This World is not Conclusion

One of the principal themes of “This World is not Conclusion” and many of Dickinson’s other poems is the infinite unknowability of God, Heaven, and eternity. The beginning of the poem affirms that existence in this world is not the “conclusion” (Line 1) of life, since there is another world outside of ours. However, the speaker’s certainty extends only to the existence of this “beyond” (Lind 2), but not to any particular aspect of its true nature, information which no human being possesses. Possibly, this new place holds another “Species” (Line 2)—but using this scientific classification indicates a level of uncertainty and personal distance. The poem’s speaker knows that there are beings in Heaven, but can only characterize them in inconclusive and almost inhuman terms.

The rest of the poem confirms humans’ limited understanding of eternity and its residents. Attempts to describe the next world can only generate comparisons to bodily senses: The afterlife is “Invisible, as Music—/ But positive, as Sound” (Lines 3-4). Auditory events, while a familiar phenomenon, are intangible—but because we cannot see or touch them, doesn’t mean they aren’t real. Similarly, the speaker implies that the “beyond” can be felt with another human sense, though it defies the specificity of sight.