Abstract:
This project is a language analysis of Emily Dickinson’s poem “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church.” The Oxford English Dictionary was used to define each word in the poem as it would have been understood in Dickinson’s time. Using the appropriate definitions, the paper explicates the poem, unpacking the symbols and metaphors created by the religious vocabulary. Throughout the poem, Dickinson uses contrasting religious and natural images to explain the speaker’s relationship with the idea of “church.” Ultimately, an analysis of the poem shows that the speaker views heaven not as an end goal to a life in church, but as a state of being one can experience in nature.
Full Work: