Emily Dickinson’s Exploration of Faith and Science in Response to Darwinism

Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, is a novel written by Mary Shelley and first published in January 1818. Shelley tells the story of scientist Victor Frankenstein who creates a dreadful, intelligent creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Throughout the novel, the creature consistently questions his existence. Charles Darwin published his pivotal scientific work On the Origin of Species in 1859. Within its pages, Darwin’s book introduced the theory that species evolve through a process of natural selection, which explained that the diversity of life found on Earth resulted from a common ancestry through a branching pattern of evolution.

The Atlantic Monthly – which Dickinson read faithfully - published a review of Darwin’s book in July 1860. After Darwin published his book Intelligent Design and once-immutable truths were possibly only theories and probabilities. Faith was now subject to observation. As scientific inquiry unraveled the religious foundations that they were supposed to prop up, Dickinson wrote, This World is not a conclusion, a poem searching for Evidence in 1862. In doing so, I argue that Dickinson explored the truths of her Faith by giving life to Faith, a solid new theological Self-crafted out of the chaos of truths when adding human reason to the Faith in the divine. Within This World is not a conclusion, Dickinson’s poetic structure and dynamic word choices give life to her Faith, who then examines and questions the world around her.

According to the Emily Dickinson Museum website: Emily Dickinson lived in an age defined by the struggle to reconcile traditional Christian beliefs with newly emerging scientific concepts, the most influential being Darwinism. Dickinson’s struggles with Faith and doubt reflect her society’s diverse perceptions of God, nature, and humankind. Through the Emily Dickinson website, we also know she was well-read on a variety of topics: Dickinson kept up with current events through the daily reading of The Springfield Republican, perhaps New England’s best political and literary newspaper. She read every issue of sister-in-law Susan Dickinson’s subscription to The Atlantic Monthly, in addition to perusing a range of other periodicals that came to the Homestead, so that her gradual reclusiveness in no way interfered with knowing what was going on in the world, particularly the world of books. Dickinson was certainly exposed to new ideas. In fact, she actively sought them out. Her poem This World is not Conclusion is a strong example of the way her poetry is infused with the scientific methods of observation in her experience of Faith.

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