449 [I died for Beauty—but was scarce] by Emily Dickinson

In the poem, Emily Dickinson uses a conversation between two dead people to illustrate the theme of death. She is trying to define the meaning of death in a different way. I feel Dickinson was cynical and disappointed by people’s apathy. The last stanza of the poem illustrate her loneliness and grief. Also, there are a lot of words such as “Beauty”, “Truth”, “Room”, “Night” start with capitalized letter in this poem. I think Dickinson is trying to emphasize these words to make the readers think about the meaning behind them.

I died for beauty but was scarce

Adjusted in the Tomb

When One who died for Truth, was lain

In an adjoining Room (line 1-4)

In the first stanza, the poetess was died and laid in the tomb. She met a man who died for truth. I think Dickinson uses the word “scarce” to suggest that she is not satisfied with her current situation. She may still have a lot of things to do for life. However she was died and could not achieve her goals.

He questioned softly “Why I failed”?

“For Beauty”, I replied (line 5-6)

The two characters are died for “Beauty” and “Truth” which are two valuable things they were looking for. The poetess uses “failed” instead of died in line 5. I think the word “fail” shows that both of them are not success in the pursuit of either “Beauty” or “Truth” during their life time.

“And I for Truth Themselves are One

We Brethren, are”, He said (line 6-8)

In these two lines, Dickinson wants to say that beauty and truth are the same. She uses “Brethren” to describe their relationship which means that they have the same belief. Since they are dead for “Beauty” or “Truth”, they believed they both died with honor.

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night

We talked between the Rooms (line 9-10)

The poetess tries to depict death in a peculiar way.  Dickinson uses the word, “Kinsmen” to show that we have a pleasant talk. In these two lines, “Night” symbolizes death and “Rooms” represent tombs. The word “Rooms” may also stands for different social classes. I think she wants to say that no matter who you are when you were alive, you will be treated equally after you died. Your social status does not mean anything and will not give you any priority.

Until the Moss had reached our lips

And covered up our names (line 11-12)

The phrase “reached our lips” represents that we do not have the ability to express our feelings anymore. “Covered up our names” means that we are disappearing from people’s memory. I believe Dickinson wants to show that as time passed by, we will be forgotten by the others. No one will remember what we did when we were alive.

Overall, Dickinson wants to tell us that no one will remember you after your death. Old things will be replaced by the new things. The poem not only shows her fear of death, but also her fear of being utterly forgotten.