16 pages • 32 minutes read
Emily DickinsonWhat Soft — Cherubic Creatures
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1896A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Gentlewomen
The gentlewomen, the angelic and excessively fragile “[c]reatures” (Line 1), represent a class of people who cannot confront the truth about the imperfections of humanity and the world, or “freckled Human Nature” (Line 7). The gentlewomen also represent privilege, as they don’t have to interact with the toilsome, disquieting world. Their status as gentlewomen detaches them from common society. Thus, gentlewomen symbolize the power of a person’s socioeconomic position. The gentlewomen can afford to cultivate “[a] Horror so refined” (Line 6) because they have the resources to build an affected image and keep troubled reality at bay.
The gentlewomen’s superior position then symbolizes something close to irreligiosity. The prestige and privilege of the gentlewomen put them at odds with their “Deity” (Line 8), which suggests that wealthy, upper-class women might not represent virtue and decency after all. In Dickinson’s poem, the prestigious women ultimately symbolize vanity and pretentiousness.
The Deity
Christ—the “Deity” (Line 8)—represents the average person. Christ isn’t a member of the upper class like the gentlewomen. Instead, Christ represents the “common” (Line 9) people. He doesn’t keep company with gentlewomen or gentlemen but with fishermen or the working class. He represents humanity and stands in for imperfect people and the flawed world, which is why he died for people’s sins.
However, in Dickinson’s poem, the speaker assumes that Christ would “[b]e so—ashamed” (Line 12) of the gentlewomen and their way of life. Thus, through the speaker, Christ also represents class conflict. The speaker’s hostility towards the “Brittle Lady” (Line 11) represents a critique of the upper class and the shallow norms they perpetuate. The speaker believes that the privileged gentlewomen symbolize a vain, skewed world, while Christ represents reality.
“[F]reckled Human Nature”
The image of “freckled Human Nature” (Line 7) symbolizes and celebrates humans as real and imperfect. Human nature isn’t a perfect, blank canvas. Instead, people have flaws and make mistakes; these are the “freckles” that result from life’s experiences and are at odds with the out-of-touch gentlewomen. It’s not “freckled Human Nature” (Line 7) that comes across as negative—it’s the gentlewomen’s vanity and judgement.
“[F]reckled Human Nature” also represents a more inclusive and realistic idea of truth and beauty. Dickinson subverts beauty norms by having the “Soft—Cherubic Creatures” (Line 1) represent a kind of ugliness or revulsion. It’s “freckled Human Nature” that symbolizes heavenliness, experience, and spirit due to the link with Christ.
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By Emily Dickinson
