From every Human Heart
That holds in undisputed Lease
A white inhabitant—
Too narrow is the Right between—
Too imminent the chance—
Each Consciousness must emigrate
And lose its neighbor once—
-F902, J911, 1865
Dickinson often does a funny thing where she speaks of her subject in a purposefully indirect way.
House…undisputed Lease…white inhabitant…Right…emigrate…neighbor? For a minute I thought this poem had something to do with white property owners and immigrant rights. That wouldn't be a very Dickinsonion theme though so we are suspect. Sure enough, with a closer reading, this line of thought appears to be a ruse. It seems as if the poem purposely misdirects you.
This misdirection does a few things. First, I think it is a way of making a meta-commentary on both the subject and the metaphor. It adds a layer of meaning and gives a deeper dimensionality to the poem. (For instance, to follow one possible thread of thought, I think the metaphor in this poem may be making a subtle side-swipe at the narrow-mindedness of the rich in the line, "Too narrow is the Right between—").
Another thing about this misdirection is that, though frustrating, it adds to the power of the poem to pull you in. That puzzle-loving part of us is awakened. We want to see the puzzle, and therefore the poem, completed. But Emily doesn't make it easy.
After a few readings of the poem, paying attention to all of the clues at our disposal, we come to the conclusion that House means grave. Once we see this, then “white inhabitant” becomes "corpse." Okay, we have a starting point.
Too little way the House must lie
From every Human Heart
Life is short and the grave is close. The Human Heart brings in the idea of life-force, but also, love.
That holds in undisputed Lease
A white inhabitant—
Does "That" refer to the Human Heart or the grave? Both, perhaps. Both hold a body in undisputed Lease; the Heart in memory, and the grave in physical residence.
Death as a permanent undisputed lease is a provocative idea. The idea of paying “rent” here has a dark humor. It makes me think, in contrast to an undisputed lease, about how difficult it is to pay rent when you are living. Your rent is always in “dispute” when you are alive.
Too narrow is the Right between—
This line seems to further the “Too little way” in the first line. If it does, then it means something like: our life-time is too narrow between birth and death. In this case, we have a kind of “Right” to life, though it is a very limited one. It also carries the sense of "Right now." This is your in-between, don't miss it.
The line could also easily mean the “narrow” space in the ground, the space of the grave, where the body has its lease. In this case “Right” could mean a number of other possible things, the "Right" to be dead, for instance. More dark humor.
Too narrow is the Right between—
This line seems to further the “Too little way” in the first line. If it does, then it means something like: our life-time is too narrow between birth and death. In this case, we have a kind of “Right” to life, though it is a very limited one. It also carries the sense of "Right now." This is your in-between, don't miss it.
The line could also easily mean the “narrow” space in the ground, the space of the grave, where the body has its lease. In this case “Right” could mean a number of other possible things, the "Right" to be dead, for instance. More dark humor.
It’s a bit mind-boggling how Dickinson pulls off simultaneous readings. Does the "narrow... between" refer to time or space? And, if so, why is it "Right" between?
Too imminent the chance—
What Dickinson means by “chance” here is pretty hard to pin down too. It might mean something like the “chance” to really live while we still can. This is the reading I prefer. I suppose this exposes my optimistic idealism, because there's another way to read the line. If the thing that is imminent is the House (grave), then it might also be referring to the chance of death. Death is the imminent chance. To think of death as a chance is darkly funny too. It's not a chance, but a certainty.
There is another option I can think of for the meaning of "Chance" here, which is introduced in the next lines about emigrating. "Chance" could refer to escaping the grave after death, the chance of the spirit being released into Paradise. If so, there is perhaps the suggestion that there is something we can do to increase that chance.
Each Consciousness must emigrate
And lose its neighbor once—
These lines could mean that since our consciousness must emigrate to the house of the grave, we should embrace our neighbors while we can.
Each Consciousness must emigrate
And lose its neighbor once—
These lines could mean that since our consciousness must emigrate to the house of the grave, we should embrace our neighbors while we can.
But, following the other track of meaning, these lines could mean that each consciousness must (should) emigrate from the grave to Paradise and lose the neighborhood of corpses it once had.
Both meanings have power.
