Ghalib is a very emotionally centered poet. He will express his love but then, contradict his feelings with those of the “divine”. He seems to know what it is he wants, and feels, but yet he knows that his feelings are almost unacceptable by this divine or godly individual. His feelings and poetry can be compared to Emily Dickinson’s in this sense.Ghalib refers to god in his poetry in a similar was that Emily Dickinson does.He and Dickinson go back and forth between the notion that god is there, and he isn’t at the same time.

Ghalib is in a limbo between what he thinks he knows and his wants. Specifically in, “I’ve made my home next door to you,” version I, it is labelled the secular version. When comparing the secular and the sacred, we can see the difference with him speaking to that of a divine person and him speaking to a woman. He uses different pronouns in each. “She says to me: “Since you don’t have the power of words, how can you tell what’s in someone else’s heart—without a word being said”” and then in the sacred version “He said to me: “Since you don’t have the power of words, how can you tell what’s in someone else’s heart—without a word being said”” Both are the same, but so different at the same time. In the secular version it is as if he is being asked the question, not so much looking for an answer. In the sacred version however, the question and context surrounding it seems to be a question that needs pondering. It’s a question that we can interpret being asked by this divine figure. We can gather evidence just by the second version being titled “sacred.” The word sacred itself mean worthy of religious worship. Therefore we can make that connection between he and the divine figure in the poem.

Similarly to Dickinson, she goes back and forth between the idea of god in her society, such that in poems 712 and 465. In poem 712, “Because I could not stop for death—He kindly stopped for me.” She refers to death as a person, who we could easily mistake for god, in the hour of death that is taking her in a carriage to her eternity. In 465, “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—” She makes death a theme, one that we would think to be frightened by. What is ironic is that she plays it off in a humorous way. Her society at the time has influenced her religiously but she can’t make a true argument about god.