501 - 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 - |
Analysis
This World is not an Conclusion shows how Dickinson questions whether there is something beyond, beyond the world and beyond death. Emily Dickinson was considered to have rejected any religion or beliefs of the afterlife, even though she used it numerous times during her poetry, the reader still argued or question where her true beliefs lie.
The structure of the poem shows the riddle and free flow of her thoughts and beliefs, it emphasise her true confusion over the life that is about the beyond. "And Species stands before" - This was one of Dickinson's four poems that was published in her time, however the publisher changed the word 'Species' to 'Sequels' changing the interpretation of the poem and the thoughts and emotion Dickinson was trying to embrace through the current time. Emily Dickinson highlights that there is something beyond, yet 'Invisible' to the naked eye, however she mentions that there is no philosophy or science that can prove the beyond but cannot prevent them through time to explore the unknown or the certainty of the (possible) life beyond. ('Contempt of Generations') The use of religious imagery, reveals the ever more confusion, Dickinson experience - 'Faith slips-' Also 'and laughs' and 'if any see' shows how Emily mocks those who seek the truth and belief of the beyond. Dickinson then reveals that faith is inconsistent and she use the 'Vane' to represent the direction in which Dickinson question to take. The use of religions imagery envies strong, positive emotions that directs which is the right choice, path and journey to take when 'Strong Hallelujahs roll- " "Narcotics cannot still the Tooth" - Sermons ad Hymns produces the drug to pull them into the conventuals religion of the current time, however allowing them to have there own beliefs. |