Dickinson's Beloved?

In the 70's, the multimedia industry formulated an innovative concept in videotape presentations. By superimposing a soundtrack over a film sequence, they came up with a novel approach from which MTV was born. If we follow this train of thought, we can study a poetic work from a different perspective in using a literary piece as a backdrop. The blend of spiritual harmonics can be prismatic at times, as we can see in aligning works of Emily Dickinson with Toni Morrison's Beloved.

The theme of these works bears significant similarities. Dickinson's poems have a mystical quality about them as she dwells upon the speaker's relationship with God, the substance of faith, the perpetuity of love, transcendental consciousness and spiritual apathy. Her poems bespeak unfulfilled relationships with God and man, expressing a soulful desire to breach the gap with her own deep-rooted spirituality. Morrison's Beloved focuses on similar concepts as Sethe, the major protagonist, lives in a spirit world into which others attempt to transgress. The writers aspire to a higher plane, and their works attempt to bring us to their lofty visions.

Much Madness is divinest Sense--
To a discerning Eye--
Much Sense--the starkest Madness--
'Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail--
Assent--and you are sane--
Demur--you're straightaway dangerous--
And handled with a Chain--

Dickinson's poem reflects on vision, how that of the gifted soul is often disparaged by those who fail to respect and appreciate those whose scope exceeds their own. In Beloved, the house at 124 is the epitome of exotic vision. Sethe is seen as bewitched by her neighbors, distracted after having killed her infant child to deliver it from slave owners. She locks herself away in haunted 124, where `divinest Sense' presides, her `discerning Eye' able to see and understand the nature of the poltergeist that runs loose in her home. She and her home are considered by many `straightaway dangerous', and in the inferred opinion of many of the racists in the story, best `handled with a Chain'.

The Soul selects her own Society--
Then--shuts the Door--
To her divine Majority--
Present no more--

Unmoved--she notes the Chariots--pausing--
At her low Gate--
Unmoved--an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat--

I've known her--from an ample nation--
Choose One--
Then--close the Valves of her attention--
Like Stone--

This revealing poem seems autobiographical in nature as Dickinson ponders the apathy of a loved one, who stands aloof and distant to all save for the select that she deigns to allow into her inner circle. It is a spiritual arrogance we see as even an Emperor stands to be rejected at the behest of a woman who can close the `Valves' of her heart `Like Stone'. Paul D respects the similar nature of Sethe, whose `Soul' has selected `her own Society' amongst the spirits of the past that walk the ground of 124. She `shuts the Door--To her divine Majority--Present no more' beyond the front gate of 124, her fellow ex-slaves who pass by with mixed feelings of pity and trepidation. Perhaps Paul D is not quite the Emperor in Dickinson's vision, but he is the only man who seeks a place in the lives of Sethe and Denver, choosing to `be kneeling Upon her mat'. `From an ample nation' he becomes her chosen one. Yet upon the appearance of her reincarnated Beloved, he experiences Dickinson's pain in perceiving her `close the Valves of her attention--Like Stone'.

So We must meet apart--
You there--I--here--
With just the Door ajar
That Oceans are--and Prayer--
And that White Sustenance--
Despair--

One of Dickinson's longer poems focuses of the expression of love beyond the grave, transcending the temporal plane as she longs for the communion with her loved one which death has interrupted. The poetess poignantly expresses a grief in being separated from a loved one that only a Dickinson can render with such poetic skill. Yet Morrison proves equally as eloquent in her own element with the climactic departure of Beloved from Sethe. It seems as if Sethe finally comes to realize that, at last, she and Beloved `must meet apart--You there--I here--' after the reincarnation disappears during the bedlam created by the outraged community at 124. `With just the Door ajar That Oceans are', Sethe slips into a melancholy as she stares sightlessly across the void, waiting for her own demise to bring her to the spirit world to which she so strongly relates. It is the love of Paul D and Denver that mitigates Sethe's plight, `and Prayer', we might surmise. However, Dickinson verbalizes that which Morrison alludes to in the darkest hours when faith gives place to `that White Sustenance--Despair'.

The Brain is just the weight of God--
For--Heft them--Pound for Pound--
And they will differ--if they do--
As syllable from Sound--

Here Dickinson expounds upon the depth of consciousness, contemplating the measure of thought in perspective with the rest of infinity. In this poem she envisions the human capacity for thought as being greater than the parameters of the sky and the sea themselves. Yet she acknowledges the omnipotence of God in comparing human knowledge to Divine `As Syllable from Sound'. There seems to be a similarity in comparing Sethe to Baby Suggs, the spiritual elder of the freedman community. Though Sethe carries the tradition of Baby in her heart, it was Suggs who laid the spiritual groundwork upon which the metaphysical 124 stands. Is Baby's `Brain…just the weight of God' as she transcends the boundaries of time and death, the binding force of the Sweet Home community that stakes its claim to a new horizon in a free America? Yet compare the indomitable wills of Suggs and Sethe, `And they will differ--if they do--As Syllable from Sound'. Suggs has triumphed over death, and only the love of Paul D and Denver will prevent Sethe from attaining that final victory.

"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see--
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.

This quatrain was a succinct point made by Dickinson amidst her postulations on the virtue of faith. "Faith" as `a fine invention', according to Webster, would be an post facto device that helps us cope with life's inconsistencies. The prudence of `Microscopes' `In an Emergency' now places the cart before the horse, pointing out that faith is better served on a platter of reality. It indicates the degree to which her own faith may well have buckled at the time she penned this poem. It also helps us appreciate Denver traveling to another city, ironically seeking the help of rich white men in circumventing the material collapse of 124. `When Gentlemen can see' is apropos in considering the plight of Sethe, whose vision quest seemingly blinds her to the financial catastrophe that her withdrawal from society has led them to. Denver's analytical microscope reveals the cancer of futility that has grown within the family cell, and it is through her prudence that she is able to save the day at last.

Angels--twice descending
Reimbursed my store--
Burglar! Banker--Father!
I am poor once more!

Again we see Dickinson's spiritual struggle in dealing with the adversities that life places before her. God is her oppressor as `Burglar', her provider as `Banker', before her faith is restored in her `Father' as she appears before him `poor once more'. It is the deprivations of death which come to mind as she relates how `Angels--twice descending Reimbursed my store', yet her anger and grief give way to supplication as she accepts the ramifications of Divine providence. In losing Beloved twice in one lifetime, Sethe has also been reimbursed twice for the ordeal she suffered in giving birth to Denver while escaping the destruction of Sweet Home. She becomes `poor once more' at the end, only Morrison leaves us with the hope that, through the love of Paul D and Denver, God has truly reimbursed her store.

Though their works are a century apart, their themes of hope beyond despair are eternal in nature. Providing us with penetrating insight into the female mindset, they leave us with examples of transcending faith, unsinkable spirit and unshakable hope that future generations will come to cherish.