28 Stoic Discipline and Emily Dickinson | Philosophy and Literature - Female Empowerment - Bluestocking Society -Women's intellectual history. The Female Stoic Podcast.

Welcome to the Female Stoic podcast.My name is Stephanie Poppins and I am an advocate for literary empowerment.That means I believe the example set by the literary masters can broaden life perspective, create increased self-awareness, and empower us to overcome the obstacles we encounter here in the 21st century.

0:39

By listening and referring what we hear to Stoic philosophy, we can foster a strong sense of self and navigate the world more effectively.This podcast takes the form of both discussions and meditations, and if you like what you hear, you might consider looking me up on my socials where I post empowering videos every day.

1:13

Or you may like my classic audiobooks and original stories available on my website, newworldbooks.uk.Happy listening.So welcome to today's episode of the Female Stoic Podcast.

1:42

Today's episode is entitled Stoic Discipline and Emily Dickinson, which of course refers to the American poet Emily Dickinson and the commitment she had to creating the poetry that honoured her thoughts, feelings and ideas.

2:00

So first we're going to look at the poet herself, then we will consider a selection of her work and relate this all to the utility of Stoic discipline and how we can use this to protect our inner citadel.And of course, we will have our journal task at the end as always.

2:21

And with this, I must mention my upcoming 10 day course on Insight Timer with the same title, Stoic Discipline.It sits next to the journaling course and it focuses on daily prompts to set our intention and remind us of the utility of Stoic focus.

2:40

We will of course be hearing from the literary masters as well.And not to forget my retreat that is happening in May in the heart of wonderful Yorkshire.So if you fancy an immersive experience where we discuss literature and the Stoic philosophy amidst a stunning backdrop, head over to Insight Timer, the best meditation app ever, and check it out.

3:06

So here we go, today's topic.As we know, the protection and maintenance of our Stoic virtue is the ultimate goal in Stoicism, and this requires discipline.Virtue represents a state of profound inner excellence and living in accordance with nature, which is achieved by mastering the four principles wisdom, courage, justice and temperance.

3:34

Wisdom, understanding what is truly good, bad and indifferent, and being able to compartmentalise each of those in order to make sound judgements.Courage, facing difficulties, fears and adversity with resilience.

3:50

Doing the right thing even when it's hard.Justice, acting ethically and contributing to the common good.And Temperance, mastering our desires, impulses and emotions to find a balance in all things.And of course, the maintenance of these, as I've just said, requires discipline.

4:12

Hence the title.Today, this is what the Female Stoic podcast is all about.Blue stocking empowerment through the work of the literary and Stoic masters in order to live our best life, in order to survive the emotional minefield that is life.

4:30

So this podcast is the intersection between female literature and Stoic philosophy.Emily Dickinson.Why Dickinson?Well, in her lifetime, which was 1830 to 1886, she exercised A pinpoint focus on her commitment to her purpose, irrespective of applause, acknowledgement or the realisation of literary success.

4:59

In her time, she was largely undiscovered.And today we're discussing the discipline she had to commit to every day to create her poetry, to honour her inner self, her higher self, regardless of how she felt.

5:21

And what was she like this Emily Dickinson?Well, she was an American poet, little known in her life, who is has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.She was born in Amherst, MA into a prominent family with strong ties to its community.

5:40

But she did not choose the prescribed life of a well to do woman of her era, IE marriage, but rather she became a recluse and outsider.Have you noticed there is the theme running through all of the literary masters we speak about on the Female Stoic podcast?

6:02

In the latter part of Emily's life, the house she lived in reportedly had large grounds, and so this is where she spent most of her time, and her discipline was primarily self-imposed.It centred on this dedicated, consistent and meticulous poetry that found power in enduring pain and isolation to achieve artistic perfection even without public recognition.

6:33

She wrote consistently, possibly daily, for herself, and she treated her poetry as a vital way to know herself in the world.She had many drafts with alternate wordings which showed a commitment to refining her work, a deep labour, and this labour was for herself and not for the external validation of publishers, which tells us a lot about her character.

