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Emily Dickinson's Some Keep The Sabbath

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One would think that if a person wrote these beautiful poems, then they would want them to be published. However, this was not the case with Emily Dickinson. In one of her poems, “Some Keep the Sabbath” she describes how she keeps the sabbath day compared to how others keep the sabbath day. She talks about the differences between her Church and the other people’s Church. She also talks about how she knows that God has already accepted her into the Kingdom. In the poem “Some Keep the Sabbath,” she expresses that anyone can have a strong relationship with God without having to go to Church every Saturday or Sunday. “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church--/ I keep it, staying at Home--” (Dickinson 1-3). This quote is saying that, it is alright to stay home and praise God. God does not care where a person worships from, or if they even worship Him at all. She emphasizes on the point of being able to be loved by God wherever you are in the world. She also says that just because someone does not worship in Church, does not mean God will not accept them. Not only in this poem, but in all of Dickinson’s poetry, she uses dashes, capitalization on random words to show emphasis, and most of her poetry was written in lyric form. Most of Dickinson’s poems are short, which means that they can be easier to understand, because there is not a long process of …show more content…

“With a Bobolink for a Chorister--/ And an Orchard, for a Dome” (Dickinson 3-4). In this quote, she is saying that the birds in her garden are the chorus, and the trees make a dome, such as a dome of a Church. In the quote above, she is comparing these things by using metaphors. These metaphors relate to the poem’s meaning by portraying that someone does not have to go to Church to see God. Anyone can see God through his creations of nature. Emily took this to her advantage, she knew that God had created the world for us to get lost in his

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This is why she shows such a fascination towards it. “There is no frigate like a book”, this shows that she found literature as a great escape from life (Dickinson 1). Dickinson’s isolation to the world is further exemplified in, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” I believe that this poem shows that she believes that she is nobody, and finds no reason to become a “somebody” because it is useless to her (Dickinson).

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Maria Marginean Thesis: Although Emily Dickinson never Denies the Existence of God, she criticizes the Suffering “He” causes and the negative effects “He” has on the Individual’s sense of self regarding Death and the Afterlife. (Note: She emphasizes that the individual is powerful perhaps more so than the perceived notion of a “God”, and that he individual should focus on enjoying their life at the moment rather than stressing about the afterlife. It seems as though she doesn’t want to die, go to Heaven.)

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This poem shows the trait of aspiration. At the beginning of the poem, Dickinson has a darker tone. She explains that people adjust to the dark. Literally, our eyes adjust to different shades of light, but also figuratively. What she means in lines 7-8, where she says “Then - fit our Vision to the Dark / And meet the Road- erect” (7-8), is that the darkness is the unknown and the road is our future.

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562 Words | 3 Pages

Many children use nightlights when they go to bed in order to limit the darkness surrounding them; the darkness impairs vision, leaving them with an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability. Adults face this dilemma at times too; it is an instinct that has evolved with the human race. However, darkness is not only a reality, but it is also a symbol of fear as well. Emily Dickinson’s “419” and Robert Frost’s “Acquainted with the Night” use darkness and night as symbols of hope and desolation respectively, as revealed through the poets’ use of imagery, point of view, and structure, to disclose that darkness can either envelop or be overcome.

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1290 Words | 6 Pages

This indicates she is going to be comparing hope to a bird because hope is “the thing” that makes the soul take flight or keeps the soul airborne, just like a bird. Then adding in at the second line “That perches in the soul” showing how hope is inside of all humans, and it is driven to help us succeed and survive (Dickinson, 2). I believe another great use of metaphors’ is, “And sore must be the storm that could abash the little bird” (Dickinson, 6­7). She is expressing the pain inside of her body is similar to the feeling of being hit by a storm because they are both destructive and painful to one’s self or to the stricken town. Then adds all of us can overcome it, just as the bird defeated the storm because humans are strong and fight for what they deserve.

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Religion is undoubtedly something that is incredibly important for many people. It at times serves as a source of comfort, a sense of purpose, or even a sense of belonging. Because of this, it has been a common origin of inspiration for many poets regardless of origin and time. Anne Bradstreet and Emily Dickinson are no exception. Both reference religious beliefs and God numerous times throughout their works, but they do so in different ways.

