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By Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) A Study Guide cummings@cummingsstudyguides.net |
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Study
Guide Prepared by Michael J. Cummings...©
2012 ......."Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers” is a lyric poem focusing on the peace of deceased Christians lying at rest in their tombs. A lyric poem presents the feelings of the author whereas a narrative poem presents a story. Publication .......The first version of “Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers” was published as “The Sleeping” in the March 1, 1862, issue of the Springfield Daily Republican, a Massachusetts newspaper. This version contained the first two stanzas. A second version, containing the first and third stanzas, appeared in 1861. The final version—published on this page—appeared in Poems by Emily Dickinson, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and T.W. Higginson. Little, Brown, and Company of Boston and New York published this work in four volumes in 1912. .......The tone of the poem is
calm and unafraid even though the topic is death.
Dickinson wrote often of death, sometimes regarding it
as a friend. .......The Christian dead lie at rest in their tombs of alabaster. Directly above them is a ceiling of satin and, above that ceiling, the roof of the tomb. The dead do not know the time of day—whether it is morning, noon, or night. Outside the tomb, the breeze blows, bees hum, and birds chirp. Years go by. Kings and queens and other rulers fall from power. But the hubbub of the outside world does not disturb the sleeping dead. (See also Theme.)
Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers By Emily Dickinson Safe in their alabaster1 chambers, Untouched by morning and untouched by noon, Sleep the meek members of the resurrection, Rafter of satin, and roof of stone. Light laughs the breeze in her castle of sunshine ; Babbles the bee in a stolid2 ear ; Pipe the sweet birds in ignorant cadence,—3 Ah, what sagacity4 perished here ! Grand go the years in the crescent5 above them ; Worlds6 scoop their arcs,7 and firmaments8 row, Diadems drop and Doges9 surrender, Soundless as dots on a disk of snow.10 Notes 1....alabaster: White gypsum that may be translucent or opaque. It is used to make monuments and statues. 2....stolid: Impassive; showing little emotion. 3....cadence: Rhythm, beat. 4....sagacity: Wisdom. 5....crescent: Crescent moon. 6....Worlds: Planets. 7....arcs: Orbits. 8....firmaments: Skies; arching vault of the heavens. 9....Doges: Elected rulers of Venice, Italy, until 1797 and Genoa, Italy, until 1805. 10..dots . . . snow: This phrase sounds good but the meaning is unclear. .......The theme of the poem is that a person's
belief in the resurrected Christ turns death into a
friend that receives the faithful departed into homes of
stone (alabaster, line 1) with satin ceilings and
quiet bedrooms (chambers, line 1), the Christians
loyal to Christ rest in eternal peace and serenity,
undisturbed by all that happens around them: the
movements of the sun, the laughter of the wind, the
buzzing of bees, the chirping of birds. .......Dickinson uses inverted word order in each stanza to heighten the poetic effect. For example, in the first stanza, the lines say, “Safe in their alabaster chambers . . . sleep the meek members” instead of “the meek members sleep in their alabaster chambers.” .......Dickinson also uses inversion in lines 5, 6, 7, and 9. End Rhyme .......Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza rhyme. However, lines 2 and 4 contain a special type of rhyme called consonance, in which pairs of words with different vowel sounds have the same final consonant sounds. Figures of Speech .......Following are examples of figures of speech in the poem. For definitions of figures of speech, click here. Alliteration alabaster chambers (line 1)Anaphora Untouched by morning and untouched by noonMetaphor Safe in their alabaster chambers,Metonymy Diadems dropPersonification and Metaphor Light laughs the breeze in her castle of sunshineStudy Questions and Essay Topics
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