‘In the name of the Bee’. Emily Dickinson and Earth Spiritualities

Abstract: In my paper, I would like to read Emily Dickinson's poems from the perspective of environmental spirituality, for which the key elements will be spirituality inspired by the earth, taken from pagan practices and ecofeminist works (Merchant, Shiva, Starhawk) as well as my pneumotheological method, a methodological perspective influenced by ecocriticism, postsecularism and the feminist ethics of care. The objectives of the present study are to define a new model of biosemiotics prescribing subjectivity of non-human nature and its meaning in textual and cultural discourse; to characterize poetical mechanisms deconstructing the religious narration.

Presenter bio: I am a PhD Canidate in Comparative Literature and a 2023/2024 Fulbright Junior Researcher affiliated with Amherst College (Amherst, MA). I am currently working on a comparative project devoted to an ecocritical and post-secular reading of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. I am interested in American poetry, Transcendentalism, spirituality and ecology.

Affiliation: Jagiellonian University