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Essay discussing Emily Dickinson's Doubt in Heaven using 3 of her poems: There is a certain slant of light, I know he exists, and I reason, the Earth is short
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Maddy Eure
14 October 2015
Prof. Krentz
ENLT 2100
Dickinson’s Doubt in Heaven
Emily Dickinson wrote over 1,800 poems in her lifetime, yet only published seven of
them while she was alive, and even those poems were greatly altered by editors. It was not
until after her death that her sister published the remaining poems, upon finding the rest of her
collection in Dickinson’s room. The fact that Dickinson did not share the poems, and kept them
to herself indicates that she did not write them with an audience in mind. Instead, she wrote
poetry for herself, better to understand her thoughts, and to provide an outlet for honest
expression of her true feelings.
During the nineteenth-century, Emily Dickinson managed to straddle the fence between
embracing the status quo of her times, and pushing at its boundaries. She remained always in
the house, embracing domesticity, and the feminine roles of the eighteen hundreds. On the
other hand, she never married, something tremendously atypical for a woman. Yet, her clearest
deviation from typical thought is seen through her opinions of faith. Although Dickinson
makes it clear via her poetry that she believes strongly in God, she also displays a constant
questioning of her doubt in the existence of Heaven. In “I know that He exists,” “There’s a
certain Slant of light,” “I reason, Earth is short,” Dickinson strays from her adherence to
religious norms and addresses her doubts in the existence of a Heaven.
Dickinson demonstrates her belief in God expertly in “I know that He exists.” She
begins the poem with an affirmative statement: “I know He exists.” By capitalizing the “H” in
“He,” Dickinson clues the audience in that she is most likely discussing God. This affirmation
of God continues through the rest of the first quatrain as Dickinson argues that He is waiting in
the background or “Somewhere – in Silence.” In the third and fourth lines, she states “He has
hid his rare life / From our gross eyes,” hereby implying that the Lord’s life is a blessing that
people cannot see because they are “gross” or unworthy.
In the second quatrain, Dickinson’s diction become less direct and more the reader is
required to use more interpretation to divulge the meaning of her words. She writes, “’Tis an
instant’s play. / ‘Tis a fond Ambush – / Just to make Bliss / Earn her own Surprise.” If it is
already implied that Dickinson is discussing God, one can infer that this “Ambush” of “Bliss”
could be an ascendance in to Heaven. Essentially, Dickinson is arguing that Heaven lies in wait
for “an instant’s play”, or death of someone, and then proceeds to “Ambush” them. However,
Dickinson’s tone does not seem to perceive this ambush as a negative thing. Instead, by using
words such as “Bliss” and “Surprise”, words that carry a positive tone, she implies a positive
aspect to the death hinting that it is a surprise one should look forward to.
However, as the reader enters into the third quatrain there is a shift in tone and attitude
as her doubt overwhelms her strong beliefs, symbolizing where Dickinson’s doubts permeate
her faith in real life. She writes, “Should the glee – glaze – / In Death’s – stiff – stare –,” no
longer does she talk of “Bliss” or “surprise”. The switch in diction makes it appear as if the
fun-filled thoughts of Heaven have disappeared, and the morbid thoughts of death have creeped
in. The importance of the word “should” cannot be overlooked as it represents her uncertainty
and doubt. In contrast to the opening line, “I know that He exists,” which is a firm declaration,
here Dickinson states that “Should the glee – glaze,” implying that this is a hypothetical
situation and she remains unsure of what truly happens. Once again, this mirrors her
uncertainty in the existence of Heaven.
Dickinson’s use of punctuation and meter also echoes this deterioration from strong
belief into doubt. In the first two quatrains of the poem the words flow freely, nearly
uninterrupted by punctuation. They are riddled with words that create a sense of hope and
happiness such as “fond,” “Bliss,” and “play”. However, after the shift in between the second
and third quatrains, the tone changes dramatically. Dickinson is able to portray her doubt and
worry by adding more punctuation to the piece. By including more dashes, both within the and
at the end of each line, she effectively slows down the meter of the poem, causing an ominous
feel to the words.
