Dickinson Poetry

The works of Emily Dickinson are rich in emotion and religious imagery and symbolism. An analysis of her poems demonstrates that she shows a vast range of human emotions in her work, including both the joys and sorrows of life, as well a strong reliance on Christian imagery and symbolism.

Poem 324 (Some keep the Sabbath going to Church) shows the unorthodox religious attitude of Dickinson.

The speaker does not keep the Sabbath going to church, she, instead, “keeps it at Home.” Nor does she keep it in Surplice, but instead “I just wear my Wings.”

The poem also shows her to be suspect of organized religions.

In the last stanza, typical of the poet’s four-line stanza style, we see her feelings that religion and spiritual feeling is not something had by orthodoxy, rather it is something that is with one in all one’s actions, all days, not just in Church on Sunday listening to a sermon “So instead of getting to Heaven, at least--/I’m going all along.”

In poem 744 (Remorse – is Memory – awake –) we see Dickinson’s speaker in a state of remorse, which she uses to describe as a condition that no God can cure.

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ee Christian symbolism and imagery meant to imply power. In the final stanza of the speaker’s description of the train which “laps Miles”, “licks up Valleys” and “Complains all the while”, is compared to Boanerges. This is a direct reference to Mark 3.17 which tells how Jesus named his disciples, the brothers James and John. This word is meant to imply great power, such as the sons of thunder which James and John were thought to be. We also see Christian imagery via the train being given the characteristics associated with God. In the final stanza the train stops at its own “stable door”, docile and omnipotent. Traditionally, Jesus is viewed as being born in a stable and God is possessed of omnipotence, i.e., he is an all powerful, all knowing, all present being much as Dickinson’s speaker portrays the train. III. Human Emotion In poem 324, we see the emotion of sarcasm and condescension. In the first stanza the speaker says she keeps the Sabbath at home using a “Bobolink for a Chorister,” and “an Orchard, for a Dome”. We can see the mocking sarcasm of turning orthodox rituals of Christianity on their head. We also see a condescending and sarcastic emotion in the last stanza. The speaker appears to feel that her
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Distance/On Death—, Emily Dickinson, Nor Surplice, Orchard Dome, Heavenly Hurt, Match Match, Disease God, Cathedral Tunes, Adequate Hell—, God Hell, stanza speaker, emily dickinson, slant light, belief stretch, final stanza, christian symbolism imagery, sabbath church, laps miles, speaker sabbath, painful emotions, poem 324, help belief stretch, miles licks valleys, meant imply power, laps miles licks,
Approximate Word count = 1312
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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