7:02

She saw this discipline as a way to build internal strength and to contrast that, as comes out in some of her poems, with a potential weakness that comes from external validation or mixed emotion.

7:19

So through this controlled seclusion, this self-imposed seclusion, she could practice that form of self-discipline, the focus intensely on her inner world and her work, the creative process, even though it led to a life largely unknown.

7:39

She was committing to her higher self, producing work for herself.She viewed public attention and celebrity as punishments for talent, preferring the disciplined solitude that fosters her unique voices.

7:55

As noted in this quote, celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent.Some of her better known poems represent her view of discipline in her work.

8:12

In I Can Wade Grief, she explores how facing hardship through discipline builds resilience, transforms pain into a source of power, not a weakness.In The Discipline of Man, she writes about humanity choosing its own difficult paths.

8:31

She suggests a universal human experience of enduring chosen or appointed suffering for growth.The soul selects her own society, which you'll look at now, and it goes something like this.

8:50

The soul selects her own society, then shuts the door to her divine majority present no more.Unmoved, she notes the Chariots pausing at her low gate, unmoved.

9:09

And Emperor be kneeling upon her mat.I've known her from an ample nation.Choose one, then close the valves of her attention like stone.This poem centres on a deliberate act of spiritual and emotional autonomy through discipline.

9:31

It shows the soul as an entity that can actively choose and then reject external influence.This resilience and a resistance to social expectation, the refusal of both chariot and emperor, suggests a rejection of political and symbolic power.

9:57

Of course, that's a massive contrast to the societal expectations of a 19th century woman.Although written then, it prefigures modern psychological concepts of boundaries and stoic.

10:13

It reflects these stoic discussions of autonomy and emotional regulation, very unusual for a woman of her time.So her attention here is withdrawn from the indifference, the external forces, the opinions of others.

10:31

Regardless of her social status, she is taking control of her destiny.She is saying this is my space, this is my work, these are my thoughts.

10:49

I am unfettered by society.Sorry.I choose to be unfettered.Society will not impose upon me.

11:06

I choose myself.So in an era valuing domesticity and social integration, especially for women, this imagery of the closing of valves, the ignoring of emperors, is a quiet but firm defiance of her prescribed role.

11:29

And at the end, the metaphor of the valves closing, like stone, emphasises this is irreversible.So her choice is not merely her preference, but it's an inescapable response to external forces.

11:50

According to the Emily Dickinson Museum, only a few of her poems appeared in newspapers during her lifetime, but she did write and apply for to be published in a newspaper.

12:07

And she wrote to Thomas Higginson, who became her mentor.He edited and published her first poetry collection, and in his foreword he is quoted as saying Emily's unedited style of prose wasn't presented conventionally, Yet it may often gain something through the habit of freedom and the unconventional utterance of daring thoughts.

12:35

There was absolutely no choice in the matter.She decided she must write thus or not at all.He saw that her poetry had a quality more suggestive of William Blake, flashes of wholly original and profound insight into nature and life, words and phrases exhibiting a vividness of descriptive and imaginative power.

13:03

He said these verses will seem to the reader like poetry, turn up torn up by the roots, with rain and dew and earth still clinging to them.So he is celebrating her extraordinary grasp and insight.

13:20

And he's acknowledging there is a beauty in the rawness of her unedited script.She is not writing conventionally to in order to be published.She is not seeking the validation in order to commit to her work.

13:39

So his letter to a young contributor, this article in the Atlantic Monthly calling for new writers, she answered to.And because he replied with his praise and gentle criticism, she cherished his words and had a long correspondence with him.

14:02

So let's have a look at another of her out her poems.I Nobody this is called.Who are you Nobody with a capital NI Nobody.Who are you?

14:18

Are you nobody too?Then there's a pair of us.Don't tell.They banish us, you know.How dreary to be somebody, how public like a frog to tell your name.The lifelong June to an admiring bog.

14:38

She opens with this startling declaration that she is nobody, which is challenging this conventional desire for recognition.Instead of lamenting status, she is celebrating and inviting the reader into her secret Society of nobodies.

