Dickinson's Poem "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers"

Superficial attention to the 1861 version of Emily Dickinson's poem 216 ("Safe in their Alabaster Chambers") might produce readings that say, roughly, that the dead in their tombs await the last judgment while the universe and human history, unheeded by the dead, continue on their course, headed toward their own inevitable ends. (Though the first stanzas of the two versions of 216 are nearly identical, this stanza is examined here specifically in relation to the second stanza of the 1861 version.) The timelessness of death--the cessation of any relationship between the dead and time--appears to dominate the first stanza of the poem. But "the Resurrection" of the poem is the resurrection of the body and this doctrine periodizes death, that is, relates it to time. The death of the body is a stage in existence: life of the body, death of the body, resurrection of the body. The body's death is impermanent and is, therefore, inherently related to time.

In each phase of the body's cycle the nature of time is, however, very different. Temporality dominates the first two phases. In the life of the body the span of time is defined by the body's own continued existence (and the likely end of that existence, which can be projected by the simple knowledge of the spans human bodies can last). The second phase is also dominated by the temporal. But in this phase the body is rendered, it seems, indifferent to time's span. During the death of the body, prior to the Resurrection,

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much more complicated question of the word "meek" into focus. The word first evokes the memory of the promise that the meek shall inherit the earth. But layers of irony and numerous questions seem to adhere to its use here. In the plainest sense this meekness may indeed refer to the reward of the humble. But, while it is clearly understood that the meek eventually take their places in heaven, the question of how, exactly, they inherit the earth seems to arise here. In one grimly humorous sense the meek in the poem have inherited the earth by dying and becoming part of the earth. But, elevated in their alabaster mausoleums, they may be seen as well to put themselves (pointlessly and, perhaps, proudly) above the ordinary in-the-ground burial that is the general lot. Are these meek members guilty of a lack of humility? But the question of inheriting the earth is also raised in another sense. What, precisely, does this promise mean? The meek manifestly have not and do not inherit the earth in any recognizable temporal sense. Can the promise be read as an eventuality? Will those who are meek at some point in the future inherit the earth, that is, achieve temporal power? Or does the promise mean that they will inherit the

Category: Literature - D