Claim◆Audio · 10:19 — 11:49
A terror Dickinson experienced around September 1860 — which she could tell to none — likely drove her into reclusiveness.
Porrick Finnity points to a letter Dickinson wrote to Thomas Wentworth Higginson in 1860 describing 'a terror since September, I could tell to none' as the key clue to understanding her withdrawal from society, which has preoccupied scholars ever since. ✦ AI generated
Porrick Finnity · In Our Time · 2017-05-11 · original ↗
plays this moment only · 10:19 — 11:49
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“At the age of about 25, after her mother's death, she became reclusive — what happened and why do you think she became such a recluse?”
What we do know, comes, I think, from one of her letters, which she wrote in 1860. She wrote at the age of 31 to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who was a new kind of friend and mentor of hers. And she wrote, I had a terror since September, I could tell to none. That's the bit I picked out. So she had a terror that you can't speak, and this terror. And it's fascinating what she was terrified by, whether it was out of body experience or some kind of breakdown, but she doesn't name it. Was the terror that drove her into that room on her own.
verbatim transcript · starts at 10:19
- ·Dickinson wrote of 'a terror since September, I could tell to none' in 1860
- ·The terror remains unnamed — possibly an out-of-body experience or breakdown
- ·This undisclosed event likely drove her into lifelong reclusiveness
- ·She wrote the confession at age 31 to mentor Thomas Wentworth Higginson
- ·Scholars have long puzzled over the cause of her withdrawal
- ·Finnity calls the letter the key clue to understanding her retreat
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