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© 2012 MARLIA FONTAINE-WEISSE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED “LEARNED GEM TACTICS”: EXPLORING VALUE THROUGH GEMSTONES AND OTHER PRECIOUS MATERIALS IN EMILY DICKINSON’S POETRY A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Marlia Fontaine-Weisse December, 2012 “LEARNED GEM TACTICS”: EXPLORING VALUE THROUGH GEMSTONES AND OTHER PRECIOUS MATERIALS IN EMILY DICKINSON’S POETRY Marlia Fontaine-Weisse Thesis Approved: Accepted: _______________________________ ________________________________ Advisor Dean of the College Dr. Jon Miller Chand Midha, Ph.D. _______________________________ ________________________________ Faculty Reader Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Mary Biddinger George R. Newkome, Ph.D. _______________________________ ________________________________ Faculty Reader Date Dr. Patrick Chura _______________________________ Faculty Reader Dr. Hillary Nunn _______________________________ Department Chair Dr. William Thelin ii ABSTRACT Reading Emily Dickinson’s use of pearls, diamonds, and gold and silver alongside periodicals available during her day helps to build a stronger sense of what the popular American cultural conceptions were regarding those materials and the entities they influenced. After looking at pearls in “The Malay – took the Pearl –” (Fr451) in Chapter II, we discover how Dickinson’s invocation of a specific kind of racial other, the Malay, and the story she constructs around them provides a very detailed view of the level of racial bias reserved for the Malay race, especially in relation to their role in the pearl industry. Most criticism regarding her gemstone use centers upon the various layers of interpretation fleshed out from her work rather than also looking to her poems as a source of musings on actual geo-political occurrences. Chapter III weighs Dickinson use of diamond in “Reverse cannot befall” (Fr565) against her established diamond strategy to uncover a historical power exchange between Bolivia and Peru. Through an examination of the context of war surrounding “A Plated Life – diversified” (Fr864) and “Luck is not chance –” (Fr1360) and what she does with gold and silver in Chapter IV, it is evident that these poems are heavily influenced by Dickinson’s reaction to the American Civil War. Through this examination of her use of gemstones and other precious materials, it becomes clear that Dickinson’s work is as much a source of history as it is a contribution to it. iii DEDICATION To Ryan and Donovan, my most valued gems. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to extend a special thank you to my committee, especially Dr. Jon Miller, for their efforts in helping me produce a relevant piece of scholarship that contributes positively to the field of Dickinson research. Without your guidance, I would never have known how far I could challenge the boundaries of my abilities. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. MY EMILY DICKINSON: AN INTRODUCTION…………………………………...1 II. MALAY, PEARL, EARL: DICKINSON AND THE POPULAR (MIS)CONCEPTION OF RACE………………….…………………………….…….10 The Malay – took the Pearl – / Not – I – the Earl –……………………………...16 I – feared the Sea – too much / Unsanctified – to touch –……………………….19 Praying that I might be / Worthy – the Destiny –………………………………..22 The Swarthy fellow swam – / And bore my Jewel – Home –…………………...24 Home to the Hut! What lot / Had I – the Jewel – got –………………………….26 Borne on a Dusky Breast – / I had not deemed a Vest / Of Amber – fit –………27 The Negro never knew / I – wooed it – too –……………………………………28 To gain, or be undone – / Alike to Him – One…………………………………..29 III. “A DIAMOND – OVERTAKE”: DICKINSON AND THE GEOGRAPHY OF WEALTH……………………………………………………………………………...34 Reverse cannot befall / That fine Prosperity / Whose Sources are interior –……45 As soon – Adversity –……………………………………………………………49 A Diamond – overtake – / In far – Bolivian ground –…………………………...50 Misfortune hath no implement / Could mar it – if it found –……………………51 IV. “WITH GOLD AND SILVER PAIN”: DICKINSON AND THE SPOILS OF vi WAR…………………………………………………………………………………..55 V. