Differences In Woman’s Freedom In Emily Dickinson’s Poem “I’M ”Wife”—I’Ve Finished That ”
Introduction
Emily Dickinson is considered as one of the towering figures of American literature. Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, Massachusetts. Her family has deep roots in New England. Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was known as the founder of Amherst College. Her father worked in Amherst and served as a state legislator. He married Emily Norcross in 1828 and the couple had three children: William Austin, Emily, and Lavinia Norcross.
A great student, she was educated at Amherst Academy (now Amherst College) for seven years and then attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for a year. Although the exact reason for Dickinson's last departure from the academy in 1848 is unknown; The theory offered says that her emotionally fragile state may have played a role and / or that her father decided to withdraw him from school. Dickinson finally never joined a particular church or denomination, tenaciously against the religious norms of the time.
Dickinson began writing as a teenager. Her works inspirited by a poetry book by Ralph Waldo Emerson that given by Leonard Humphrey, the headmaster of Amherst Academy, and her friend named Benjamin Franklin Newton, who sent the book. In 1855, Dickinson traveled outside Amherst, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, she befriended a minister named Charles Wadsworth, who would also be her most beloved correspondent.
Among her friends, Dickinson's closest friend and adviser was a woman named Susan Gilbert, who might also have a great interest in Dickinson. In 1856, Gilbert married Dickinson's brother William. The Dickinsons live in a large house known as Homestead in Amherst. After marriage, William and Susan settled on a property next to Homestead known as Evergreens. Emily and sister Lavinia served as chief caregivers for their mother who was sick until she died in 1882. Neither Emily nor her sister had ever married and lived together at Homestead until their respective deaths.
Dickinson's alienation during her last years has been the object of much speculation. Experts argue that he is suffering from conditions such as agoraphobia, depression and/or anxiety, or maybe exiled because of her responsibilities as guardian of her sick mother. Dickinson was also treated for painful eye disease. After the mid-1860s, he rarely left the Homestead border. It was also around ther time, from the late 1850s to the mid-60s, that Dickinson was most productive as a poet, creating a small collection of verses known as fascicles without the awareness of her family members.
Emily Dickinson has many works of poetry that she has made, the number of poems reached hundreds. Then Dickinson died on May 15, 1886, in Amherst due to kidney disease. After she died, her work began to be known and published in 1890. On ther occasion I will discuss one of the works of poetry from Emily Dickinson namely I'm 'wife' -I've finished that. In my opinion, ther poem tells about the difference in freedom of women when they are married and before marriage.
Discussion
In Emily Dickinson's poetry, in my opinion, the work uses a feminist approach to marriage. we know that Emily Dickinson is not married, but she can show the reader, how the situation of women when they are married and before marriage.
I'm 'wife'—I've finished that—
That other state—
I'm Czar—I'm 'Woman' now—
It's safer so—
How odd the Girl's life looks
Behind ther soft Eclipse—
I think that Earth feels so
To folks in Heaven—now—
Ther being comfort—then
That other kind—was pain—
But why compare?
I'm 'Wife'! Stop there!
Then in the first stanza, Emily wants to show that if she becomes a wife she will complete all the responsibilities that she does. And to compare what women and men cannot do, and Emily wants to show the inequality of men and women. Woman just like woman, and the word 'Wife', it’s like the author try says that women like 'Eclipse' in the second line. I think, based on her, it is natural for 'women' to stop at 'wives' because as a wife a woman must go with her husband. Not freedom like they are women who can do everything without other people's intervention. A woman can be a 'Tsar', but a 'wife' only becomes a wife with a husband as her worship. And often we see wife intimidation by her own husband in their home. Her life will be dominated by her own husband.
Emily was not married, but what was perhaps the most poignant and more important was not her ignorance and bitterness towards the country of marriage but, after the girl, there was only marriage, and because she was not married, who was she? Ther is about identity. The 'Ther is safer so' line indicates that he believes that having a label, being 'typical', 'normal', etc. Must be 'safer' and safer than her own identity. He experienced flux because he had never been married and never had the power of men who dominated in her life, except her constant problems with religion/belief, of course, dominated by men at that time.
