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  • The speaker is someone who died trying to achieve beauty. They seem to have accepted their death without being upset or angry about it.
  • The audience is those striving for something similar. The speaker's situation serves as a warning for the audience.
  • There is another character in this poem who is in an adjoining tomb. He died for truth.
  • In this poem, two people are conversing about what they died for and how what they strove to achieve during life holds no weight after death.
  • Themes: When people focus on just achieving one virtue, they usually do not succeed. While they believe that achieving this will bring them happiness, in the end, it does not.
  • The speaker is in a dark tomb where moss is beginning to grow.
  • We can infer that the speaker is in a graveyard because the other character is placed in an "adjoining room," or a tomb next to the speaker's.
  • This poem takes place after the death of the speaker.
  • In the last stanza, the speaker says,

"We talked between the Rooms--

Until the Moss had reached our lips..."

The growing moss illustrates the passage of time.

  • The speaker tells their story after they are prompted by meeting someone in a similar situation.
  • The speaker's story serves as a warning to those who believe achieving one virtue will make them happy for the rest of their lives.

"I died for Beauty--but was scarce"

Rhythm and Meter

This poem switches from iambic tetrameter to iambic trimeter every other line.

Iambic tetrameter: "I died for Beauty--but was scarce"

Iambic trimeter: "Adjusted in the Tomb"

The Patterns

The Details

I died for Beauty--but was scarce

Adjusted in the Tomb

When One who died for Truth, was lain

In an adjoining Room--

He questioned softly "Why I failed"?

"For Beauty", I replied--

"And I--for Truth--Themself are One--

We Brethren, are", He said--

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night--

We talked between the Rooms--

Until the Moss had reached our lips--

And covered up--our names--

  • Rhetorical Patterns: In this poem the person who died for Truth states that Beauty and Truth, "Themself are One," basically stating that they "failed" for similar things. This similarity is what allows them to bond with each other and talk

"Until the Moss had reached our lips--

And covered up--our names--"

The Patterns

The Details

  • Syntax: Line 8 ("We Brethren are", He said...") is written peculiarly. Also, the syntax is vague because, when they talk about what they died for, the do so very broadly. We know the speaker died for beauty and that the other character died for truth but they do not say what they did specifically. This allows it to apply to a broad spectrum of specific situations.
  • Vocabulary: "He questioned softly, "Why I failed"? Dickinson uses the word failed rather than died. This word refers to how death ultimately will defeat you, how futile it is to be righteous as well as everyone's imperfections and shortcomings. This is a statement that "the good die young."
  • Rhyme: In the first stanza the words "tomb" (line 2) and "room" (line 4). This is significant in that it makes death less macabre by comparing the tomb to a room.
  • Patterns of Sound: In this poem there are no patterns of sound.
  • Visual Patterns: The poem is made up 3 stanzas of 4 lines each.

The Details

  • Form: This poem is written in three stanzas with four lines in each stanza.

The Details

  • Rhetoric: The first line is very ironic. The speaker dies for beauty but isn't even adjusted in her casket after death to look beautiful. Also, Dickinson uses various symbols throughout her poem.

Night is symbolic of death.

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night--

Rooms represent the graves.

When One who died for Truth, was lain

In an adjoining Room--

Moss demonstrates the passage of time. When it covers her lips and name, it causes her to lose her ability to speak and her identity.

Until the Moss had reached our lips--

And covered up--our names--

There is also metonymy within this poem:

Until the Moss had reached our lips--

And covered up--our names--

In this line, the names are representative of the characters in the poem. The moss covers up their names on their tombstones and, thus, the characters lose their identity and are forgotten.

The Large Issues

  • Who? The speaker is dead.
  • What? They died for beauty.
  • Where? The narrator is in a tomb.
  • When? Post mortem.
  • Why? The narrator strove to achieve something but ultimately failed.

by Emily Dickinson

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