The world is not conclusion
Faith and Doubt in Emily Dickinson’s “This World is not Conclusion”
Image: Daguerreotype of the poet Emily Dickinson, taken circa 1848, cropped and retouched. (Original is scratched.) From the Todd-Bingham Picture Collection and Family Papers, Yale University Manuscripts & Archives Digital Images Database, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. In the public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Reflection
Emily Dickinson’s poem, “This World is not Conclusion” is a paradigmatic example of her ambivalence about Christian faith. It reveals, as many of her poems do, her fight with doubt. Regarded today as one of America’s greatest poets, Dickinson lived a solitary experience in Amherst, Massachusetts in the middle of the 19th century. Like Robert Browning, she spanned an age in which many new discoveries and ideas were threatening traditional Christianity.
What is fascinating about Dickinson’s poetry is her wrestling with the mystery of faith, oscillating as she does between the comfort of traditional faith and the gnawing presence of doubt. In many of her poems, she explores her fear of death, her musings about the afterlife, and her doubts that all
This April the Parlando Project will shift into a higher gear to help celebrate U. S. National Poetry Month. And what better way to start off but with a piece by Emily Dickinson, “This World Is Not Conclusion.”
Subscribe or stop back often to see how the Parlando Project presents different poems with different music during this month’s celebration
Modern American poetry begins with Whitman and Dickinson, two different writers who between them explored in their 19th century world every aspect poets would exploit for the next century and more. Usage proofreaders will point out that the term more unique is incorrect, that unique is an absolute, and more unique is like saying more tallest. But if there is anyone to stretch the rules of English grammar for, Dickinson would be one.
Here’s the text I’m going to use today:
She’s so unusual. Emily Dickinson may have done more with the dash than Usain Bolt
Sure, these are ordinary words. A smart grade school student would know the meaning of every one, save perhaps for “Sagacity.” But how are they deployed? How many sentences are there? Where does one thought end and another start? B
Introduction:
I have annotated this poem with observations on form, structure and language as well as context, tone and theme; there is analysis and interpretation.
This Emily Dickinson poem begins with a categoric statement that rebuts the view that there is nothing beyond the physical world. My personal reading of the poem’s meaning becomes clear in my annotations on the last few lines. Please do not hesitate to contact me to say why you agree/disagree – I would love to have a discussion on this poem!
text in black –– annotations in red
The Poem: The World is not Conclusion
This World is not Conclusion. The apparent omission of the determiner ‘a’ draws us to seeing the capitalised ‘Conclusion’ even more as a proper noun and thereby further develops the irony that this world is not all there is. The full stop becomes ironic in its finality!
A Species stands beyond —
Invisible, as Music — The analogy with music is a strong affirmation of Dickinson’s belief, as well as being a concise example of how it is possible to ‘intuit’ when there is no experience through our senses: music R
The transcendental world of Emily Dickinson, in a single poem
The pain Emily Dickinson describes is pain you might initially be able to ignore. But it’s relentless.
This World is not Conclusion
This World is not Conclusion.
A Species stands beyond –
Invisible, as Music –
But positive, as Sound –
It beckons, and it baffles –
Philosophy, don’t know –
And through a Riddle, at the last –
Sagacity, must go –
To guess it, puzzles scholars –
To gain it, Men have borne
Contempt of Generations
And Crucifixion, shown –
Faith slips – and laughs, and rallies –
Blushes, if any see –
Plucks at a twig of Evidence –
And asks a Vane, the way –
Much Gesture, from the Pulpit –
Strong Hallelujahs roll –
Narcotics cannot still the Tooth
That nibbles at the soul –Emily Dickinson
There’s plenty to be said about Emily Dickinson’s uniquely Catholic worldview, but there was another side of her as well. Here, we find not a ringing declaration of human value, but a rather forced profession of faith that quickly dwindles almost to nothingness. It’s excruciating, but it’s also the best portrayal of human doubt that I’ve ever encountered.
“This World is not Conclusion.” Her init
A Species stands beyond—
Invisible, as Music—
But positive, as Sound—
It beckons, and it baffles—
Philosophy, don't know—
And through a Riddle, at the last—
Sagacity, must go—
To guess it, puzzles scholars—
To gain it, Men have borne
Contempt of Generations
And Crucifixion, shown—
Faith slips—and laughs, and rallies—
Blushes, if any see—
Plucks at a twig of Evidence—
And asks a Vane, the way—
Much Gesture, from the Pulpit—
Strong Hallelujahs roll—
Narcotics cannot still the Tooth
That nibbles at the soul –
&n