17 pages • 34 minutes read
Whose cheek is this?
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Background
Historical Context
Dickinson wrote and sent the poem “Whose cheek is this?” to her friend and sister-in-law Sue sometime within the 1850s. Because it is unclear exactly when the poem was written, it is therefore difficult to ascertain whether one historical event influenced the poem’s production over another. Many significant national and world events took place between 1850 and 1860. For example, in 1851 the Christiana Riot took place in Pennsylvania. In 1854, Britain and France entered the Crimean War against Russia. Pre-Civil War unrest began in Kansas on November 21, 1855, and on March 6, 1857, the Dred Scott Decision declared that black individuals could not be American citizens. December 2, 1859 marked the hanging execution of abolitionist John Brown (McNamara, Robert. "Timeline from 1850 to 1860." ThoughtCo., 2021). There were certainly events developing or occurring that could have inspired Dickinson’s poem focusing on the fading of life into death.
One can also assess this text through the historical lens of patriarchy. Leading up to the 1850s when Dickinson’s poem first appeared, women’s rights were gradually increasing: “By the early 1800s, women were ready to branch out from their families and make an impression on the world. Numerous women’s organizations were formed, some social, but many bound on doing social work” (Donnaway, Laura. "Women’s Rights Before the Civil War." Loyola University Student Historical Journal). However, regardless of progress toward women’s rights and individuality, women still faced adversity and social restrictions. Just as women were still being repressed and their lights snuffed out by patriarchal and societal pressure, the flower in the poem wilts and withers. The body of the girl/woman loses its color as the blush drains from her face. In either case, the figure in the poem is deprived of life and cannot subsist on her own.
Literary Context
While Dickinson wrote during the 19th century, a literary movement called Transcendentalism coincided with her work. Transcendentalism has been defined as “an American literary, philosophical, religious, and political movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson” ("Transcendentalism." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003). The Transcendentalists, who also included Henry David Thoreau, “were critics of their contemporary society for its unthinking conformity” and encouraged individuals to find “solitude amidst nature, and in their writing” ("Transcendentalism."). This was the literary context in which Dickinson produced her work, though she is not considered a member of the Transcendentalist literary movement. She did read Emerson’s work, and he likewise respected her poems. Some critics do see some strains or influences of Transcendentalism in a select number of Dickinson’s poems. For example:
She appears to search for the universal truths and investigate the circumstances of the human condition: sense of life, immortality, God, faith, place of man in the universe. Emily Dickinson questions absolutes and her argumentation is multisided. The poetic technique that she uses involves making abstract concrete ("Transcendental Legacy in Literature." American Transcendentalism Web).
These elements are evident in “Whose cheek is this?” as the speaker alludes to rebirth and death (abstract concepts) through the symbolism of the robin. The “circumstances of the human condition” and “sense of life” are apparent in the mortality and fading of the girl/flower. Though Dickinson did not attach herself to or define herself by a specific literary style or philosophy, some of her poetry could be considered a product of her times.
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By Emily Dickinson
