Sunday, April 5, 2015

Reflection of Emily Dickinson's "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers"

My first read through of this, I didn't really understand what was happening, but upon the second read I understood one possible meaning. I got up to the line that said "Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone" and had one idea, and when I went back to the line that says "safe in their Alabaster Chambers" I realized that this just confirmed my theory. If I'm not mistaken, Alabaster is a stone that they use to make Mausoleums, which hold dead people, coffins are commonly bedded with Satin and in a Mausoleum they top those final resting places with a slab of stone. Emily Dickinson is talking about the dead people inside the Mausoleums, she is talking about how normal coffins that are buried in the ground of a cemetery are prone to harm due to the continuously changing Earth, while the ones in the Mausoleums are very safe because of the fact that they are above ground. They have lasted many, many years while leaders have fallen and surrendered, and they still stand where no one notices them, no body pays them any mind: "diadems- drop- and Doges surrender- soundless as dots". Taking the time to go back and read this a second time really helped me understand, and catch things I didn't see the first time around, and I'm actually really glad I did.

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