14:58

This is Stoic resolve, a disciplined commitment to her opinions, her work, her identity, irrespective of acknowledgement or external validation.And in a society that often equated work with visibility and fame, she subverts the norm by finding value in obscurity and isolation, privacy.

15:26

Her value lies within her discipline, her commitment to her work.The metaphor of being public like a frog evokes an image of noisy, repetitive self promotion.Frogs croak instantly, don't they?

15:44

And what she's symbolising here is people, she thinks, who constantly seek attention or validation from others.How apartment to speak about this in the 21st century.She's critiquing the performative nature of social life and fame.

16:04

Somebody, she says, is not enviable.It's dreary.The frog's public life is contrasted, then with a quiet, secret camaraderie of the nobodies.This poem speaks to me.

16:21

I love it so.The admiring Bob, the last line is suggesting A passive, perhaps thoughtless audience.Soulless Dickinson sees public recognition not as noble or worthy, but as shallow and unfulfilling.

16:42

It's mocking.This poem is mocking the social rituals and pressures to conform.It's positioning her as someone who values introspection and privacy, and this is the ultimate in protection of her inner peace.

17:03

It's a playful style, but there's an undercurrent of irony and rebellion.She does it quietly, but she is resolved to speak those words to document her commitment to her 'cause and why I love this poem is this intimate, conspiratorial feel to it.

17:31

It's drawing us in to her subversive world view.The narrator here might well be nobody, she says.But she makes herself somebody because she uses a capital N, and the capital N is giving nobody a name.

17:52

Now she wasn't a formal stoic, but this poetry deeply resonates with the stoic themes of inner strength, self-control, discipline, and finding meaning in suffering.This disciplined inner life focuses on what she controlled, her thoughts and words, and it aligns with the Stoic ideals.

18:17

Her famous lines saying nothing sometimes says the most echo her appreciation for restraint, speaking with purpose, and valuing her inner thought over impulsive speech, which of course relates to my favorite phrase.

18:39

The power is in the pause.So she was writing to her aunt during a difficult period and that's when she said saying nothing sometimes says the most.So she was writing about highly emotive and sometimes very sad themes, but she remained stoic in her discipline to respecting her voice and her inner peace.

19:13

And that is the point here, and we can make links with that actually, and with Virginia Woolf, who in episode 18 of the Female Stoic podcast is spoken about there.

19:33

So even though her reclusive life contrasts with Virginia Woolf's central role in the London Bloomsbury Group, they both explored profound mental landscapes.They both drew emotional support and companionship from their dogs, and they both isolated themselves within their poetry in order to create their inner voice, given a space to live and breathe without.

20:12

Overtaking their well-being.So check out that episode.And of course, we must mention the blue stockings.While there's no record of Emily using the term blue stocking in her work, this immersion in literature by women and her own independent scholarly life make it most certain that she knew of the phenomenon.

20:39

She was very well educated.She was recorded as admiring authors who were essentially blue stockings or heirs to that tradition.Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.So even though they lived on different, different continents, Dickinson was a devoted reader and admirer of Bronte's work, particularly Emily's.

21:08

And in fact she requested Emily's poem No Coward Soul Is Mine to be read at her funeral, which was honoured by Thomas Higginson.So this life was in its own way reclusive.

21:30

It was an independent pursuit of intellectual power through writing.She was not well known and yet she is creating anyway.This is a reminder to us that we each have a unique purpose here, and whether it's recognised or not in our time or not, it is our job to honour our virtue by doing what comes closest to our heart and producing and documenting that voice that we have in one way or another.

22:08

And of course, we can do that also in a way that benefits the greater good.Forever is composed of nows, Emily said, which is valuing each and every step that she took in her pursuit of literary excellence.

22:32

Finite to fail, but infinite to venture, she said.So when you venture, you will always gain something from that, and that's the point.Here she is making connection with her innermost feelings, her sorrow, her her worries, her fears, and she's sitting in that space in order to create and manage them.

