Emily Dickinson lived in an age defined by the struggle to reconcile traditional lived in an age defined by the struggle to reconcile traditional Christian beliefs with newly emerging scientific concepts, the most influential being Darwinism. Dickinson’s struggles with faith and doubt reflect her society’s diverse, perceptions of God, nature, and humankind.
In Dickinson’s teen years, a wave of religious revivals moved through New England. One by one, her friends and family members made the public profession of belief in Christ that was necessary to become a full member of the church. Although she agonized over her relationship to God, Dickinson ultimately did not join the church-not out of defiance but in order to remain true to herself: “I feel that the world holds a predominant place in my affections. I do not feel that I could give up all for Christ, were I called to die”.
Though her poem I Cannot Live with You, primarily deals with the subject of her love-interest and her denial for living with her lover, her religious belief or non-belief is projected by her as a means to prove her point. While describing her domestic life as a passive partner of her male counterpart she uses the metaphor of the Sexton-
“The Sexton keeps the Key to – Putting up
Our Life – His Porcelain –
Like a Cup”
The Sexton was a person who would be in charge of the church yard. He was once referred to as the gravedigger. In the days of the gravedigger and the church yard watcher, people were occasionally buried alive. It is a terrifying idea, and because of this, the safety coffin was patented. The safety coffin had a bell the person inside could ring if for some reason he or she woke up to find themselves buried alive. The gravedigger, if he heard a bell ringing, would dig up the grave. The use of the “Sexton” to describe the one who has control of the speaker’s life suggests that the speaker believes herself to be dead already, figuratively. Somehow, the speaker does not feel in control of her own life, but at the mercy of one who might dig her up out of the grave. Still speaking to the same person she began speaking to, she says, “Our Life- His Porcelain-like a cup”. This reveals that the Sexton symbolizes God in I Cannot Live With You. However, the speaker does not portray a loving God that allows people to live, but one that seems to keep people in their graves, or on a shelf like a porcelain figurine or a decorative cup which gives him pleasure to look at, to own.
Also Read:
- Significance of the Title I Cannot Love With You by Emily Dickinson
- I Cannot Live With You by Emily Dickinson | Critical Analysis
- I Cannot Live With You | Summary, Line by Line Analysis
Emily Dickinson, in this poem, has shown her unique philosophy of death and after life, the ‘rise’ of the soul after death, the judgement of the soul whether to be lifted to Paradise or to be condemned to Hell. She says-
“Nor could I rise with You – Because Your Face
Would put out Jesus”
After contemplating her own refusal to love and watch her lover die, she then explains that she could not “rise with” him. Because she has already mentioned death, the word “rise” here refers to resurrection. During Dickinson’s time period, most of the people around her believed not only in the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the basis of the Christian faith, but they also believed in what is referred to as the final resurrection, in which all who believed in Jesus would rise from the dead. Here, the speaker claims that she could not wish to be with him at the final resurrection because this person’s face “would put out Jesus””. This is quite a shocking claim. The speaker obviously believes that the face of Jesus should shine the brightest at the final resurrection. But, she believes if she were to rise again with one whom she had loved in life, that person’s face would outshine that of Jesus. Her refusal to accept the glory of Jesus and Paradise is further described o the poem in the following lines-
“That New Grace
Glow plain
– and foreign
On my homesick Eye – Except that You than He
Shone closer by”
She continues to describe the final resurrection and her feelings toward it- namely that it would “glow plain- and foreign”. She admits that the idea does not excite her. Rather, it all seems rather foreign to her. Her description of her “homesick eye” suggests that rather than looking forward to the new heaven and new earth as Christians were taught to do, she would miss the old earth. Then she says, “Except that You than He shone closer by”. The capitalization of the word “You” suggests that the speaker sees the person to whom she speaks as being as important as God himself. The juxtaposition of the capitalized “He” and “You” supports this idea, as well as her claim that the one to whom she speaks “shone closer by” than God himself.
She expresses her clear disbelief in the judgement of the soul after death and her sight is ‘saturated’ by the sight of her lover and so she says- You saturated Sight
“And I had no more Eyes
For sordid excellence
As Paradise”
Specifically, she claims that she has no eyes for paradise. As a Christian is often taught to keep his eyes set on paradise, this description of herself further allows the speaker to explain that she has no interest in faith and no eyes or heart for heaven.
Emily Dickinson is least bothered whether she will be lifted to heaven or condemned to Hell. She refuses to accept to both Heaven and Hell without the company of her lover.
“Where You were not-
That self- were Hell to Me”
So though she shows her eagerness to share equality with her lover in life and after death, of which, according to her, she is denied, she never shrinks from criticizing god and heaven for for despair to meet with her lover apart- You there I here –
“With just the Door ajar That Oceans are- and Prayer –
And that White Sustenance –
Despair”
She claims that they would always be apart “with just the door ajar” between them, making it seem as though there were oceans and prayer separating them. It is interesting that she uses “oceans” and “prayer” in the same line to explain to her love what is separating them. It is almost as if his prayer and his faith causes there to be chasms like oceans between the two, for his faith is some- thing she believes she can never understand. These feelings bring to her heart at feeling that she can only describe as “white sustenance”. That feeling is despair.
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