Safe in their Alabaster Chambers
The one and only Emily Dickinson
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers
1859 version
1861 version
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—
Untouched by Morning
And untouched by Noon—
Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection—
Rafter of satin,
And Roof of stone.
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—
Untouched by Morning—
And untouched by Noon—
Lie the meek members of the Resurrection—
Rafter of Satin—and Roof of Stone!
Light laughs the breeze
In her Castle above them—
Babbles the Bee in a stolid Ear,
Pipe the Sweet Birds in ignorant cadence—
Ah, what sagacity perished here!
Grand go the Years—in the Crescent—above them—
Worlds scoop their Arcs—
And Firmaments—row—
Diadems—drop—and Doges—surrender—
Soundless as dots—on a Disc of Snow—
Version 1~1859 annotations
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—
Untouched by Morning
And untouched by Noon—
Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection—
Rafter of satin,
And Roof of stone.
Connotation & irony of safe? Alabaster: white
gypsum calcium/sulphate. Morning Symbol
Repetition emph: the passage of time/eternity
Allusion & irony. Blessed are the meek: for they
shall inherit the Earth Matthew 5:5. Why sleep?
Connotation of satin
Connotation of housing metaphor, irony
Alliteration (throughout)
Light laughs the breeze
In her Castle above them—
Babbles the Bee in a stolid Ear,
Pipe the Sweet Birds in ignorant cadence—
Ah, what sagacity perished here!
personification
Metaphor of world of the living
Stolid: concealing or not expressing emotion
Cadence: rhythm & 2. fall in pitch
Sagacity adv of adj sagacious: discerning wisdom
How does nature respond to those that
supposedly have inherited the Kingdom of God?
1859 version
• Positive image of death and confident faith in the first stanza?
• In traditional Puritan belief, wealth was a sign of God’s elect; this
does not, of course, necessarily mean that the poem itself assumes
the apparent quiet assurance of the ‘meek’ dead awaiting resurrection.
• They may have satin-lined coffins and their confidence in
resurrection, but their reality is suggested by the way they are cut off
from all vitality and sensation by the ‘roof of stone.’ The dead in their
alabaster chambers, one of Dickinson’s most effective and chilling
images, seem suspended in some cold white prison. They are
untouched by “Morning’, associated with hope, or by ‘Noon’, which
we might associate with fulfilment and intensity. All that is left for
them is the unmentioned night and death.
• Repetition = timelessness and suspension, emphasised by the
slowness forced by the end-stopped lines.
• Stanza 2 contrasts the coldness and suspension of the dead with the
vibrancy and activity of nature. Vitality emphasised by alliterative
effects. Is this consolation? Or natural images to emphasise the
terrifying deprivation of vitality imposed by death?
1861~version 2
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—
Untouched by Morning—
And untouched by Noon—
Lie the meek members of the Resurrection—
Rafter of Satin—and Roof of Stone!
Grand go the Years—in the Crescent—above
them—
Worlds scoop their Arcs—
And Firmaments—row—
Diadems—drop—and Doges—surrender—
Soundless as dots—on a Disc of Snow—
Why change of punctuation here? Finality?
Tone?
Firmament: when the sky is regarded as a vault
Diadems: crowns. Doges: Chief
magistrate/Rulers of Venice
Metaphors for passing of time, note scale
difference form version 1.
Last line?
1861 version
• Possibility of change of tone suggested by dash and exclamation
mark in stanza 1? Emphasis is thrown on the final phrase.
• 2nd stanza rather than contrasting the dead with the natural world,
contrasts the dead with larger, even cosmic events. The slow
movement of the planets and constellations and the grand passing of
time continues and in the face of this cosmic power, earthly power
and material values seem unimportant.
• What appears important on earth makes no impression in the greater
scheme of things
• Final line returns to the chilling whiteness introduced by the Alabaster
chambers but compounds the effects with the aural image of dots
dropping soundlessly on a snowflake – utter coldness and silence.
Why two versions?
• Dickinson’s conflict may indicate an
inability to choose between the desire for
secure religious faith and a belief in cosmic
indifference.
• Relevance for us?