Here is an interesting question, not for just lovers of poetry . . .?

Question

But for every one.
"In a poem by Emily Dickenson, she writes:
The Soul Selects its own Society, then Shuts the Door,
To its Divine (minority) - accepts No More . . . "

What meaning do you interested ones, gather from this?

Answer 1

Well to properly interpret poetry, I at least believe that you have to know a thing or two about the person who wrote it.

Emily Dickinson was a reclusive genius who wrote about... and yet had very little actual experience with most of her subject matter. Things like; Love, society, social gatherings were not her thing really and she spent most of her life in the 4 walls of her room observing life from a rather unique, detached perspective.

I think she shunned society for the subtle reasons mentioned here in this small verse. Which is the exact reason I believe she saw it for what it was and decided to remove herself from it. Well that and probably what modern doctors would have diagnosed as either paranoid schitzophrenia and or social anxiety disorder?

Thank God there were no medications back then, to squash the genius that often comes as a result of being slightly touched and set apart... and Thank God her family protected her and gave her a safe enviornment of understanding and support and a place to write.

Although I think this had a more internalized meaning, her contrasts always jumped between very personal perception and an assumed sense of society by a removed, objective, understanding and observation of it.

In other words... I believe she understood herself and her own condition not from including herself in all of it, to compare herself to it, but she stood apart from life and understood it from a unique perspective that one often misses while in the midst's of things.

It is really hard to assume what a poet was thinking about when they wrote something and I have always believed that it is foolish to assume because poetry is unique and flutters in and out of consciencenous like a butterfly leaving this or that, often out of context and often times it is born out of nonsense and very relative deep inner experience.

The soul selects its own society...
then shuts the door
to its devine minority
accepts no more.

I believe that this alludes to the life and experiences of a human being through the course of there existence.

Some people (metaphysical writers especially) believed that the soul decides its fate before solid form.
then when we get the life we ask for on a soul level
we shun it and despise it, for it's human aspect is often felt and experienced in contradiction.
we therefore close ourselves off to potentiality and growth
suffering the one for the other.

Which is quite possibly, the very thing that happened inside her when she decided to seperate herself from life, and love and man... No participation, only beautifully written observations carefully left in little beautifully decorated boxes hidden all about her room like little gifts for fairies .

Writers do tend to be very reclusive and rather antisocial and we often trade what makes others happy for this often painful gift of words...

Hope this helps?

Answer 2

We choose our friends, interests, pursuits, etc., then close up our "world" and refuse new ideas, withdrawing into our shells, so to speak. Of course, given Dickenson's cloistered, sheltered life, one would expect her to feel this way.

Answer 3

that people choose a few friends who matter to them and then exclude everyone else from their inner consciousness.

Answer 4

We choose who we surround ourselves with. And once you choose, it is nearly impossible to rise above it.