Sounding the Sublime: The "Full Music" of Dickinson's Inspiration

Abstract

Emily Dickinson's Poem "He fumbles at your Soul" (J315) engages its reader primarily through the strategic use of the sonic qualities of language. The engagement involves inducing in the reader an experience similar to what the poem describes: poetic/divine inspiration, within the context of the sublime. Because Dickinson is able to induce in her reader an approximation of what she experiences as inspiration, and because that experience is marked by sublimity, "He fumbles" can act as a sublime object for the reader.

“He fumbles at your Soul”: Emily Dickinson between the piano and the cosmos

“…SeeSimons (2020) for an extensive survey of the two words in her poems.5 One of the most thought-provoking studies of "He fumbles at your Soul" is perhaps one of the oldest:Weisbuch (1972) devotes two pages of his book to show that it would be wrong to simplify the semantic complexity of the poem Miller (1987). offers a useful five-page close analysis of the language of the poem Luxford (2004). devotes a full-length essay to it in which he shows that the aggressor should be identified with poetic inspiration, which enables…”

“…Miller (1987) offers a useful five‐page close analysis of the language of the poem. Luxford (2004) devotes a full‐length essay to it in which he shows that the aggressor should be identified with poetic inspiration, which enables Dickinson to reach a sublime dimension. This essay tries to go beyond that reading and open the field of other interpretive possibilities.…”