The “once” at the end of the poem is poignant. It could mean that we only get "once" to be here, only one go around. But if you take “death” as the “Right” in this poem, then the “once” refers to the joy of leaving this earth and going to paradise, like in the old spiritual: "Some bright morning when this life is over, I'll fly away."
I far prefer the former reading, the one which seems to say to us, "Take the chance of life while you can." But the latter reading, the wish to emigrate from the House of the grave to the spirit in the sky may be more in line with Dickinson’s meaning.
The “once” at the end of the poem is poignant. It could mean that we only get "once" to be here, only one go around. But if you take “death” as the “Right” in this poem, then the “once” refers to the joy of leaving this earth and going to paradise, like in the old spiritual: "Some bright morning when this life is over, I'll fly away."
I far prefer the former reading, the one which seems to say to us, "Take the chance of life while you can." But the latter reading, the wish to emigrate from the House of the grave to the spirit in the sky may be more in line with Dickinson’s meaning.
On top of this, there is still that subtext about white inhabitants and emigrating at play in the subtext of this poem, whatever we are to make of that.
-/)dam Wade l)eGraff
Great close reading, thank you. I appreciate the different ways you take us through this.
ReplyDeleteOne additional way to read the “Right” in the line “Too narrow is the Right between” would be to understand it as a “right of way,” a physical space providing passage. This suggests the narrow and hazardous passage every emigrant to Eternity must make. The straight road harder than it looks! It occurs to me that this reading also subtly evokes whatJesus said about the difficulty rich people face in getting to heaven — passing a camel through the eye of a needle is narrow indeed. (Thank god Dickinson suggests we only have to do it “once”!)
The multiple possibilities make any coherent reading difficult. Sometimes I think I should just find a take that works and stick with it, but when my take goes against Emily's grain, as I think it probably does in this case, I can only do my best to show all the possibilities. I also realize that going too deep into the syntactical weeds might test the patience of the reader. So I appreciate your appreciation.
DeleteRight! The "narrow" may also (probably does) allude to the straight and narrow path. The "Right" way. Another valid take.
There appears to be more than one Right way to read this poem. That seems especially fitting if you go with "narrow" as pointing to the idea of "narrow" minded. "Too narrow is the Right..."
It reminds me of something my wife likes to say to our daughters when trying to caution them against danger: "You can be right, or you can be dead right."
I think the neighbor of consciousness is the strangest part. What is that? I suppose the most literal thing would be the body. It would also be logical to say the neighbor of consciousness is unconsciousness. Or autonomous impulse. A cheesy option would be one's soul mate. I dunno. What the poem tells us is in neighbor position is the House. And there's that ambiguity about whether the white inhabitant is in the house or in the heart. Like death is almost inside of the heart. I suppose that when you are dead you no longer have imminent death as a neighbor.
ReplyDeleteI tell you what Prowling Bees, the more I think about this, the more I wonder. This whole sequence of poems – as aphoristic and they seem, they make me feel like Emily is searching for something. From the spaciousness of a coffin in Fr890 and the heartbreaking House in Fr891, we get these ruminations on identity, soulfulness, and the person-like partiality of nature. One rare night the heart skips its track. In one flash we see the the soul as sheets of time. In one blossom, we find the world is as much a fool as we are.
ReplyDeleteSo, here's an alternate take on this poem:
Too little way the House must lie
From every Human Heart
-- The House is not the grave. The house is the world outside of the heart. The premise is not that life is short. The premise is that little distinguishes or separates your heart from the rest of it.
That holds in undisputed Lease
A white inhabitant—
-- The white inhabitant is the lightning that reveals the soul, (because the soul is lightning). The lightning pays rent to the sky, just as you do.
Too narrow is the Right between—
Too imminent the chance—
-- Again we contemplate the distance between the heart and the world without. This distance is what the heart claims for itself. But there is so little to claim. The “imminence of chance” could easily stand for the Neutral Theory of Population Genetics or the Neutral Theory of Biodiversity or any of the other neutral theories that explain almost everything about the universe, and which are just so many manifestations of the same randomness and contingency.
Each Consciousness must emigrate
And lose its neighbor once—
-- The neighbor is not the body. The neighbor is the House. Eventually, each consciousness moves in. Comes home.