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1070 Words | 5 Pages

This poem illustrates traits of aspiration. At the beginning of the poem, Dickinson has a darker tone. She discloses that people adjust to the dark. Literally, our eyes adjust to different shades of light, but also figuratively. What she proposes in lines 7-8, where she says “Then - fit our Vision to the Dark / And meet the Road- erect” (7-8), means that the darkness equals the unknown and the road compares to our future.

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290 Words | 2 Pages

In the poem “Some Keep the Sabbath,” by Emily Dickinson, traditional notions of religious observances are challenged and Dickinson suggests a more personal and individualist approach to spirituality. Not everyone adheres to the same religious practices, which Dickinson suggests by using the word “some” (1). She acknowledges that there are people who observe the Sabbath, but also implies that there are others who do not. This signals her withdrawal from the religious customs of her time. Here, Dickinson contrasts her own unconventional practice with going to church on the Sabbath, “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church,/I keep it staying at home” (1-2).

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1214 Words | 5 Pages

Emily Dickinson had multiple views on death. At first she was in love with the peaceful, gentle side of death, but that all changed when she lost her everything, her parents to death. The significance is that Romanticism is a diverse thing and it can be shaped a formed to the writers likings, but it will only have an effect if the reader interprets the poem in the same

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This poem, in particular, had a recurring theme similar to one of Whitman’s “Song of Myself”. Dickinson compares the different styles of worshipping religion, such as organized versus personal, based on her own personal emotions and opinion on how she values her relationship to God. The "Church" represents the formal style of religion, where the "Home" is the most personal and simpler style of religion. Like Whitman, Dickinson prefers the natural and simple way of religion, over the strict and formal practice of religion. I especially loved her talk of nature, such as "an Orchard, for a Dome" (Dickinson 84), I love her simplistic views about having a belief but not as intense.

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1316 Words | 6 Pages

The flower’s “sturdy little countenance”(15), shows the strength of the flower, that despite the challenges that it must endure, in this case spring wind storms, it still makes the decision that helps it prevail and stand out. Humans, therefore, should act in similar ways. Despite the obstacles that you might face, if you start before or if you work hard, then, like the flower you are bound to succeed and to grow. In the last line of the stanza, Dickinson includes the phrase “be seen—“(16). This is to show that someone will always be watching and observing, however the flower is acting independently of this.

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625 Words | 3 Pages

The first stanza of this particular Dickinson poem helps to set the on going theme for the rest of the poem. The theme of course for this particular poem is about the sea and early morning walk that Dickinson had with her dog. The opening stanza of the poem reads, “I started Early- Took my Dog -/And visited the Sea -/The Mermaids in the Basement / Came out to look at me” (I. 1-4). From this passage the audience can presume that Dickinson has taken her pet dog for a walk on the beach in the early morning hours, and that on the walk she may have encountered beautiful sea creatures that looked up at her.

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

In the opening stanza the speaker states being too busy for death. Thus, death “kindly” takes the time to stop for her since she has no time to do it for herself. Death stops to pick up the speaker and take her on a ride in his horse-drawn carriage in the form of a suitor along with “immorality” being their chaperon. This “civility” that Death exhibits leads the speaker on giving up what made her busy as Dickinson states “And I had put away / My labor and my leisure too (6-7).

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763 Words | 4 Pages

Dickinson began writing early on, yet her first piece was published after her death. Dickinson’s writing can be describe as gloomy or dark, whereas Whitman’s is not. Throughout her work she portrays how life merely continues and exploits the darker, less noticeable meaning of daily life events. Her writing is extremely precise, she uses slant rhymes through her writing. By doing such she is able to put emphasis on certain words to convey the prominence of what is being said.

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2095 Words | 9 Pages

Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are the most representative and brilliant poets of the nineteenth century and in the American literature in general. However, we can also say that, between them, they have the most different styles of writing they can have, just as well as their lives. For example, as Christenbury (n.d.) stated, firstly that Walt Whitman was someone “[…] who struggled to get his poems published and who developed a broad admiring audience during his lifetime. In contrast, the reclusive Emily Dickinson died unknown to the world of poetry, leaving a box full of unpublished poems”. Nevertheless, we can find some similarities in their lives, for example, both of them lived in a difficult historical period: on the one hand Emily Dickinson, who was born the 10th of December of 1830 and on the other hand, Walt Whitman, who was born the 31st of May of 1819, lived the period of the American civil war.

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