In “There’s a certain Slant of light,” Dickinson switches her stylistic approach. Instead
of affirming her faith and then slowly switching to her areas of doubt, she spends the entirety
of the poem solely discussing her doubts of religion. Dickinson uses an extended metaphor of
light throughout the poem. The light cast down from the Heavens, is commonly portrayed as a
symbol of God’s “presence” cascading down from the Heavens. The first thing she notes about
the light is that it is on a winter afternoon “That oppresses, like the Heft / Of Cathedral Tunes.”
This “Heft” provides the sense of a burdening, which is placed upon the speaker by these tunes
from the Cathedral. One also connects the organ of Cathedral Tunes with church services,
which can, by extension show the burden the speaker feels from the church as well. Overall,
these lines establish the feeling of the slant of light as being a source of negativity and
solemnness for Dickinson.
Dickinson goes on to describe that this light provides her with a “Heavenly Hurt,” for
which “We can find no scar,” implying that this light is causing Dickinson an immense,
unworldly amount of pain inside. It is in the third quatrain that she reveals what is causing her
this pain, “An imperial affliction / Sent us of the Air – .” In other words, Dickinson is saying
that these problems are starting externally, but creating an ache inside her. One can perceive
this to demonstrate that the external world, the views of others, are the root of this issue. It can
also be interpreted to mean that the affliction is something that cannot be cured, thus being
something Dickinson continually struggles with internally, such as her doubts of the church.
This poem gives us great insight into how Dickinson felt about the presence of God,
mainly through her feelings on the church’s beliefs of the time. “There’s a certain Slant of
light” allows the reader to see that Dickinson is pained by the common thoughts towards God
in her generation. Essentially, she believed that the “imperial affliction,” was caused by the fact
that “None may teach it.” In other words, Dickinson had these doubts that caused her a great
amount of pain because no one could give her the answers she craved, and to her that “’Tis the
Seal Despair.”
In “I reason, Earth is short,” Dickinson again shows her doubts in the existence of
Heaven, this time by questioning the purpose of life, if all people desire is to ascend into
Heaven after their deaths. In other words, why would people bother living if Heaven is
infinitely better than life itself? In the opening quatrain, Dickinson begins by addressing the
fact that life on Earth is temporary, thus inadvertently alluding the imminence of death. She
argues that not only can humans not escape death, but that “Anguish [is] absolute.” In other
words, Dickinson argues that there is no escaping the pain brought upon people by their lives.
In the second quatrain, Dickinson turns from the inability to escape pain during life to the
inability to escape death; even if in perfect health, one cannot outrun death. She expresses a
sense of frustration, stating “The best Vitality / Cannot excel Decay.” What then is the purpose
of health? Why fight to live longer?
Finally, in the last quatrain, she discusses the afterlife, Heaven. In Dickinson’s era, and
even in modern times, it was a standard claim of the Church that Heaven would give purpose to
life. Essentially, the church argues that all painful suffering of life becomes worth it when you
are accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven. Dickinson uses these claims in her piece, stating that
once ascended into Heaven there is “Some new Equation, given.” In other words, Dickinson
claims that the church assumes Heaven will give reason to the pain they have dealt with during
life, that they will be rewarded after death.
Dickinson’s repetition of the line “But what of that?” seen in the ending line of each
quatrain calls attention to the doubts and questions she has about Heaven. Essentially the
repetition of this line calls out the reasoning behind these notions. For example, Dickinson
states that she thinks death is inevitable, but why does that matter? The poem basically
demands why people put up with the inescapable pain that comes with life, and the inevitable
death that comes along with it, just to get to a place that The Church says will make it all worth
it. It becomes clear here that Dickinson is not fully satiated by the idea that Heaven will make
all of the pain she has dealt with in life suddenly worth it. She expresses her doubt and
frustrations for these questions, for which she does not have the answers.
Dickinson, a woman who was ahead of her time in many ways, but none as important
as the expression of her doubts in the Heaven through her poetry. By observing these three of
her poems (“I know that He exists,” “There’s a certain Slant of light,” “I reason, Earth is
short”) one can observe her true emotions over her uncertainty over the afterlife. Although she
clearly states that she believes in God in “I know the He exists,” she also displayed her doubts
in Heaven. This expression of doubt was revolutionary for her time, as most people did not
speak out against the church, especially women.
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