Emily was not married, but what was probably the most poignant and more important was not her ignorance and bitterness towards the country of marriage but, after the girl, there was only marriage, and because she was not married, who was she? Ther is about identity. The 'Ther is safer so' line indicates that he believes that having a label, being 'typical', 'normal', etc. Must be 'safer' and safer than her own identity. He experienced flux because he had never been married and never had the power of men who dominated in her life, except her constant problems with religion/belief, of course, dominated by men at that time.
In the second stanza, Emily called the marriage 'eclipse' of the woman, though gentle because of her feelings of dissatisfaction but culturally required to get married. The inequality of men and women is clearly shown by the changes experienced by women since childhood: 'women' become women: 'Wives' are marked with 'Eclipse'. Dickinson plays like a feminist. He said it was better to be 'a woman' than 'a wife. ' Once you realize ther, you will see things like the dead see life on earth. But perhaps, he points out that the natural development of a girl's life is from a desire to get married in a 'gentle eclipse', almost like he sees marriage as a sanctuary from pain. In ther line, he compares the one-married problem with the earth-heaven scenario. Being single is represented by 'hard' life and the reality of the earth and the lives of married women compared to being in 'Heaven. '
In another statement from Grace in the United States, Emily Dickinson did not find security by being a woman, but her insecurity. He does not want to be a wife or a woman and put these words in quotes because they look strange when compared to him. Ther is related to her family life too because her father did not expect a woman to be anything and Emily refused the identity of her mother who insisted in her poems that she was an orphan in herself. In ther poem, he fantasizes that he is entering a kind of marriage, but he seems to almost mock him.
The same and insecure status also applies to widows. They also throughout hertory have unstable status. Of course, 'wife' is really the only job for a woman outside of childhood, and there must be some bitterness and regret, but maybe bitterness is worth it. She has no social identity other than an old servant and no woman who wants to adopt that title is often a point of mercy or ridicule.
And most certainly, I think he does not want to be a wife and I think he thinks to maintain some sort of identity he must be a hermit, but there is a feeling of lack of identity when not a wife and not a girl. It is a pity he is nothing more than someone who likes to challenge social challenges.
The last stanza describes Emily's feelings in marriage. He said that marriage, on the other hand, would be a consolation because he showed that the natural development of a girl's life from the desire to get married in a 'gentle eclipse', was almost like she saw marriage as a place of refuge from pain, but the pain was paramount. another type. Ther verse begins with the phrase 'Ther soothing creature / other types of pain,' these two lines send mixed signals that show that married life is ultimately not painful or vice versa.
The pain comes from household reality. How do couples, men and women, will unite their desires, their habits and their goals in a nation. And when they can't put it together, there will be problems that threaten their households. Sometimes, one will dominate the other. In ther case, we always see that the woman is the oppressed party.
Emily was not satisfied with married life, and that is why he keeps comparing himself when he says 'why to compare?' from the beginning to the end of the poem, and the last line 'I am' Wife '! Stop there!' It almost sounded like the voice of the person who ordered it. However, he ends in a sarcastic tone: With independence comes to pain, so it's natural for women to stop at 'Wife. '
He ended the poem with a positive tone about marriage by saying that there was no need to compare the two scenarios because he was now a 'Wife. ' Here again, he uses the word 'wife' to represent her status. For me, it shows that he was trying to mock a sexist society in the mid-19th century.
Conclusion
As we analyze in the section above, we know that in ther poem Emily Dickinson wants to present a very complicated approach to marriage. In the first 3 lines, he shows a pre-marital opinion, but the last he writes an ironic message that mocks the norms of society in the mid-19th century for urging women to marry.
He wanted to show that marriage to girls was like a 'soft eclipse'. Marriage will provide a safer life for the girls who are demanded of them and in the end, will not be hurt, or vice versa will cause them pain.
I think ther poem was presented to mock nineteenth-century sexist societies to pressure girls to marry, have families, have children and have unique lifestyles.
References
- https://genius. com/Emily-dickinson-im-wife-ive-finished-that-199-annotated
