The Soul Selects her Society
The poem “the soul selects her society” by Emily Dickinson is centered on the personal preferences of a person. It also tries to portray the feelings of superiority that a person harbors whenever in a scenario that requires her/his choice. It essentially tries to show how the self despite attractive surrounding conditions only influences decisions.
First, she uses words that signify power. These words include “emperor,” “chariots” and divine. The author uses these words to bring out the authority the persona has in the poem. The persona is unmoved by all these features which show that the actual power of the persona lies from within the choices she makes. No matter how attractive and good-looking a situation may seem, the persona is portrayed to harbor ultimate power to either chose it or not. This poem is meant to make a person find his ways of dealing with some situations rather than always relying on people to do things to influence him/her. In the second verse, Dickinson writes, “Unmoved-an emperor kneeling” showing that she even has the choice to either accept or reject the proposal of the ruler. This automatically places her at a higher position and in the next line; the leader is depicted to be kneeling on her mat (Ostriker 18).
Furthermore, the statement “the soul selects her society is a representation of man as the image of God. It represents how close to divinity that man is. The persona also talks chiefly of the soul showing the importance of the prime source of human feelings and emotions. These shows how man wants to be considered close to God and if not, try and achieve godhood by making choices that influence such a path. Such a way is shown to make a man more selfish since he considers himself more superior than others and ends up downplaying important societal norms such as the authority. The modern day world is filled with this fad. Most of the inventions and advertisements are meant to evoke a more self-conscious behavior. This essentially locks out important people to an individual and contributes to further moral decay.
In the poem the selfish nature of the persona is clearly brought out by the use of words like “gate,” “door,” to show the area that she has locked herself in that no one can reach whether emotionally, mentally or spiritually (Ostriker 19).
Finally, the persona is also portrayed to be very firm in making choices. Most of the things mentioned to try to please her do not succeed. This is contrary to what many people would do when given riches and power. The author attempts to communicate the importance of being careful not to take everything presented to a person. It also brings the feelings of contentment with the situation that the persona finds her in. Happiness is shown to come from how a person chooses to live his/her life; not by what is gained materially in life (Ostriker 18).
In conclusion, the poem is about the inner struggles of man to gain authority socially, emotionally or spiritually. These can be achieved but require that a person becomes firm in the decision-making to avoid being swayed by prevailing conditions in the society. When a person does this, he/she is shown to slowly gain authority and will have an “upper hand” even to the authorities depending on how one handles the situation.
Works Cited
Ostriker, Alicia. 'Her Own Society: An Acrostic For Emily'. The Emily Dickinson Journal 15.2 (2006): 18-19. Web.
