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Poet: Emily Dickinson (Emily Dickinson Art)
Poem: 303.
The Soul selects her own Society
Volume: Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Year: Published/Written in 1955
Poem of the Day:
Jul 2 2008
Comment 28 of 28, added on May 19th, 2009 at 8:15 PM.
First off, to the people who called others dumb, calling someone dumb is dumb in itself. It shows immaturity. Note, I said the act of calling, not the person who did the act of calling.
Now, here is my opinion on this poem.
The lexicons/words of which, Dickinson, chooses to use, show much quality and outlook into today’s and past societies.
The soul is the spiritual principle embodied in human being, all rational and spiritual beings, or the universe. Dickinson has the "soul" doing the choosing. The soul is the one who chooses the outcome of its own way of life, or society. A Society is a voluntary association of individuals for common end.
The poem describes choosing a friend (or lover), and rejecting all others. However, I see it, as choosing your crowd/gang of people to whom which you will hang/associate with.
Dickinson presents the individual as absolute and the right of the individual as unchallengeable.
To me the poem is about societies. Just like teenages would today choose a crowd/gang to hang with, Dickinson wrote about choosing a society to belong to.
Yet, may I add as my finally post, that a person view is not limited by what others say but by how wide they think. Everyone has a different view on the outlook of things. As a test, I wrote a poem a few days ago. Then I asked a few friends to tell me what they thought the poem meant. One friend told me it represented water, and another said a lady, a beautiful lady. While another said nature, and another said peach tree. The poem I wrote was titled Lady Nature, because it compared nature to the beauty of the sense. Usually I would have titled it Mother Nature, but Lady seemed more fitting at the end, when I realized it seem to represent a lady OF nature.
This is my ending. Think about what I said and everyone said and come up with your OWN point of view. Be bias.
Kori from United States
Comment 27 of 28, added on May 1st, 2009 at 1:16 AM.
I am writing a paper on this in my english class and the way i interpreted it does not have to be about love. it can be about her blocking out stereotypes of women in her time. "to her devine majority" suggests that she sees the way society wants her to move as a women but "shuts the door" to those norms. It is safe to say that it can be interpreted with another meaning other than love.
poster from United States
Comment 26 of 28, added on February 12th, 2009 at 6:20 PM.
okay, how could this peom possibly be about religion ?
the people who interpretted it to be about love, are right .
emily fell in love twice in her lifetime, both times to guys who were married, and could not possible live their lives with emily. this poem is all about how she took those men "societies" and could not let any other man in, no matter how adorable or credible their circumstances were.
LOVE POEM. - where is the religious part of this poem? i just dont get it.
Sherri from United States
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Comments
First off, to the people who called others dumb, calling someone dumb is dumb in itself. It shows immaturity. Note, I said the act of calling, not the person who did the act of calling.
Now, here is my opinion on this poem.
The lexicons/words of which, Dickinson, chooses to use, show much quality and outlook into today’s and past societies.
The soul is the spiritual principle embodied in human being, all rational and spiritual beings, or the universe. Dickinson has the "soul" doing the choosing. The soul is the one who chooses the outcome of its own way of life, or society. A Society is a voluntary association of individuals for common end.
The poem describes choosing a friend (or lover), and rejecting all others. However, I see it, as choosing your crowd/gang of people to whom which you will hang/associate with.
Dickinson presents the individual as absolute and the right of the individual as unchallengeable.
To me the poem is about societies. Just like teenages would today choose a crowd/gang to hang with, Dickinson wrote about choosing a society to belong to.
Yet, may I add as my finally post, that a person view is not limited by what others say but by how wide they think. Everyone has a different view on the outlook of things. As a test, I wrote a poem a few days ago. Then I asked a few friends to tell me what they thought the poem meant. One friend told me it represented water, and another said a lady, a beautiful lady. While another said nature, and another said peach tree. The poem I wrote was titled Lady Nature, because it compared nature to the beauty of the sense. Usually I would have titled it Mother Nature, but Lady seemed more fitting at the end, when I realized it seem to represent a lady OF nature.
This is my ending. Think about what I said and everyone said and come up with your OWN point of view. Be bias.
Kori from United States