Unit, Like Death, for Whom?
poem 408
Unit, Like Death, for Whom? - meaning Summary
Identity Compared to Death
The poem contemplates death as a strict, solitary unit of experience that admits only the bearer and the borne. Dickinson contrasts the talkative living with the nearly speechless dying and the mute dead, stressing silence and exclusivity at the grave. Social chatter and domestic comforts are excluded, replaced by gravity, expectation, and a tremor of uncertainty about what follows. The tone is restrained, sober, and quietly disquieting.
Read Complete AnalysesUnit, like Death, for Whom? True, like the Tomb, Who tells no secret Told to Him The Grave is strict Tickets admit Just two the Bearer And the Borne And seat just One The Living tell The Dying but a Syllable The Coy Dead None No Chatter here no tea So Babbler, and Bohea stay there But Gravity and Expectation and Fear A tremor just, that All’s not sure.
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