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS……………………………………………………….72 LITERATURE CITED…………………………………………………………………76 vii CHAPTER I MY EMILY DICKINSON: AN INTRODUCITON Early on in her work, My Emily Dickinson, acclaimed poet Susan Howe summarizes well the end to the introduction of Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers: …he ended by remembering how he had often stood on the banks of the Musketaquid, or Grass-ground River English settlers had re-named Concord. The Concord’s current followed the same law in a system of time and all that is known. He liked to watch this current that was for him an emblem of all progress. Weeds under the surface bent gently downstream shaken by watery wind. Chips, sticks, longs, and even tree stems drifted past. There came a day at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn, when he resolved to launch a boat from shore and let the river carry him. (7) This scene is important, for Emily Dickinson becomes Howe’s Concord River, allowing her to “head toward certain discoveries” as she drifts along the current of Dickinson’s poetry (7). My introduction to Emily Dickinson produced much the same intrigue for me as the Concord River did for Howe. What stood out most during my first encounter with Dickinson as a post baccalaureate at The University of Akron was, of course, her unique writing style. I was captivated by her break from tradition, and was eager to enroll in the Whitman & Dickinson course to acquire a deeper understanding of her and her poetic 1 form—there had to be more to her than just dashes. As I began to critically analyze Dickinson’s Poem 248, which begins “One life of so much consequence!” I became fascinated by her metaphorical use of pearl to signify the value placed on a woman’s chastity. The speaker weaves into this pearl image the value of one’s life and how the removal of something as precious as this pearl of virginity can figuratively end someone’s life as she knows it. This reading gave way to an underlying theme of sexual frustration as the speaker consciously marks the negative outcome of giving in to desire. But it wasn’t until another of her more famous sexual frustration poems was discussed that I became exceedingly curious about her use of this particular precious substance. Pearls are mentioned in Poem 656, but in this instance, they are used to describe the frothy lace atop the ocean waters that creep up her leg and are not so integral to the overall meaning of the text. Wondering whether each use of pearl in her poetry led to sexual readings prompted me to scan the entire collection of poems in the R. W. Franklin edition of Dickinson’s work. I quickly realized Dickinson also incorporates other gemstones into her poems—diamonds, rubies, emeralds, amethysts, topaz, opal, sapphire, and quartz—as well as precious materials like silver and gold. After charting every use of each gem, it became clear that pearls and other precious materials are important weapons in Dickinson’s poetic arsenal. Diamonds can represent strength, rubies and amethysts color, or quartz translucence. Gold can signify power and value, or it unearths pain and suffering. But what remains to be seen is whether the value associated with that imagery was a characterization unique to Dickinson, or whether it was a creative tool produced by 2 the collective antebellum American perspective of those materials, a tool she wields masterfully. In pursuing this answer, I came across Rebeccca Patterson’s 1979 classic, Emily Dickinson’s Imagery. To date, Patterson’s chapter on jewel imagery remains the only comprehensive analysis of Dickinson’s gemstone use, which argues that Dickinson’s use of jewels among her poetry and letters, inspired by jewel imagery used by her contemporaries and the importance of sacred jewels found in the Bible, “may be her most important poetic stratagem” because its evaluation “might throw light on her poetic technique as well as contribute to an understanding of the individual poems” (74). Through this examination, Patterson uncovers the role gemstones play within the works of such authors as Emerson, Tennyson, and Byron to highlight the significance of their use, and then shows how those gemstones represent important aspects of Dickinson’s life (79). However exhaustive her research is regarding this subject, Patterson’s work does not consider how the metaphorical value of those gems correlates to the popular conventions surrounding those stones. Her work is more biographical in nature and when she does incorporate periodicals into her research, she only utilizes the periodicals Dickinson had access to. But when we take into consideration the breadth of resources available to consumers that allow a better global perspective associated with these stones, we begin to see how Dickinson’s use of jewel imagery is further influenced by this world view. This can be done through tools for humanities research such as Google Books and other full-text searchable databases that Patterson was not able to use since the technology was unavailable until the twenty-first century. Based on the 3 periodical evidence of the time found through these databases, I would argue the value associated with Dickinson’s use of precious materials is largely representative of contemporary cultural attitudes and should, therefore, be treated as a source of historical data. During the mid-nineteenth century, a wide variety of cyclopedias, science journals, books, and other periodicals