Poem 531

[MoverandShaker]

Hey, guys, I’ve been evaluating a wide number of Dickinson poems and have found a few that are often neglected by the criterion of the typical Dickinson “canon.” One poem in particular that I think deserves more attention is poem 531. Its examination of consciousness in response to the mainstream romantic thought of the after life and the present life is gracious and profound. There is such beautiful diction in this poem that encapsulate her concern for the changing consciousness in the maneuvering from dreamscape to reality and finally to death (e.g. “shafts of granite,” Drama, and so forth). Even the introduction of “Egyptian” brings into question a certain exoticism derived from the ancient association of foreign text. This poem, itself, carries death and life through a dreamscape that is some sort of Drama, staged and never dying. And our consciousness, the speaker’s consciousness, speaks to the changing of this movement. Where are we finally, once a name is all that’s left and a foreign tag reads something strange to mark our passing? And what, in whichever reality, is life? What do you guys think? Any other poems that are often disregarded from the main body of her work?