Emily Dickinson's Shakespeare

Conclusion: "Touch Shakespeare for me"

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 [First Page] [206], (1) Lines: 0 ——— 4.61401pt ——— Normal P PgEnds: [206], (1) c o n c l u s i o n “Touch Shakespeare for me” W hen Emily Dickinson’s many hyperbolic statements of praise for Shakespeare, and her abundant references to his works, are examined within the historical context from which they emanated, they are rarely found to be straightforward. Provocative and timely, they reflect the fact that Dickinson read Shakespeare as a member of a culture in which he was a problematic actor who figured in its dialogue on a range of social and cultural issues. Her response to and conception of Shakespeare developed at a time when he was treated with reverence—in effect, as the greatest “American author.” In her letters she presents him as the “future” and “firm” foundation of literature. He is also like her influential best (female) friend, Sue, and should not be confused with Francis Bacon; he is her “Beloved” writer, who is not wicked and always seems “just published.” Her letters promote Shakespeare’s supremacy in a culture in which literary and social values were changing. Its prescription that she read (and worship) Shakespeare offered her the opportunity to engage in inspired and original ways with overly familiar materials. They become for her a field of possibility, imagination, fantasy; she appropriated them to either validate or undermine traditional attitudes on a number of issues. Shakespeare, though, was also disdained by many in Dickinson’s culture as an “English” author, whose mythic greatness suppressed the appreciation of American literature. Her virtual exclusion of direct references to his works in her poetry, and her poem “Drama’s Vitallest Expression is the Common Day,” demonstrate that her understanding of him was entangled in her sense of identity as an American writer. One of her most provocative letters, which has received little critical attention, addresses the issue of devotion to Shakespeare and Dickinson’s sense of her Americanness. In the summer of 1885, a year before she died, Dickinson wrote to Mabel Loomis Todd, who was traveling in Europe. The poet begins her most patriotic letter by reminding Todd of an American anthem, “Sweet Land of Liberty,” which seems “superfluous” until it “concerns ourselves” (L1004). Following the dictates of American cultural nationalism, she invokes distinctive cultural aspects of her country and its natural landscape, offering Todd a substitute for what she is missing and ending by telling Todd “Touch Shakespeare for me,” signing her letter, Cleopatralike, “America.” Dickinson/America is not begging acceptance by “Stratford on Avon”; rather, her/its emissary Todd 206 “Touch Shakespeare for me” 207 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 [207], (2) Lines: 16 to ——— * 289.261pt ——— Normal Page * PgEnds: PageBr [207], (2) should, with a secure and authoritative sense of nationality, both cultural and political, pay Dickinson’s/America’s respects to Shakespeare: Brother and Sister’s Friend - “Sweet Land of Liberty” is a superfluous Carol till it concerns ourselves - then it outrealms the Birds. I saw the American Flag last Night in the shutting West, and I felt for every Exile. I trust you are homesick. That is the sweetest courtesy we pay an absent friend. The Honey you went so far to seek, I trust too you obtain. Though was there not an “Humbler” Bee?” “I will sail by thee alone, thou animated Torrid Zone.” Your Hollyhocks endow the House, making Art’s inner Summer, never Treason to Nature’s. Nature will be just closing her Picnic, when you return to America, but you will ride Home by Sunset, which is far better. I am glad you cherish the Sea, We correspond, though I never met him. I write in the midst of Sweet-Peas and by the side of Orioles, and could put my Hand on a Butterfly, only he withdraws. Touch Shakespeare for me. The Savior’s only signature to the Letter he wrote to all mankind, was, A Stranger and ye took me in. America. [3.21.248.47] Project MUSE (2024-04-25...