'This World is Not Conclusion'

Jan 31, 2022

Emily Dickinson, 'This World is Not Conclusion'

This World is not Conclusion.

A Species stands beyond -

Invisible, as Music -

But positive, as Sound -

The idea of another world beyond our own was a perennial interest of Emily Dickinson, who, in this poem, wonders whether we could even know it if we found it.

Now read on:

It beckons, and it baffles -

Philosophy, dont know -

And through a Riddle, at the last -

Sagacity, must go -

To guess it, puzzles scholars -

To gain it, Men have borne

Contempt of Generations

And Crucifixion, shown -

Faith slips - and laughs, and rallies -

Blushes, if any see -

Plucks at a twig of Evidence -

And asks a Vane, the way -

Much Gesture, from the Pulpit -

Strong Hallelujahs roll -

Narcotics cannot still the Tooth

That nibbles at the soul -

What we love about this passage...

Dickinson's poems tend to be full of definitions--defining abstract concepts like Love, Hope, Memory, or Remorse. We love the fact that she starts this poem by defining what the world is not.

How do you describe the indescribable? Simply and directly, Dickinson conveys the sense of something greater than us, a world that lies beyond our own, that we can't yet attain and that has baffled the most dedicated thinkers. She leaves it open as to whether it's a physical place (like a parallel world, with a whole other 'Species' than ourselves) or someplace more spiritual. We love the way she captures the basic human urge to find out more, describing that urge as a 'tooth' nibbling at our souls, and the way she uses dashes to signal unfinished thoughts.

About the author

Emily Dickinson (1830-86) is widely regarded as one of the most important and innovative American poets. She spent most of her life in Amherst, Massachusetts, living life reclusively but writing constantly, both poetry and letters. Her work was published after her death and became an instant success.

To read alongside...

Louise Erdrich quotes from this poem in her novel The Night Watchman, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2021. She describes a character stepping outside at night and being surrounded by the echoing silence and the black sky like 'a poem beyond meaning. This World is not Conclusion...'

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You might also enjoy...

Writers Make Worlds: https://writersmakeworlds.com/

The Ten Minute Book Club: https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/ten-minute-book-club

Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/

Standard Ebooks: https://standardebooks.org/

“Five Tips to Get Reading Again if You’ve Struggled During the Pandemic,” The Conversation (8 January 2021): https://theconversation.com/five-tips-to-get-reading-again-if-youve-struggled-during-the-pandemic-152904

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