“It was not Death, for I stood up” Summary

“It was not Death, for I stood up” Themes

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  Hopelessness and Despair

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “It was not Death, for I stood up”

• Lines 1-4

  It was not Death, for I stood up,
  And all the Dead, lie down—
  It was not Night, for all the Bells
  Put out their Tongues, for Noon.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-6

  It was not Frost, for on my Flesh
  I felt Siroccos—crawl—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-8

  Nor Fire—for just my Marble feet
  Could keep a Chancel, cool—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  And yet, it tasted, like them all,
  The Figures I have seen
  Set orderly, for Burial,
  Reminded me, of mine—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  As if my life were shaven,
  And fitted to a frame,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-16

  And could not breathe without a key,
  And 'twas like Midnight, some—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-18

  When everything that ticked—has stopped—
  And Space stares all around—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-20

  Or Grisly frosts—first Autumn morns,
  Repeal the Beating Ground—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  But, most, like Chaos—Stopless—cool—
  Without a Chance, or Spar—
  Or even a Report of Land—
  To justify—Despair.

  

  

  

  

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“It was not Death, for I stood up” Symbols

• 

  The Bells

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• 

  Frost and Fire

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• 

  Autumn

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“It was not Death, for I stood up” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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“It was not Death, for I stood up” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Frost
• Siroccos
• Chancel
• Figures
• Shaven
• Grisly
• Morns
• Stopless
• Spar
• Report

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “It was not Death, for I stood up”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“It was not Death, for I stood up” Speaker

“It was not Death, for I stood up” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “It was not Death, for I stood up”

More “It was not Death, for I stood up” Resources

• External Resources

  • Biography of Emily Dickinson — Read more about Emily Dickinson’s life and poetry in this article from the Poetry Foundation.

  • The Poem and the American Civil War — Some scholars have argued that the poem can be read as exploring the experience of a traumatized Union Soldier during the American Civil War. Read more in this article published at White Heat, a blog run by Dartmouth college.

  • Manuscript and Audio of the Poem at the Morgan Library — View the original manuscript of the poem in Dickinson’s handwriting, and hear the poem read aloud, at the website of the Morgan Library.

  • Dickinson and Lauper — Read more about the poem—including a comparison between Dickinson and Cyndi Lauper—in this essay by the contemporary poet Robin Ekiss.

  • Website of the Emily Dickinson Museum — Learn more about Emily Dickinson’s life at the website of the Emily Dickinson museum, which is located at Dickinson’s former home in Amherst, Massachusetts.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!