Critical Analysis Of Emily Dickinson's Safe In Their Alabaster Chambers

Emily Dickinson originally wrote “Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers” in the year of 1859, then later revised and published a second version, to reflect the criticism of her sister, in the year 1861. Dickinson was a rather religious person in her early years, and then in her later years became dissociated with her religion and was no longer a devout Christian. A main theme of the poem is Christianity, and the concept of resurrection or life after death in terms of the Christian faith. Another one of the poems themes revolves around the concept of death in Christianity and the poem used striking imagery in order for the reader to be able to perceive these themes. The differences seen in the first and second version are said to differ in the tone

This is where you can see that Dickinson took her sisters critique in order to match the tone of the first stanza to create a better flow of the poem. The line, “Grand go the Years—in the Crescent—above them—“ (line 6) follows suit with the darker theme to describe the time spent in heaven by the meek members. The use of the word crescent can be interpreted as the moon which is in the sky, and when giving a geographical location to heaven, many point towards the sky. The passage into heaven is described in the following lines, “Worlds scoop their Arcs— And Firmaments—row—“ (lines 7-8), with when the world is scooping the arc, they are creating a pathway to which these meek members of the resurrection will follow and a firmament means a place in the heavens where god dwells, it is ever-lasting much as life heaven is depicted in the bible. These lines are also keeping with the solemnness of death, which is once again reflected in the second half of the stanza. “Diadems—drop—and Doges—surrender—Soundless as dots—on a Disc of Snow—“ (lines 9-10), Diadems are also known as crowns for royalty, and Doges are people of high power such as a high ranking political figure. That line once again reflects the phenomenon of becoming stagnant once in heaven, except without the ignorant happiness. Instead, once in heaven, one loses all of their earthly possessions as well as their titles or crowns, which can be interpreted as their own kingdom falling in order to join the one in heaven. The last line conflicts the first versions second stanza by using the word soundless, and comparing the death to be as quiet as