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.