Summary and theme of "I Died for Beauty, but was Scarce" by Emily Dickinson- HSC English 1st paper

Summary and theme of "I Died for Beauty, but was Scarce"

by Emily Dickinson- HSC English 1st paper

I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
"For beauty," I replied.
"And I for truth, -the two are one;
We brethren are," he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.

Critical analysis: The poem begins with a paradoxical tone of a dead person speaking. Here the dead comprises the beauty. The first stanza speaks about the burial of beauty in a proper manner. She is being adjusted in the tomb carefully and lovingly. As she is laid, a company arrives beside her tomb. “Truth” is her new neighbour.

The second stanza is a discourse between the one who died for beauty and the one who died for truth. Sensing the presence of beauty beside his tomb, truth enquires about her cause of death. He addresses her slowly and genuinely, understanding that he was touching on a sore topic. He speaks softly to Her. Then “beauty” gives her reply, listening to which “truth” connects himself to the cause. He calls them “brethren” as both of them had given up their life for the fundamental they believed in.

The bond formed between the duos is discussed in the final stanza. Though they had only met, they began to share a relation of kinsmen immediately. Like a long lost sibling, they continue talking for a long time. But finally they had to stop as their mortal body starts decaying and gets covered with moss.