Life after Death

Having lived during a period when untimely deaths were very common and many people’s faith was challenged, Dickinson developed a deep interest in death and the possibility of an afterlife. She observed many funerals and burials from the window of her childhood bedroom, which overlooked a cemetery. Her fascination with death and what follows are apparent in many of her works. This poem, as well as many of her others, addresses the existential question of what happens to people after they die. In the poem, the speaker suggests the possibility of life after death by communicating the narrative from the unconventional perspective of a dead person.

By enabling the speaker to communicate from beyond the grave, Dickinson is implying the speaker’s spirit lives on after her death. Dickinson portrays death as both a transitory state and a beginning, rather than an end...