I Died for Beauty but was Scarce

Summary/Introduction

In my opinion, this poem is one of the most abstract out of all of Dickinson’s poems on the HSC syllabus. This means that you might be able to come up with some creative links to belonging, however be careful that you explain your position carefully with reference to the text.

The persona and another person have died and have been placed in adjoining rooms of a tomb. The persona died ‘for beauty’ and the other person died ‘for truth.’ Both talk with each other through the separating wall until the ‘moss had reached our lips’ and covered their names.

To me, the poem evokes ideas of belonging to self. In particular, dying for beauty means living a life which is true to one’s self and hence the statement ‘And I for truth, - the two are one.' The poem also conjures the idea of belonging to nature of which we are all constituent parts. Our belonging to others and ourselves pales in comparison to our belonging to nature will ultimately envelope us all.

Stanza 1

o The persona ‘died for beauty’ – which means the persona sacrificed themselves to support beauty or in trying to achieve it.
o Enjambment (the running over of a sentence from one line of verse into the next) between the first and second line makes the word ‘scarce’ a pun. The persona was ‘scarce adjusted’ meaning ‘just now adjusted.’ The persona was also scarce, as in rare, in that that it was unusual that someone should die for beauty. That is, the composer is indicating how rare it is to find someone who belongs to themselves. In other words, it is rare to find one who is willing to live in accordance with their ideals and principles.
o The motif of death is established through the repetition of ‘died’ and the word ‘tomb.’ This intermingles the ideas of death (truth?) and beauty.
o The fact that the other person is laid in an ‘adjoining room’ suggests that the persona does not feel a true sense of belonging to others, even in death; there is space separating them, and no direct connection. It is significant that the persona refers to the other person throughout the first two stanzas by using impersonal pronouns such as ‘one’ and ‘he’ thereby further underscoring the lack of connection between the two.

Stanza 2

o The use of the adverb ‘softly’ in ‘questioned softly’ suggests that there is some level of intimacy and connection between the two. This is further illustrated in the paradox that ‘the two are one’ and the collective noun ‘brethren’ furthers this idea.
o The characters are metaphors for the idea of truth and beauty and their intermingling suggests that death and life i.e. truth and beauty, are inextricably linked. That is, the two concepts are symbiotic and an understanding of death is a perquisite to a true understanding of beauty and vice versa. In other words, the idea of death makes us appreciate the beauty in life even more.
o Pun in the question ‘why I failed?’ Failed means died as in expired, but it also means not having achieved a goal. Has the persona chosen belonging to self over material success and even happiness? That is, the pun suggests that belonging to self involves choosing personal integrity (beauty) rather than worldly success.

Stanza 3

o ‘Kinsmen,’ shows the close connection between beauty and truth. This is furthered by the shift in focus from the personal pronoun ‘I’ in previous stanzas to the collective pronouns ‘our’ and ‘we.’
o If we say that beauty represents belonging to ourselves then we can also say that truth is essential to belonging to ourselves. In other words, we must be honest with who we are if we are to have a strong sense of personal identity and connection with self.
o Despite truth and beauty being one, belonging in some absolute sense may be unattainable; ‘they talked between the rooms’ i.e. they remained somewhat separate and not together. This may be linked to the idea that any belonging we feel is ultimately short lived (see the next point).
o The moss covers the names of the characters suggesting that any belonging to ourselves is only temporary (or ephemeral) and that ultimately the only permanent belonging is to nature from which we all stem and which ultimately reclaims us in our deaths.
o 'Our lips' - which enable us to connect, via communication, to others - along with our names and identities, representing our sense of belonging to self, may thus be seen as transient. The paradox is that even belonging to nature is not eternal because after a period of time there is no ‘us’ to belong to anything!

Links to belonging

1. Belonging to Ourselves. Truth and honesty with who we are and what we stand for is essential if we are to ‘die for beauty’ i.e. live a life of integrity and internal belonging. However, this sort of belonging may be rare or ‘scarce’ and furthermore it might be considered to be less significant if we take the long term perspective of nature.

2. Belonging to Nature. The poem is riddled with ideas of death and its ultimate and enduring power. It’s significant that it is the natural moss which covers the lips and names of the characters. We all belong to nature which claims us equally; regardless of how noble our lives have/have not been.

Exercises

a) Group the techniques discussed above (and any others you can think of) under the headings of ‘Belonging to Society’ ‘or ‘Belonging to Nature’. E.g. the ‘personification of nature’ technique would go under the ‘Belonging to Nature’ heading.

b) Using these lists, practice writing a paragraph that links the techniques to insights about belonging.