To Put This World Down, Like a Bundle
poem 527
To Put This World Down, Like a Bundle - meaning Summary
Renunciation as Spiritual Burden
The poem explores spiritual renunciation as a deliberate, painful act of leaving the world behind. Dickinson compares this withdrawal to Christ’s path, suggesting a historical lineage of sacrifice that later followers justify. Religious imagery—crucifixion, sacraments, Pilate, Barabbas—frames renunciation as both collective and inherited. The final image of a nonbeliever endorsing the cup hints at an unsettling universality: sacrificial meaning persists even when embraced or witnessed by the indifferent.
Read Complete AnalysesTo put this World down, like a Bundle And walk steady, away, Requires Energy possibly Agony ‘Tis the Scarlet way Trodden with straight renunciation By the Son of God Later, his faint Confederates Justify the Road Flavors of that old Crucifixion Filaments of Bloom, Pontius Pilate sowed Strong Clusters, from Barabbas’ Tomb Sacrament, Saints partook before us Patent, every drop, With the Brand of the Gentile Drinker Who indorsed the Cup
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