Emily Dickinson and Position of Women in Society.
In the 19th century, society regarded women as domestic and submissive; their main roles that of being pure, obedient wives and domestic, nurturing mothers. These ideologies, moreover the rejection of these limitations, frequently shaped the writings of female poets at this time. Among these women, poet Emily Dickinson not believe it was society's place to dictate to her how she should lead her life. Her poems reflect this sense of rebellion and revolution against the prejudices of this time. In her poem, number 390 in Final Harvest (number 987 in Complete Poems), Dickinson challenges a world in which a woman must act as society expects her, while truly her capabilities exceed these expectations. Dickinson also, to a lesser point, challenges the rules of linguistics and conventional poetry, and ultimately, through both examples, forces readers to reevaluate the standard views of society.
Poem number 390 illustrates the stereotypical 19th century woman, one who is fail and incapable of being powerful. The last two lines of the first stanza express that while both subjects of this poem, leaves and women, act in compliance with what society expects from them, they have inner strengths that remain inaccessible secrets. The final stanza further illustrates this point. Leaves and women cannot reveal their hidden powers in a society that views them according to certain prejudices, thus their secrets remain concealed. It is in this way that both parties make a sacred and unapproachable agreement to the state of being fully recognized, or as Dickinson states, an "inviolable compact to notoriety." .
Dickinson challenges society's expectations as she "defamiliarizes" her readers with the traditional views of society. Poem number 390 asks women to rethink themselves according to their own ideas, instead of merely accepting the views of the general public.
