Is an imperial friend —
Or the most agonizing Spy —
An Enemy — could send —
Secure against its own —
No treason it can fear —
Itself — its Sovereign — Of itself
The Soul should stand in Awe —
F579 (1863) J683
Dickinson writes here about how self mastery and self dereliction play out at the deepest level ¬– within the soul. She presupposes a multiplicity of manifestations within the soul –which in its complexity and emanations we might today think of as the psyche.
Dickinson depicts a multiplicity of selves in various other poems. In "One need not be a Chamber—to be Haunted—" [F407], finding "Ourself behind ourself, concealed" is cause for fright. Encountering one's own self in some "lonesome Place" is worse than finding an assassin in the bedroom.
In "If your Nerve, deny you" [F329], the "you" is a sort of Controller positioned above the "Nerve" as well as the soul. "If your Nerve, deny you – / Go above your Nerve" …/ If your Soul seesaw – / Lift the Flesh door". I've been calling this sort of controller entity the aware Self.
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| Al Sayed |
Ah, but when the Soul is sovereign and "Secure against its own", then that inner soul should "stand in Awe". Dickinson herself expressed a kind of awe in "Through the straight Pass of Suffering" [F187] where the martyrs' souls are steadfast as a compass needle is to the "North Degree".
"The Soul selects her own Society" [F409] shows a different sort of sovereign soul. This one is self contained, self directed – and extremely discriminating.
There is this vantage point she has beyond the soul, where I wonder is that.
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ReplyDeleteStanza 1, a simple declarative sentence, suggests an either/or, friend or foe character of the soul, but are those faces temporary and changing or firmly fixed?
ReplyDeleteStanza 2 states a steadfast, courageous soul cannot commit treason against itself, can trust itself to stand firm under fire, captain of itself no matter what. Such a soul is awesome.
There seems to be some kind of split inside the soul. One part of the soul never knows whether the other part will act as a friend or as an enemy. If the soul could be secure against herself, she wouldn't have to fear treason, because she is her own sovereign. But she isn't secure. She has a very good reason to be afraid of herself, she can be her own worst enemy. A similar situation is depicted in " Me from Myself — to banish —."
ReplyDeleteNot everyone's soul/psyche is in such a state, in my opinion the split is pathological.
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