There's been a Death Summary & Analysis
by Emily Dickinson

Question about this poem?
Have a question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
Ask us
Ask us
Ask a question
Ask a question
Ask a question

Emily Dickinson's "There's been a Death, in the Opposite House" explores the rituals of death in a small town. As the poem's speaker watches all the bustle around a death in the house across the street, his cool, observant tone suggests that he (and the people around him) are actually doing their best to avoid confronting death's inevitability. Like most of Dickinson's work, this poem didn't appear in print until after her death; it was first published in the posthumous collection Poems (1896).

Get
Get
LitCharts
Get the entire guide to “There's been a Death, in the Opposite House” as a printable PDF.
Download