Josh K.
Tyler
Rose (Yoon)
Joseph
Emily Dickinson – 303 “The Soul Selects her own Society”
In Emily Dickinson’s poem, “The Soul Selects her own Society”. The idea of the “Soul” is personified, and for this reason, the word soul is capitalized throughout the work. In the very onset of the poem, Dickinson writes, “The Soul selects her own Society” (483). It is apparent that the “Soul” is personified as a woman because of the personal pronoun “her” that is attached. Rather than simply referring to the “Soul” as one part of a human, Dickinson creates the “Soul” to be a character of its own to portray how the soul has its own power and will to choose the “Society” whom she wants to be part of. With the ability to exercise power of personal choice, the “Soul” is able to neglect the power and wealth of the larger society. She creates her own “Society” based on her own firm beliefs. In her particular society, it seems as if she has closed the doors to anyone she deems unworthy. The society is hers and she has the only power of judgment, not giving in to anyone that tries to persuade her. Essentially, she is closing the door against anyone who is trying to enter “her own society”. Thus, Dickinson personifies the “Soul” to emphasize the importance and power of individuality that comes from the inner thoughts or souls of humans.
5 responses so far ↓
y.kim // Oct 24th 2015 at 11:09 am
The “Soul” seems to play a huge factor in the speaker’s decisions as she separates herself from the larger society. Her neglecting of confirming with the rest of society explains why she creates her own world and rejects those who does not abide to her personal beliefs. The speaker seems to express her individualistic character by staying firm or as Dickinson mentioned at in the last line “like Stone”. Because the soul affecting an individual’s choice and has opinions of her own, Dickinson personifies the “Soul” and by doing this she places great importance on individualism.
j.brito // Oct 24th 2015 at 11:32 am
The subject in the poem is a distant one, and Emily Dickinson makes her a female just to make it easier to connect. Emily is trying to say that the soul wants what the soul wants, and once they have find them the one, it is hard to be open to anyone else. True love is limited to two people and once you find true love, not all the riches,”an emperor kneeling upon her mat “(line 7) would change her mind. True love can not be bought or created. Love is found by a different entity in ourselves that we do not have control over. That entity is our soul.
r.joy // Oct 24th 2015 at 11:57 am
I found this paragraph very interesting. The “Soul” in the poem has control over its choices and chooses to be apart of a specific society. The author is depicting a notion that the “Soul” or anyone, has the power to choice as an individual. I like how your group went in to depth with that and explained what the author was specifically trying to say throughout the poem. I believe you interpreted how the author wanted her poem to be interpreted with deep thought and attention to detail.
JMERLE // Oct 24th 2015 at 12:53 pm
Josh, Tyler, Rose, Joseph,
You make some interesting observations, but here’s my response to your paragraph format:
Your topic sentence actually begins with the sentence, “Rather than simply . . . “, the idea that the soul has its own power to choose its own “society.” You spend rather a longish time getting to this point, which actually should be first. You do a fairly good job of discussing your quote, but you should probably choose a different quote, because this one really doesn’t provide you enough to discuss, so you repeat the same points a few times.
Grade: 8/10
Brandon Andujar // Oct 24th 2015 at 6:04 pm
I really enjoyed reading your interpretation of the word “soul” and “society.” The word, as you explained it, has a series of opportunities to be related to the entire context of the poem. What I would have liked to see was maybe a intertwining of the the idea of a “soul” and “society.” I believe it was briefly touched upon, but putting them together would’ve made it more impactful. Your ideas are clear throughout and relate back to the topic sentence. Job well done.