Can You Dig It?

I’ve been posting some of my favorite Dickinson poems about death and grief, and now – after a bit of a bumpy few days about Dickinson’s nonstandard use of “don’t” in a couple of her poems (HERE) – I’m ready to move on to the seventh poem on my list, “A Coffin – is a small domain,” a short poem that explores the paradoxical nature of death.

Here’s a bit of the analysis of the poem at AllPoetry.com:  "’A Coffin’ presents a stark image of confinement, while "A Grave" suggests boundless expansion. The coffin, a symbol of mortality, can nevertheless hold a ‘Citizen of Paradise,’ hinting at the transformative power of death.”

And this: “The grave, despite its physical limitations, becomes an expansive realm for the deceased. The intimacy of the coffin contrasts with the vastness of the grave, suggesting a shift from the material to the spiritual.”

I remember as a kid struggling with the idea that an infinite space could have boundaries, so I really dig Dickinson’s opposing images in the poem (LOL – “dig,” a dated word of awareness and admiration, but one that fits so neatly in a discussion about a poem about a grave, dontcha think?)

I love the opposing constructs in the poem – and the math references!  For example, that this “diminished plane,” the grave, is a “restricted Breadth / Yet ampler than the Sun.”   And this “small Repose” (sounds comfy, no?) has “Circumference without Relief / Or Estimate or End.”  

How irrational.  Like pi.  ; - )