Scripture  (from I told my soul to sing)

In her reflective commentary, Kristin LeMay argues that Emily Dickinson shows the influence of biblical language in her poetry. At one point when her aunt falls ill, Emily bitterly accuses God with scriptural language: “Whom shall I accuse? . .  . The enemy,’ eternal, invisible and full of glory.'” Probably does not reveal any reverence, but certainly familiarity.

“The Bible dealt with the center, not the circumference,” Emily comments in a letter to her friend Elizabeth Holland. So it becomes a pivot for her to spread out and explore subjects the Bible misses. Here is a poem LeMay quotes to suggest Emily’s relationship to the Bible.

I held a Jewel in my fingers–
And went to sleep–
The day was warm, and the winds prosy–
I said “Twill keep”–

I woke– and chid my honest fingers,
The Gem was gone–
And now, an Amethyst remembrance
Is all I own.

How many Bibles have merely symbolic significance in their homes?  They are a remembrance of Sunday School or simpler days or a life event (birth, marriage, funeral). Now the connection is more like a dream. Life doesn’t flow to the reader, just memories– the amethyst. So the Bible marks another time, a different awareness, a lost innocence.   Was this what Emily meant by this poem?

If the Bible does not speak to my circumference, it cannot stay at my center.