Freedom Quotes

Emerson

"Free should the scholar be, — free and brave. Free even to the definition of freedom, 'without any hindrance that does not arise out of his own constitution.'"

Whitman

"And to all generals that lost engagements, and all overcome heroes, and the numberless unknown heroes equal to the greatest heroes known."

Douglass (ch.7)

"The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever."

Dickinson ("They Shut Me Up In Prose")

"Still! Could themself have peeped --

And seen my Brain -- go round --

They might as wise have lodged a Bird

For Treason -- in the Pound --"

[commentary coming soon!!]

the fly.

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –

The Stillness in the Room

Was like the Stillness in the Air –

Between the Heaves of Storm –

The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –

And Breaths were gathering firm

For that last Onset – when the King

Be witnessed – in the Room –

I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away

What portion of me be

Assignable – and then it was

There interposed a Fly –

With Blue – uncertain – stumbling Buzz –

Between the light – and me –

And then the Windows failed – and then

I could not see to see –

In this calm yet horrific portrayal of death, Dickinson focuses on the fly as the central image. As the speaker dies, all the witnesses are silent. The speaker compares this silence to the stillness between "Heaves" of a storm, as if she is psychologically within her own stages of a storm, the rare calm between two extreme events. The "Stillness of the Room" is broken only by the "stumbling Buzz" of the fly, creating a sense of anticipation and anxiety for what will come next. Ironically, the fly is mentioned more than "the King" (God?), representing the harsh realities that accompany death: those of rot and decay. The fly represents death without any spiritual implications or hopes for eternal life. At the same time, though, the fly is the only form of life within the poem's entirety; as her body dies, still the fly continues to buzz. This may be a subtle implication on Dickinson's part regarding the uncertainty of human mortality.

Defining Freedom

Freedom: a concept so familiar, yet nearly impossible to define.

Emerson states, "Free should the scholar be, — free and brave. Free even to the definition of freedom, 'without any hindrance that does not arise out of his own constitution.'" He notes that freedom is the basis of self-realization, asserting that freedom belongs to every individual. Emerson believes that we must accept this freedom as the foundation to our existence, that without freedom, we are intellectually stunting ourselves. Whitman shares a similar view of freedom, that an individual should be free without belonging to a superior. Instead, each individual is equal with one another. Douglass defines freedom as both a physical and emotional state of being; that is, freedom cannot exist without physically and emotionally freeing oneself of restriction. When Douglass initially escapes the slave plantation, he does not experience freedom right away. Though physically he is no longer a slave, emotionally he is still restricted. The final step to his freedom occurs when he begins working for himself instead of a slave master, liberating himself from the confines of the slave system.

Though these definitions of freedom are not identical, their foundations are similar. Each of these authors believes in the potential for the individual to define freedom for oneself, rather than relying on others to provide freedom. It is a state of consciousness which can only be experienced within oneself, allowing for complete liberation from the restrictions of others.