A charm invests a face

Many poets were the driving force behind modernism, most of them man. However there was a strong female participation in that movement, mainly thanks to women such as Virginia Woolf, Djuna Barnes, H.D (Hilda Doolittle), Emily Dickinson, among others.

Emily Dickinson was an american poet. Though most of her work was published before her death, she is considered one of the strongest and most important figures on modern american poetry. One of her poems is “A charm invests a face”, which goes like this:

A charm invests a face

Imperfectly beheld.

The lady dare not lift her veil

For fear it be dispelled.

But peers beyond her mesh,

And wishes, and denies,

'Lest interview annul a want

That image satisfies.

In the poem Dickinson presents us the idea that sometimes we are afraid to show our true self because we think others may not like it. She said “ The lady dare not to lift her veil” meaning that we only show what we think are our best qualities and looks. The veil can also mean that beauty is in the mystery of the unknown where lies the charm or we can also interpret that for the woman anything was better than facing the reality, because most of the times our reality is not what we want it to be.  

It becomes explicit from the start of the poem that Dickinson’s view on beauty and especially women’s role on society differ  from what was established at that time. This is not only a characteristic of Emily Dickinson but of all the Modernist writers and poets of where writers through their works show their discontent on human race, social rules among other things.