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Abstract
The biggest challenge to Dickinson scholarship has always been to discover which specific life experiences conspired to make Emily Dickinson both the reclusive woman she was, and the dynamic poet she became. This dissertation uses trauma theory to conclude that Emily Dickinson's enigmatic poetry originated from her personal exposure to incest, and examines how she used her craft to make the transition from victim to survivor at a time when the medical profession failed to acknowledge any damage related to this event. Chapter 1 investigates research into family background, evidence from letters and poems, and testimony provided by people who knew Dickinson, and suggests that the poet displays at least 33 of 37 “Incest Survivors' Aftereffects” from E. Sue Blume's checklist, a diagnostic tool used internationally by many incest therapists; when a client exhibits over 25 of these behavior patterns incest is strongly suspected. Chapter 2 is an investigation of the Dickinson family dynamics—it determines that the incest perpetrator was probably her father, Edward Dickinson. Chapter 3 deals with the first stage of recovery, outlined by trauma expert Judith Herman as being the stabilization process. Chapter 4 is the second recovery stage, the integration of memories. And Chapter 5 is the final stage to restored health, the development of a new self that is able to rejoin society. Emily Dickinson completed stage 1 and 2, but was unable to complete stage 3 because she could not reconnect with the outside world. This dissertation contributes a new understanding of the ‘omitted center’ at the heart of Dickinson's work because it provides an access key, allowing previously unfathomable poems to now be understood as coded complaints about incest, child abuse, and rape. Writing was Dickinson's way of identifying the nature of her trauma, coming to terms with its impact, breaking the silence to inspire future women writers, and reconstructing a new persona, albeit from the sanctuary of her self-imposed isolation.
