Analysis of I'm "wife"—I've finished that— by Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson

I'm "wife"—I've finished that—

That other state—

I'm Czar—I'm "Woman" now—

It's safer so—

How odd the Girl's life looks

Behind this soft Eclipse—

I think that Earth feels so

To folks in Heaven—now—

This being comfort—then

That other kind—was pain—

But why compare?

I'm "Wife"! Stop there!

The author of this poem is Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1839 in Massachusetts. She basically had few contacts with people and rarely went out of her house to meet people. To add, she had few visitors as well. But among those few people that she did had contact with they left a huge impact in her life mostly in her writing. One of the people that gave her the impact was Reverend Charles Wadsworth. They met on her first trip to Philadelphia. He even went to visit her in Amherst before he left for West Coast in 1860. Though there is no clear explanation on their relationship status but it was stated that she referred to him as “my closest earthly friend”. Emily Dickinson lived in complete isolation from the society. She only interacted with her family members and keep on writing and reading in her room. His brother was one of her intellectual companions during her lifetime. He attended law school and lived with his wife next door. To no surprise Emily Dickinson was not the only one who isolated herself from the society and the outside world because her little sister, Lavinia also lived in similar isolation for her entire life.

        Most of Emily Dickinson’s poem actually portrays her loneliness living in isolation. She herself was questioning her status and place in society. It is quite obvious that her work was influenced by the Metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England. Other than that her poems was also influenced by her upbringing in a Puritan New England town which has a quiet conservative approach to Christianity. A lot of her poems mainly discuss the theme of identity comparing male to female in terms of religion, life, love and nature. There is also possibility that she had been questioning the status of a woman in society because she can see that her father, a political figure back then dominates as a leader in the society and also as a husband in the house.

            Based on the above poem, ‘I'm "wife"—I've finished that—‘ Emily Dickinson wanted to compare between being a woman and a wife. For her being a wife is different that being a women. Though in her real life, she had never been married but in this poem she used her imagination to put herself in the place of a married woman. In the first stanza lines 1-3 we can clearly see that she is not in favor of marriage. She was saying that once you become a wife, you are considered as good as dead. Meanwhile if you are a woman, you can be like a king and have full control of yourself. But in the next line Emily Dickinson said even with all these feeling of being a woman is better than a wife, still being a wife is a safer option. In our opinion we think she is depicting that to not being a ‘wife’ you need courage and strength and if you do not have that that it will be safer to just be a wife.

            Emily Dickinson wanted to expose to her reader that there are consequences in being a wife. Yes in society it is highly respectable to be married and it provides girls with a home, food and protection but at the same time being a wife can also cause pain and sufferings especially to women who treasure their independence life. Once you are married, you became like a property to your husband and your life became restricted. This totally reflects the feminist views on marriage. In the poem, we can see that Emily Dickinson is comparing the confusing thought of a woman on marriage. To be married or not to be married. Back in those years, women get married because of the norms of society, they were pressured to be married instead of following their own will. To conclude, this poem wants women to know that they are independently better on their own but being married is the safer option.