If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.
Emily Dickinson
She didn’t go far.
She travelled outside her home county of Amherst, Massachusetts just once. Later, she withdraw from society completely; often choosing to speak to visitors through the door rather than face-to-face. When her father died she listened to his funeral from her room upstairs.
And yet.
Emily Dickinson left behind a vast trove of the most penetrating, insightful, and beautiful poetry the world has ever seen. She enjoyed numerous deep and rich relationships through prolific correspondence. And she loved. She loved truthfully and fearlessly as was her wont. And was loved in return, in a time and a place which neither acknowledged nor supported her ardour.
Emily Dickinson didn’t go far.
She went deep.
When the pearldiver descends into the cool dark of the ocean she must use breath techniques to equalise the pressure in her ears. She must strive to keep her distance from the ever pulling tides. She must confine her thought to a single grand aim: the finding and the gathering of pearls from the great below.
CONFINEMENT noun
/kənˈfaɪn.mənt/
: a situation in which a person or animal is kept somewhere, usually by force (from the Medieval Latin confinare ‘to restrict within bounds / keep within limits’).
The definition of the word ‘confinement’ shudders with negative connotations.
And yet.
Like the old man who, after sitting on the same box day after day begging for silver finds, at the end of his life, that the box was filled with gold, confinement and solitude can contain riches and bounties undreamt of by those too habitually busy to consider the offerings created by her limits.
The chance to be still. The chance to reflect. The chance to go deeper. These things are important. Yet, like many other important things, they are not given the share they deserve, instead becoming obscured by the repeated and repeating tornado of the day-to-day grind.
But these are not usual days, are they?
Meaningful things take time. It takes time to process. Time to make. It takes time to wonder.
I’ve been wondering a lot lately. I wonder what life will look like after this global pandemic. I wonder how it will change us.
I wonder what Emily Dickinson would have thought of ‘social-distancing’, lockdown, or ‘quarantine’.
I wonder if she’d even have noticed.
Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all.
Emily Dickinson
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James Radcliffe 
Although I am mostly an extrovert, I need alone time in my life as well. My best writing gets accomplished when I stop trying to do so much.
I loved your post and references to Emily Dickinson.My hope is that many will realize the value of slowing down, looking inward, and becoming more real.
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I am pretty much the same in that: I (usually) very much need my own space to get my best writing done.
Thanks for the kind words. I’m really glad you liked the post. Have a good one – J
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A moment of silence, indeed, is the loudest… A feel-good read..!
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Thankyou very much for this – I’m glad you liked it. Have a good one – J
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Hey James 👋🏾
I’ve been thinking about the topic and act of solitude. For me it’s many things, it’s been satisfying because I’ve never liver alone and I’m finding out what feels best for me and how I want to live day to day. Sometimes it’s sad because I’ve been married for 1 year and my husband is in the Navy, we were inseparable and I miss him. We’re currently apart with hopes of planning a visit soon. It can be productive, I am writing, pausing to meditate and being kinder to myself, as I deprogram from the expectations I’ve once placed on myself. Solitude is quite interesting.
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Hey there,
Thanks for reading this, I’m glad you took something from it.
I am sorry to hear that your husband is away, I hope you will be together soon.
Being kinder to yourself, meditating, writing – these are all good things and I wish you the best with them.
Nice to hear from you. Have a good one,
– J
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I’ve always been most comfortable in my own company than in that of others.
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Hey, glad you resonated with this. Not a bad skill to have during this period of lockdown etc. So well done you ;-)
Have a good one,
– J
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Thank you for this. It reblogged it on my Sirhick site. It has inspired me to find a paper on wrote on Thomas Merton and solitude.
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You are most welcome. I’m very glad you liked it.
Have a great day,
– J
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Solitude provides us with a time to reflect
As we reflect and engage in introspection we find we may need to run away
Run away from ourselves and our past and our thoughts and our overthinking and our over analysis and the battle within our minds
Lockdown
No more running away
Isolation and solitude
to reflect and engage in introspection
Maybe this time we won’t run away?
Thank you for your post. As you can see it inspired in me the above little piece of writing.
Please do continue to write and share with us your posts. Truly amazing.
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You are welcome. Thanks for reading it, and for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment.
I wish you well, have a good one,
– J
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This is lovely!!!
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Thankyou very much for saying so.
Have a good evening,
– J
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Happy Easter 🐣 James 🐇☕️❤️
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Margaret! You bought me a coffee! 😊
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Yes James x
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Thankyou very, very much. And Happy Easter to you too. Speak soon x
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Yer welcome ☕️🐣
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Sincerely, thanks for the support.
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👍❤️
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Exactly. I was just reading Emily’s poems today when I realized she lived her entire life in isolation and loved it. Which isn’t to say she didn’t have her problems. But the raw beauty of her poetry is fascinating. May it inspire us today as we self-isolate and distance ourselves from social activities. After all, a writer’s greatest challenges are interruptions, from within — wandering thoughts — and without — other people. Dickinson’s poems show the beauty of the non-distracted mind and the power of imagination. Now is your chance to withdraw, to unplug, to get off social media, to listen to birdsong again, to take a walk through the woods alone, to read a real paperback novel and get lost in its world, to pick up a pen and notebook and jot down your observations, your reflections, the voice of your soul soaking in the long-awaited silence and solitude.
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Yes. This.
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…Thankyou.
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