Emily Dickenson: "Immortality" as a flood subject

Emily Dickenson described immorality as the “flood subject” meaning that it was a subject
largely occupied in her mind and overwhelmed her with its intensity. The subject of
immortality is dealt with by her in numerous letters and poems, intruding even in her most
casual correspondence. Although she wanted to believe in immortality, and did believe in it
to a great extent, her belief was not very firm or strong. In fact, she continued to waver
between belief and doubt.

All the evidence from her writings points towards an unresolved dilemma both as to her
belief in immortality and her belief in the existence of God.

The theology of Puritanism could not provide satisfactory answers to a mind like hers. She
came to maturity at a time when the traditional religious dogmas were collapsing. She
therefore gradually realized the need to build up a private religion through her poetic
imagination in order to revitalize in her personal experience what had formerly been kept
alive by automatic belief.

The established sources of comfort did not serve her any better. For example, the concept of
God as a heavenly father only raised a serried of questions in her mind. the transcendentalist
doctrine failed to satisfy her. She said:

“They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a
recluse.”

Yet the orthodox view, that God is simply invisible, led to the skeptical question.

Those who doubt the truth of immorality, she says, are not actually alive, for without
immortality’s hope man exists as a dead spirit in a physical body.

Whenever the formulas of conventional religion are invoked, her inquiring mind cancels
them out or balances them in a precarious equilibrium. In one of her best poems “My cocoon
tightens-Colours tease”. The cocoon is merely a conceit and the real theme is immortality.
The poem does not offer an analogy confirming faith so much as a phenomenon in Nature
that raises a question: Is the human body likewise only a cocoon from which there will be a
glorious release? But words of doubt are scattered liberally through the opening and the close
of the poem. The poem derives strength from the tensions of unresolved conflict.

Her search for new symbols of belief was as endless as her doubts were persistent. In the
famous poem, “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” she once again turns to the new scientific
thought for effective terms to state her dilemma. The first stanza of this poem expresses
religious view of death, with a confident belief in personal immortality. The second stanza
contains a humanist view of life in a world vibrant with sensations, but precariously enjoyed.
The third stanza contains a scientific view of cosmic peace achieved by extinction. The belief
in immortal life in the first stanza comes into conflict with the cold astronomical concept of
eternity in the end.

Then there is another famous poem “Behind Me-dips Eternity” one of her finest on the
subject of immortality. Here the aspiration towards immortality is again expressed at the
beginning, but the vision soon fades and she becomes a representative of the common lot of
mankind.

The final direction of Emily Dickenson’s poetry is religious, though her attitude differs
widely from conventional term.