, in her

explorations of different ways of worship Calvinism is still intimately involved because she’s

only made to find a different way of worship because of the failings of Calvinism and the

solutions (a more personable God, worship through nature, and a greater importance placed on

human experience) she reasons through are the antithesis’ of the ideals of Calvinism; therefore

Calvinism is still a major driver in her life.

Even though she provides a different outlook on religion, the continued presence of anger

at a specifically Calvinist God (a “jealous God”) towards the end of her life indicate that she

never reconciled her difference with religion or found a satisfying conclusion. But this wasn’t a

disquieting for Dickinson because she was comfortable living with this indecision, in a letter to

her friend Abiah Root Dickinson writes about her resistance during the Great Revival, “The

shore is safer, Abiah, but I love to buffet the sea – I can count the bitter wrecks here in these

pleasant waters, and hear the murmuring winds, but oh, I love the danger!” (Longsworth 345). In

this way Dickinson explored more about this religion from the outside then she would have if

she’s accepted this God early on, through her rebellion with Calvinism she was able to clearly

pick apart the this religion get as close as possible to this impersonal God.

Guido 22

Works Cited

Boyer, Paul S. "Great Awakening, First and Second." The Oxford Companion to United States

History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 21 Apr. 2011 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Calvinism." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 21 Apr.

2011<http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Magic." Emily Dickinson Lexicon. Brigham Young University, 2007-2011. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.

<http://edl.byu.edu/lexicon/term/192672>.

Dickinson, Emily. The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Ed. R.W. Franklin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

UP, 1999. Print.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "The Courtship of Miles Standish." Books & Literature

Classics. Web. 10 Apr. 2011.

<http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/hwlongfellow/bl-hwl-miless.htm>.

Longsworth, Polly. "And Do Not Forget Emily": Confidante Abby Wood On Dickinson’s

Lonely Religious Rebellion." New England Quarterly 82.2 (2009): 335-346. Academic

Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.

Zapedowska, Magdalena. "Wrestling with Silence: Emily Dickinson's Calvinist God." ATQ 20.1

(2006): 379-398. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.

Guido 23

Works Consulted

Harde, Roxanne. "Some—are like My Own—-": Emily Dickinson's Christology of Embodiment." Christianity & Literature 53.3 (2004): 315-336. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.

Gatta, Carla Della. "Performing for God and "Maintain"ing In His Absence." Pennsylvania Literary Journal. 52-62. Pennsylvania Literary Journal, 2009. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.