ABSTRACT
Studies show the more successful a man is, the more likeable he is, and the more successful a woman is, the less likeable she is. I argue that successful women are not just disliked, they are often vilified and pathologized. Emily Dickinson and Mary Lyon are two examples of this misogynistic phenomenon. Many critics explain Dickinson’s genius as a pathology, while Mary Lyon is disparaged as a narrow-minded evangelical who alienated the poet when she attended Mount Holyoke. Dickinson’s letters describe her mentor as a nurturer. Lyon founded Mount Holyoke College, the first permanently endowed institution of higher learning for women. A chemist, Lyon invented the lab course and reformed pedagogy in the sciences, which heretofore had been taught by rote. Lyon fulfilled her vision of woman-centered, utopian higher education at Mt. Holyoke, and her students graduated to spread her mission throughout the nation and the world. Dickinson’s college field work provided evidence of a future in which she could direct her own life. In her home-lab, she invented an empirical-spiritual lexicon, conducting poetic experiments, observing matter, investigating the soul, and writing exquisite poetry that revolutionized the genre.
