The Soul Select Her Own Society By Emily Dickinson Analysis

The Soul’s Irrevocability Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Soul Selects Her Own Society” provides insight of her own personal thoughts about her cloistered nature; however, it also portrays the limitless, yet mysterious power and freedom the individual soul has over all earthly desires such as social status, intimacy, and religious practices. Not only does Dickinson’s poem reveal her own ideas about personal individualism, which goes against society’s social norms, but also an opinion on the triviality of earthly aspirations. At first glance, Dickinson’s poetry is simple because of her meek writing style; however, it proves complexity with its abundance of interpretations. The simplest, easiest idea, that the poem occurs from Dickinson’s inner thoughts, seems to be the most obvious. With this meaning in mind, the “Soul” (1) represents …show more content…
This poem could be about singular romance. Noting how Dickinson mentions the soul instead of the body could be suggesting that perhaps humans are drawn to each other by an influential power. With this meaning, the “Soul” takes the form of a feminine creature finding her lover. The soul chooses her “Society,” (1) or the person she loves, and “shuts the Door” (2) to other options. Although the soul can choose “from an ample nation” (9) of potential lovers, she wants someone who can understand her on a deeper level. Unlike “the Chariots,” (5) or “an Emperor” (7), ideas that represent social and economical status, the soul wants a lover who can render her “Unmoved” (5) or speechless. When she finds the perfectly imperfect lover, she can “close the Valves of her attention” (11). In this sense, these valves could stand for the anatomical human heart symbolically beating for one lover and choosing to ignore all others. The phrase “Like Stone” (12) attempts to portray the finality of the soul’s intimate