The poem
It was not Death, for I stood up,
And all the Dead, lie down—
It was not Night, for all the Bells
Put out their Tongues, for Noon.
It was not Frost, for on my Flesh
I felt Sirocos—crawl—
Nor Fire—for just my Marble feet
Could keep a Chancel, cool—
And yet, it tasted, like them all,
The Figures I have seen
Set orderly, for Burial,
Reminded me, of mine—
As if my life were shaven,
And fitted to a frame,
And could not breathe without a key,
And 'twas like Midnight, some—
When everything that ticked—has stopped—
And Space stares all around—
Or Grisly frosts—first Autumn morns,
Repeal the Beating Ground—
But, most, like Chaos—Stopless—cool—
Without a Chance, or Spar—
Or even a Report of Land—
To justify—Despair.
The poem is linked to other poems primarily about extreme emotional or mental distress or trauma such as poem 258, 280, 341, 670, 1400
Difficult words
Sirocos - is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and reaches hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe.
Chancel - the part of a church that contains the altar and seats for the priest and choir
Spar - a stout pole or a stout rounded usually wood or metal piece (as a mast, boom, gaff, or yard) used to support rigging
A brief summary of the poem
"This poem may well be autobiographical, written after the year of Dickinson's terror of 1861....there is a sense that the poet is trying to analyse an experience, which could lead to control over a psychological trauma." from Selected Poems Emily Dickinson. Edited Jackie Moore. OUP
A poem of definition in which the speaker experiences an intense mental trauma that she tries to describe. She begins by trying to state her experience by what it is not. She states these negatives three times in the opening two stanzas. And then the poem begins a series of positive comparisons such as a funeral, she sees herself trapped, and she is like a corpse in a coffin. She uses natural and elemental language to describe this experience. But these comparisons largely fail. She is left in a disorientating blackness without any firm land, support or guidence. There is just despair.
Some literary techniques
Use of contrasts - the concrete used to describe the abstract
Syntactical paralleism
Synaesthesia
