Today,  I wanted to use my blog post to compare the two different versions of “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” by Emily Dickinson. These two poems sparked my interest because of their similar beginnings yet drastically different ends. I was curious what inspired Dickinson to later write a second version, and why she chose to change the pieces that she did. In the Norton Anthology, there is a footnote explaining that the first version of the poem is from 1859, and the second version is the result of suggestions from her sister-in-law. What did her sister-in-law say to Emily Dickinson about her first poem to cause her to so drastically change its ultimate message?

Both versions start with the lines “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers – / Untouched by morning / And untouched by noon – / Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection -” (1-4). “Alabaster” is a translucent white material according to the anthology, and upon further research, I found that it was often used to carve sculptures. In fact, cultures like Ancient Egypt and Medieval Europe often used Alabaster to carve out statues for tombs, meaning that an “alabaster chamber” likely references an adorned tomb. The fact that the people are “untouched by morning / and untouched by noon” implies that they are not phased by the passing of time, but rather frozen in it, waiting for judgement day. This first part of the two poems implies that the subject of the poem are stuck in a liminal space, waiting to see what death will bring them. 

The first version then moves towards a more uplifting second stanza, discussing how the bee “babbles” and the “sweet birds” “pipe” about the “sagacity” of the person who died, implying that the natural world on Earth, a world that knows time and will continue to move forward, remembers the dead and carries on their legacy. However, the second version ends on a much more depressing note that seems to argue humans’ insignificance in the face of time, saying “Grand go the years, / In the Crescent above them / … / Diadems – drop – / soundless as dots on a disc of snow. I really want to know what it was in her sister-in-law’s critiques that caused Emily Dickinson to change her speaker’s attitude towards death & what happens to humans after their souls escape the liminal space of their coffin! What do you guys think?