Mystical Prayer: The Poetic Example of Emily Dickinson

by Charles M. Murphy

In this book, Charles Murphy explores the still unfolding rediscovery of Emily Dickinson (1830–1886), our foremost American poet, as a mystic of profound depth and ambition. She declined publication of almost all of her hundreds of poems during her lifetime, describing them as a record of her wrestling with God, who, in the Puritan religious tradition she received, she found cold and remote. Murphy places Dickinson's writings within the Christian mystical tradition exemplified by St. Teresa of Avila and identifies her poems as expressions of what he terms theologically as "believing unbelief.” Dickinson's experiences of love and her confrontation with human mortality drove her poetic insights and led to her discovery of God in the beauty and mystery of the natural world.

Genres: Poetry, Mysticism, Criticism

128 pages, Paperback

Published July 19, 2019

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an impulse pick at my local library. The title grabbed my attention, for I could see an obvious connection: Dickinson’s contemplation of nature, her meditations on death, and her tranquility deliberately achieved through renunciation. But a mystic? That seemed to be pushing things a little. Still, I was anxious to hear what Monsignor Murphy had to say.

Turns out, the good monsignor was not just pushing things a little; he was pushing things a lot. He strives to make actual links between Dickinson and the mystics, but the connections are tangential at best: Emily’s sister-in-law gave her a volume of Thomas a Kempis, Emily liked Middlemarch, a novel which contains a passage about St. Teresa of Avila, etc., etc.. Still. The words of the saints quoted here—from Gregory of Nyssa to the Little Flower—resonate with Dickinsons poems, and often helped show me connections I had not noticed before. (The prose passages from the recent popes, however—Benedict and Francis mostly—are not very interesting in themselves, and could well have been eliminated.)

On the subject of Dickinson the mystic I remain unconvinced. Still, some of Dickinson’s poems look different to me now, deeper and richer because of the way they resonate with the great spiritual warriors of the ages. The poems about death affect me like this, but the ones that move me the most are the ones that celebrate nature. Here are three of those: the first about gathering flowers; the second about the coming of spring; and the third about insect singin on a hot August afternoon.

I dwell in Possibility -
A fairer house than Prose -
More numerous of Windows -
Superior – for Doors -

Of Chambers as the Cedars -
Impregnable of eye -
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky -

Of Visitors – the fairest -
For Occupation – This -
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise -

* * * *

New feet within my garden go -
New fingers stir the sod -
The Troubadour opon the Elm
Betrays the solitude.

New Children play opon the green -
New weary sleep below -
And still the pensive spring returns -
and still the punctual snow!

* * * *

Further in Summer than the Birds -
Pathetic from the Grass -
A minor Nation celebrates
It’s unobtrusive Mass.

No Ordinance be seen -
So gradual the Grace
A gentle custom it becomes
Enlarging Loneliness -

Antiquest felt at Noon -
When August burning low -
Arise this spectral Canticle
Repose to typify -

Remit as yet no Grace
No furrow on the Glow,
But a Druidic Difference
Enhances Nature now -

[James Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read the fine book, Roger Lundin's, Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief, and wanted to read more about ED but from a more theological perspective. I poked around and came across the book by Murphy and found the title promising. Lundin was a literature professor at Wheaton College and brought that lens to his reading. Murphy, on the other hand, is a catholic priest and has a doctorate in sacred theology. He is a scholar of the Christian mystical tradition and especially it seems of Teresa of Avila. His examination of ED is done by frequently comparing her biographical and spiritual journey to Teresa. This makes for creative speculation that he overstates at times, but it is nonetheless fascinating and affirms a depth of faith that emerges in the latter part of ED's life.

His speculation that ED might have been assisted in her movement away from her strict Calvinism partially through repeated readings of Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ is compelling and worthy of a follow up reading of a Kempis. But who has the time for that? Lol.

This is a slim volume but i really enjoyed it.

[Elyse Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressive synthesis of the author's thoughts on Emily's spirituality. Firmly grounded in other Dickinson scholarship, while also citing other writers on prayer and mysticism. Worth reading for the last chapter alone, where he draws parallels between Dickinson and Teresa of Avila, and cites Teresa, Augustine, Benedict XVI, and the Bible, as well as Wallace Stevens and George Eliot. A small book that packs a powerful punch.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder if Charles Murphy is a genius. I was not familiar with Emily Dickinson and his work only somewhat elucidated me on her life and work. Mostly I felt that I was out of my depths. Or maybe I struggled to see the truth of his claims. I hope to read more about Dickinson and perhaps one day revisit his work on firmer grounding.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

For readers who are fans of poet Emily Dickinson, this is an awesome book. I loved the new perspective on the meaning of her words and their connection with prayer and mystical experience.