Abstract
Taking seed in the highly formal lyrical climate of 19th-century America, the rhymes of poet Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) are often seen as distinct, even eccentric. The popular axiom is that Dickinson’s rhyming was “irregular,” “odd,” and “unorthodox.” Dickinson’s “slant” rhymes have become a trademark of her style. But if we could hear how people spoke in a time predating the advent of audio recording technology, would we perceive the same kind of poetry? Several large studies drew considerable attention to the effects of sound on Emily Dickinson’s rhymes. But, as yet, literary critics have not fully embraced the possibilities historical phonology provides for illuminating this important topic.This dissertation establishes the methodological foundation for reconstructing features of Dickinson’s original pronunciation, rooted in the dialectal textures of 19th-century New England. The analysis of the older speech patterns based on the assessment of a wide range of written records, such as pronouncing dictionaries or evidence of regional rhymes, illuminates the intricate relationship between Dickinson’s phonetic world and the poetics she forged. By doing so, the project casts new light on how the poet could have sounded her own verses and how her famous “slant” rhymes have been misheard. This research challenges the predominant perception of Dickinson's poetics as idiosyncratic and unconventional by demonstrating that her rhymes, when read with the poet’s native accent, appear more regular than previously thought. The dissertation addresses significant gaps and inconsistencies in the critical understanding of Dickinson’s rhymes and provides a foundational tool for re-reading her rhymes within their authentic soundscape.
The methods of historical phonology, corpus linguistics, and statistical analysis converge in the form of a database of Dickinson’s rhymes that shapes a structured approach to their exploration. Significantly, the database furnishes a more visually intuitive framework for engaging with extensive datasets – here, the vast corpus of the poet’s rhymes – offering a renewed means of discerning underlying patterns with systematic clarity. Thus, working across the disciplines of literature and historical linguistics, the dissertation redeems the role of sound for critical understanding of Dickinson’s rhymes.
| Date of Award | 15 Apr 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Paraic Finnerty (Supervisor), Mark Frost (Supervisor) & Alison Habens (Supervisor) |