Emily Dickinson was an interestingly introverted woman during her lifetime, and a lot of her writing encompassed that. During the 1880s, Dickinson was often gossiped about and many noticed she never left her father’s house. In her lifetime, she only published 10 poems, all of which were published anonymously. She even “begged those closest to her to burn her papers after her death. They refused, instead startling audiences by publishing [her] unusual lyrics, with their passionate intensity, broken meter, slant rhymes, and unconventional dashes and capitalizations.” (Pg. 480) Both poems “303” and “465” show, in subtle ways, the complex and closed-in world in which Dickinson lived. Because of her sheltered life, Dickinson's poems portray themes of darkness, death, and loneliness, which she reveals through her writing in different ways. It's significance, in my opinion, allows readers to divulge into deeper, perhaps more meaningful, thoughts and outlooks on life. Although death, darkness, and loneliness aren't bright, lovely topics to talk about, Dickinson's writing is the ying to the yang; the dark to the light, and the controversy over exactly what her poems are really about.
Dickinson shied away from social interaction, and hardly, if ever, left her house, which gave her plenty of time to write. In her poem “303,” on page 483, each stanza describes her lonely, quiet life. “The soul selects her own Society – Then – shuts the Door – To her divine Majority – Present no more –“; Dickinson seems to be saying that she is shutting out the world, or her “Society” that she lives in, she “shuts the Door” to the majority of people, except maybe her family. She lives with her father, so we know that she keeps in contact with him and that she is comfortable with him. But why doesn’t Dickinson like society? Why doesn’t she go out, and mingle with other actual humans?
The second stanza talks about Chariots pausing “at her low Gate – Unmoved – an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat –“ which, in my opinion, says that people would check on her, waiting at the gate (waiting at her mailbox or at the end of her driveway?), waiting to see if she’d ever come out of hiding. Even in the third stanza, Dickinson portrays the narrator as having to choose to stay inside, “close the Valves of her attention – Like Stone -,” not moving when people wait at their gate. Both Emily Dickinson and the narrator of the poem “303” are shy, timid, reserved, and seem to be enveloped behind their homes, “Like Stone.” The “Emperor” could be her shining knight in armor, for all she knows, and she would still not come out of her home. I find staying inside all the time, as Dickinson had, I would eventually start to go stir crazy; I would also think my mind would start playing tricks on me. Perhaps Dickinson had some kind of anxiety-related issue or some kind of illness, hence why she never went out. It could also explain why her writing is sort of dark and dreary.
Dickinson’s poem “465” seems to not only talk about being shielded away from everyone, but also like a part of her (or her character in the poem) has lost a piece of their soul. With stillness in the air, flies buzzing, between heaves of the storm - Dickinson’s tone in this poem seems dreary, depressing, and lonely, “With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz – Between the light – and me – And then the Windows failed – and then I could not see to see –“ It’s so lonesome and quiet in the confines of her home that the only noise is the buzzing fly. Between the windows, there is light on one side and her on the other side, which could be a hidden metaphor of light and dark – light is on the outside, where it’s sunny, bright, and full of life; and she is on the inside, where it is dark, cold, and dreary. How the windows “failed” baffles me; it could mean it failed her because what she thought she saw on the other side of the window is actually not the reality of what’s on the outside. It could also mean it failed, literally – like the window it self broke, which makes me think that it could also mean that Dickinson is like the window, and has somehow failed. Did she fail at life? Did she fail at writing? Does she feel like she failed her family? I don’t think that would necessarily be true, as her sister ended up publishing her writing, even though Dickinson specifically said not to. If Dickinson were alive, she’d realize that her name is very well known and a household name.
When Dickinson writes, “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air –“ has a lot more meaning to it than comes off. Something dark and sad must have happened to Dickinson for her writing to be how it is. She could have had a close relative die or a terrible even happen; whatever’s happened to Dickinson, she portrays that sadness through her poems. Whatever her reasoning for shying away from the outside world, or whatever must have happened in her life, she has a way of portraying that story through her writing by conveying darkness and loneliness. Her life must have been so lonesome and quiet that she can hear every sound. Her mind is also left to wonder, perhaps thinking of a lot of "what-if's” she could have had in her lifetime, had she been more social. The stillness in the air projects her loneliness, and it also portrays gloominess and darkness. It also makes me wonder why no one would ever think to visit her, perhaps luring her out of her entrapped home.