23:02

She's channelling her emotion, and channelling our emotion shows that feeling sad is not necessarily a bad thing.It can be used.It's the fear of feeling sad that we must manage.

23:20

To live in fear of something is to run away from it.And of course, fear gives external forces power.It's the way for society to manipulate us.And this is what the Stoic Podcast is all about.

23:36

Here we are talking about avoiding reactivity, and fear creates reactivity.If Emily Dickinson had reacted to external forces and chosen to isolate herself in order to avoid the expectations around her, she would be acting out of fear.

24:04

Whereas in fact, what she did was chose to create a space where she could have her voice, she could say what she really thought, she could manage her emotions and electively isolate herself.In order to commit to that.

24:22

Stoic discipline is the key.And she wrote over 1800 poems that were found after she died.That's a huge endeavour.That's a daily commitment.That is stoic discipline.

24:42

So if we think about the external forces around us today, they are designed to invoke our emotional response, our emotional reactivity.They are everywhere.But our own choice of emotional state is not the same thing.

25:03

We can have an internal emotional state channel that to contribute or to create, but this is our choice.It is not a reaction to somebody else's or something else's emotional state.

25:23

It's not coming from a place of fear.So we're not saying here that emotion's the problem.We're empowering ourselves by channelling our own chosen emotion for our benefit.So, as I've said so many times before, we're not suppressing anything, but we are compartmentalising it and using it for the betterment of ourselves.

25:46

This is what Emily's saying here.I'm not dictated to by other people.I'm not going to be reactive.I do not place power in the acknowledgement of others.Instead, I find comfort in the knowledge of this experience, my commitment to channel my emotion into my work.

26:06

And I have read others who feel the same, the Brontes for example.But I choose to practice discipline of my time and energy to fulfil my purpose, which is to create poetry.And this, I believe, is why she chose to detach herself from society, to be able to manage this, to be able to express her feelings privately with a discipline which allowed her to download, as it were, frequently, to write frequently.

26:40

She's acknowledging her limitations.And this is part of the reason I compared her to Wolf, because they both had this free flowing style, literary style, which helped them manage their emotions.

26:57

And this is this, this structural frame framework which she created supported her in order to be able to manage those emotions, which I think might well resonate with some of us, the need to discipline ourselves in order to survive.

27:18

As I always say, Stoic survival.So let's have a look at the journal task for today.It's quite a simple one, a celebration if you like.I would like you to note down what you did well this week, moments that you exercise self-discipline.

27:43

And if you cannot remember, we can do this as a daily endeavour, as a as a conclusion, if you like, to the day that has just passed what we did.Well today, for example, now next week we're going to be looking at Oscar Wilde and stoic courage.

28:08

Oscar Wilde was probably a hedonist, but what he describes when he is quoted from the Picture of Dorian Gray here seems pretty close to the Stoic's virtue.

28:24

He says if a man is a gentleman, he knows quite enough, and if he's not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.This acknowledgement that it's necessary to be a virtuous person in order not to misuse the gifts supported you is just the tip of the iceberg, and that's what we're going to be discussing next week.

28:51

So just to recap, if you are considering the utility of discipline in your life, it's important that we understand.

29:09

Without it, without that structure, it is not possible to keep the walls of our inner citadel high and therefore protect our inner peace.Discipline.Daily endeavour is key to the refinement of not just our purpose, our Stoic purpose, but also the protection of ourselves in order that we do not become too reactive to the indifference, everything else that's going on around us.

29:47

Don't forget to look out for my Stoic discipline course and I'll see you again next time.Bye.

30:04

Hey, Stephanie here.Thank you for listening to the Female Stoic Podcast.It is an honour.And I just want to say I really appreciate you being here.It's amazing the power of women in literature and the stoic messages they have to share.

30:25

Please, if you can, return the favour by spreading their words and sharing this podcast far and wide so more of us can benefit from their wisdom.And don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard.See you next time.

#thefemalestoic #stephaniepoppins #stoicismforwomen #femalestoics #womenandstoicism