It was not Death for I stood up

'It was not Death, for I stood up' (1891) is one of Emily Dickinson's most famous poems and was published after her death. The poem's meaning is unclear but many critics have thought that it follows the emotional state of the speaker after she has an irrational and harrowing experience.

'It was not Death, for I stood up': meaning

Let's examine the meaning behind the background and context of Dickinson's poem.

Biographical context

Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 in the town of Amhurst, Massachusetts in the U.S.A. 'It was not Death, for I stood up,' was written in 1862, following a decade in which many of Dickinson's family and contemporaries died. The deaths of friends such as Sophia Holland and Benjamin Franklin Newton deeply affected Dickinson.

Sometimes this context is used to diagnose the speaker of these poems (or sometimes Dickinson herself) with modern terms such as depression or PTSD. However, as these terms did not exist while 'It was not Death, for I stood up' was written, it is important to refrain from this.

Historical context

During Emily Dickinson's youth, the Second Great Awakening (a Protestant revival movement) was gaining popularity in America. Dickinson's family were Calvinists, and although she would leave the movement as a teenager, the effects of religion can still be seen in her poetry. In 'It was not Death, for I stood up', it is apparent when she references Christian heaven.

Some historians also argue that this poem is linked to the American Civil War. Dickinson wrote 'It was not Death, for I stood up,' in 1862, during a heightened period of violence in the war. It is for that reason that some critics argue that experiences in this war may have deeply affected the speaker of the poem.

Literary context

During the 1960s, Emily Dickinson's works were heavily influenced by the American Romantic literary movement. This movement emphasised the power of nature and the universe, as well as stressed the importance of individuality and the mind. Major writers during this period included Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson, both of whom influenced Dickinson's work. During this movement, Dickinson focused on exploring the power of the mind and took an interest in writing about individuality through this lens.

Dickinson was also raised in a religious (Calvinist) household, and she frequently read the Common Book of Prayer. Its influence can be seen in how she replicates some of its forms in her poetry.

Emily Dickinson's 'It was not Death, for I stood up': poem

Below is the poem in full.

'It was not Death, for I stood up': summary

Dickinson's poem is comprised of six quatrains.

'It was not Death, for I stood up': structure

Each of the six stanzas contains four lines (quatrain) and is written in an ABCB rhyme scheme.

Rhyme and meter

The poem is written in an ABCB rhyme scheme however, some of these are slant rhymes. For example, in the third stanza, there is a slant rhyme of 'burial' and 'all'. Dickinson mixes slant and perfect rhymes together to make the poem more irregular, reflecting the experience of the speaker.

The poet also uses the common meter (also known as ballad meter) in the poem. Common meter is used in both Romantic poetry and Christian hymns, which both have influenced this poem.

Form

Dickinson uses a ballad form in this poem to tell a story about the death of the speaker’s sanity. Ballads were first popular in England in the fifteenth century, and during the Romanticism movement (1800-1850), as they were able to tell longer narratives. Dickinson uses the form here in a similar way to these movements, as the ballad tells a story.

'It was not Death, for I stood up': poetic devices

Dickinson uses several poetic devices throughout the poem 'It was not Death, for I stood up', such as anaphora, metaphor, and juxtaposition.

Anaphora

The speaker in 'It was not Death, for I stood up,' is trying to understand a harrowing experience and in doing this she uses anaphora to list all the things the experience was not.

At the start of the poem, lines 1, 3 and 5 repeat the phrase 'It was not', as the speaker tries to compare different things to her experience. Here, anaphora helps not only create a list, but it is also building a tone of confusion and panic as the speaker tries to understand what has occurred to her.

Metaphor

Throughout the poem the speaker is trying to make sense of what she has experienced and one way in which she tries to do this is through the use of metaphor. The speaker uses figurative language to try and describe what the experience was like. In the final stanza, she compares the experience to being lost at sea.

The metaphor used here (that the experience was like being lost at sea without any sign of land) highlights the confusion that the speaker feels after her experience. While she is not literally lost at sea, this is how the incident has made her feel.

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is frequently used in this poem to highlight the confusion that she feels following her experience. This is highlighted in the first half of the poem, wherein stanzas 1 and 2 she lists things the incident was not, before saying in stanza 3 that "And yet, it tasted, like them all". This contrast shows how the speaker is trying to make sense of an irrational event.

Imagery

The Seasons

Dickinson uses the season of Autumn in her poem to highlight the speaker's emotions following an incident. Autumn is sometimes viewed as a transitional season between summer and winter and so it represents life (summer) transitioning to death (winter).

Dickinson develops the imagery of Autumn by describing it as 'Grisly', and in doing so she shows that the experience the speaker has had is similar to the symbolic death of Autumn.

The Elements

Dickinson juxtaposes imagery of fire and frost in the poem to help describe the speaker's experience. Both frost and fire are elements that are commonly associated with death and are often used as ways to describe hell.

By stating that it was not frost or fire, yet it still was both the elements, Dickinson is showing that the experience the speaker has had can be associated with death or hell, while not being either literally.

Tone

The speaker's tone in 'It was not Death, for I stood up,' is confused as she tries to understand the seemingly harrowing experience she has had. Dickinson shows this through her use of juxtaposition and dashes, as the speaker contradicts herself and pauses while she tries to understand and describe her emotional state. By the end of the poem, this tone has developed into one of hopelessness and despair as the speaker describes feeling like she is lost at sea.

Dashes and caesuras

One of the most notable features of Emily Dickinson's poetry is how she used dashes. In her poems, Dickinson used dashes to create caesuras in certain lines of poetry. Here, these dashes represent pauses as the speaker gathers her thoughts to better explain what she has experienced.

Enjambement

Dickinson contrasts her use of dashes and caesuras by also using enjambment. By mixing these three devices together, Dickinson creates a disjointed structure to the poem, reflecting the disconnected and confused emotions the speaker feels following an experience.

'It was not Death, for I stood up': themes

What themes are present in Dickinson's poem?

Hopelessness and despair

Hopelessness and despair are key themes throughout the poem, as the speaker struggles to grasp what has happened to her. Dickinson uses juxtaposition and anaphora to show how conflicted the speaker feels when she tries to understand her experiences. By the end of the poem, the speaker despairs this feeling and uses a metaphor of being lost at sea to describe this.

The last word of the poem, 'Despair' highlights the emotional state of the speaker at the end of the poem.

Irrationality

The speaker is trying to grapple with the emotional fallout caused by an irrational event. The experience (the 'it') is never named during the poem but its effects are still apparent as the speaker uses juxtaposition and metaphors to try and describe what has happened to her. Trying to understand the irrational is a central theme of the poem and it is this that allows the themes of despair and hopelessness to manifest.