Compared to "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers," I think that the theme of death related specifically to the Civil War is much more evident in the poems that we did not cover in class today. Of course, all the poems that we are reading share the same theme of death, which is typical of Emily Dickinson's poems, but I didn't get the feeling right after reading "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers" that the Civil War is involved. "It feels a shame to be Alive" and "The name of it is Autumn" are the poems that got me thinking about the Civil War right away.
I thought there were many references to battle, war, blood, and soliders in these poems. For example, in the second stanza of "It feels a shame to be Alive," "This Spartan put away" may have been referencing to the death of a soldier in battle and "In Pawn for Liberty" to the freeing of slaves (the point of the Civil War). Also, in the last line of the fourth stanza of "The name of it is Autumn," I interpreted "Vermillion Wheels" as a cart of some sort carrying dead bodies of soliders through a bloody trail (most likely a battlefield). Though the content and imagery in "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers" evidently portray death, it does not have anything that gives me the feeling the dead people the poem was talking about died from war. On the other hand, the two poems that I mentioned make this clear.
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Great summary, Amanda. You really hit on some of the crucial images in the poems. And I'm glad you brought up the possible allusion to slavery in the line "Pawn for Liberty."
ReplyDeleteAmanda, to your first comment, I do not think anyone reading her poetry would not right away know that she was writing about the Civil War without any background. I think researching commentary or at least knowing the time in which Emily Dickinson lived is the only indication of what the focus of her poetry is. But I think this comes with any author writing about a certain even in time. For "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers" I am able to tell the poem is about death just through the term "Alabaster Chambers" hinting at a tomb. Yet in this poem I do not get that the subjects of the poem died from the war either. The fact that this was written in 1859 proves why you are not able to tell since the Civil war did not officially start until 1861. I think this poem is saying that those who have past are safe and untouched by the events that are to come.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you posted this because now I see "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers" in a new light and can better understand it.