Time feels so vast that were it not
For an Eternity —
I fear me this Circumference
Engross my Finity —
To His exclusion, who prepare
By Processes of Size
For the Stupendous Vision
Of his diameters —
Time feels so vast that were it not
For an Eternity —
I fear me this Circumference
Engross my Finity —
To His exclusion, who prepare
By Processes of Size
For the Stupendous Vision
Of his diameters —
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I think this piece is about time and the exclusion of sinners in heaven. It is not easy understood by just reading it. I will explain why I think this is her theme. She goes about the subject by expressing her thoughts on time. She state that time is an Eternity. No one wants to really die and some people go about their life as if it will never end as if it were an eternity that why (it feels so vast). She then places time in a circle, in Christianity a circle is a symbol of eternity that is why a ring is given in marriage since its shape is a sphere to represent a boundless unity that no man can break. When she say,” I fear me this Circumference Engross my Finity, Dickenson could be expressing the fears that she is also being deceived with the feeling of eternity. Though she is conscious that her time on earth is limited but when a person goes to heaven than that time will becomes the circumference that Dickinson speaks about.
“To His exclusion” , exclusion of what?, The exclusion to heaven.
The word His is implying God. But why is He excluded? And Who is He excluding? Sinners are being excluded from the circumference of heaven because of their sins. Dickenson praises God in her last line by placing Him in a circle (diameters) and stating that he is everywhere and seeing everything and everyone (Stupendous Vision). That is how He excludes.