FREE ESSAY ON EMILY DICKINSON - THE FEET OF PEOPLE WALKING HOME

EMILY DICKINSON - THE FEET OF PEOPLE WALKING HOME

One of Emily Dickinson's poems, formally titled "The feet of people walking home," is of
some interest in its own merit. Unlike some of Dickinson's other poems, such as the ones
that exist among other versions due to a few dissimilarities, this poem is duplicated
verbatim. To the untrained eye, this triviality would often be overlooked, were it not
for the fact that Emily Dickinson had not intended on publishing many of her poems. Why,
then, did she duplicate this poem? Perhaps a more in-depth analysis of the poem, as well
as the current events in Dickinson's life, would answer this query. Estimated to have
been written in the year 1858, the poem begins its first stanza by conveying the emotions
of gaiety and joyfulness, which are associated with passage to heaven. A much more somber
note pervades the second stanza, in which Dickinson uses metaphors to compare the
entrance to heaven with the act of theft. The third stanza combines the previous two by
hinting at the theory that those who are already in heaven do not want more people
entering heaven's gates, because that would diminish the high status that heaven and
angels hold. 
The tone in the first stanza is of joyousness and excitement, as people make their way to
heaven. Dickinson uses the words "gayer," "hallelujah," and "singing" to emphasize the
uplifting feeling here. It could be argued that this is the point in the humans' lives
(or deaths, or afterlives, depending on how one looks at it) when they reach the pinnacle
of happiness, for they have finally entered heaven. The humans, now dead, would then
acquire wings, immortality, and an angelic status that rises far above that of humans.
Much like Dickinson's other poems, this one uses metaphors to represent similar things,
such as "home," which represents "heaven," "snow," which represents the "clouds" on which
heaven resides, and "vassals," which represents the "angels" who serve God. 
The second stanza shares a relation to the first, but it could be described as being
completely opposite in tone. Dickinson uses the words "extorted," "larceny," and "death"
to emphasize the crime that is personified here. Dickinson uses more metaphors in this
stanza to compare the onrush of people entering heaven to divers who take pearls from the
sea. In both cases, a sense of "value" is diminished, or perhaps even lost. Referring
back to the first stanza, Dickinson subtly states that the status of angels would no
longer be as honorable or magnificent as it is now if everyone were to acquire wings,
achieve immortality, and enter heaven. As with the pearls under the sea, the value
attributed to angels is inversely proportional to the number in known existence. More
pearls out of the sea would be comparable to more angels in heaven. Their values are
derived from their rarity. 
The third stanza continues by combining the previous two, as well as taking into
consideration the feelings of the angels, whom Dickinson believes are enraged at the
"extortion" of their honor and magnificence. Dickinson metaphorically describes the
angels' method of keeping people out by saying that the angels (including Dickinson's
ancestors) "veil their faces" so that humans cannot easily find their way to heaven (line
21). (Though it is true that each of Franklin's versions regarding this poem, as well as
the original manuscripts, contain the word "vail," Dickinson has proven in at least one
of her letters that she has a tendency to misspell words, including "veil." Taken in
context, "veil" seems more appropriate.) Wolff makes a note that "concealment" is a
recurring motif in Dickinson's poems when she says, "Rage is entirely separated from 'my
father, Edward Dickinson': it finds expression only in the poetry, directed toward a
'Father' in Heaven Whose face we never see and Whose voice we never hear" (64). Could it
be, then, that the phrase "My Classics" roughly translates to "My Father" (line 21)? It
is interesting to note here that Dickinson loved her father dearly, but that love was not
reciprocal. Shortly after her father's death, Emily Dickinson writes in one of her
letters, "I am glad there is Immortality - but would have tested it myself - before
entrusting him" (Wolff 64). Despite her love and respect for her father, she perhaps
feared the possibility that her father would make efforts after his own death to prevent
her from entering heaven. 
It seems, then, that one's interest for this poem is twofold. The first interest is the
purpose for the poem's duplication. A possible motive can be brought to light with a
quick look at the original manuscripts, at the end of which there is a snippet of another
poem. Perhaps the duplication process was enacted merely to separate "The feet of people
walking home" from the other, much shorter poem. If this is the case, the duplication may
be of no significance at all. The second interest, the poem's meaning, is undoubtedly the
most interesting of the two. The poem could be about Emily Dickinson's thoughts regarding
an unloving father. Yet, with Dickinson's multitude of metaphors, any meaning can be
interpreted for this poem. 
Bibliography
Franklin, R.W. The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, Massachusetts and
London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1981. 
Franklin, R.W. The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Variorium Edition. Cambridge, Massachusetts
and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998. 
Johnson, Thomas H. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston, Massachusetts: Little,
Brown and Company, 1961. 
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. Emily Dickinson. Reading, Massachusetts: Perseus Books, 1988.