'I gave him Leave to Live': Emily Dickinson's Non-service and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Issue 2 (2nd July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kang, Yanbin
• Is Part Of: English studies in Africa. Volume 63:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 82
• Page End: 95
• Publication Date: 2020-07-02
• Subjects: Emily Dickinson -- Ralph Waldo Emerson -- Non-Service -- Daoism -- Chan Buddhism; English literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; English language -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; English language -- Africa -- Periodicals; English literature -- Periodicals; American literature -- Periodicals; American literature; English language; English language -- Study and teaching; English literature; Africa; Criticism, interpretation, etc; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 420
• DOI: 10.1080/00138398.2020.1852694
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-8398

Abstract

Abstract : Considering assistance 'the finest of Joys' (Fr1729), Dickinson singularly espouses withdrawing or withholding giving, regarding at times 'leaving alone' as an essential aspect of perfect assistance. This essay offers a reading of several of Dickinson's poems that relate to the ethics of withholding: including 'To offer brave assistance' (Fr492), 'We grow accustomed to the Dark -' (Fr428), 'I rose - because He sank -' (Fr454), and 'It came his turn to beg -' (Fr1519), arguing that Dickinson's idiosyncratic non-service stems from a creative conversation with the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson.