“The Soul selects her own Society” Introduction

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“The Soul selects her own Society” Summary

“The Soul selects her own Society” Themes

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  Self-reliance and Individuality

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Soul selects her own Society”

• Lines 1-2

  The Soul selects her own Society —
  Then — shuts the Door —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  To her divine Majority —
  Present no more —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

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

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  I've known her — from an ample nation —
  Choose One —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-12

  Then — close the Valves of her attention —
  Like Stone —

  

  

  

  

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“The Soul selects her own Society” Symbols

• 

  The Emperor

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• 

  The Soul's House

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“The Soul selects her own Society” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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“The Soul selects her own Society” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Society
• Majority
• Chariots
• Emperor
• Ample
• Nation
• Valves

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Soul selects her own Society”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Soul selects her own Society” Speaker

“The Soul selects her own Society” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Soul selects her own Society”

More “The Soul selects her own Society” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a recitation of the poem by reader Julie Harris. 

  • Dickinson's Biography — Read a short overview of Dickinson's life and work.

  • Emily Dickinson Museum — Visit the website of the Emily Dickinson Museum.

  • Dickinson at the Brooklyn Museum — Learn about a Dickinson exhibit at a feminist art installation. Here, Dickinson (among other notable women) is commemorated with a place setting at a massive triangular table, representing women's creative power through history.

  • Emily Dickinson's Letters — Investigate Dickinson's  correspondence with her close friend and editor Thomas Higginson.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!