Emily Dickinson

Absence disembodies—so does Death

Summary


"Absence disembodies—so does Death" is a compact Emily Dickinson poem that weighs two kinds of vanishing against each other. A loved one's absence and the finality of death both hide a person from the Earth, yet the speaker finds that superposition and love may soften the loss. Spare and quietly aching, the lines ask whether tenderness fades the more we try to prove it, leaving readers with a question about how we hold on to those who are gone.

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Absence disembodies—so does Death
Hiding individuals from the Earth
Superposition helps, as well as love—
Tenderness decreases as we prove—

Woman at a window gazing into fog, her reflection fading, illustrating Emily Dickinson's poem Absence disembodies—so does Death

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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a 19th-century American poet, famed for her slant rhyme, dashes and intensely private verse, most of it published after her death. This brief piece shows her habit of packing a philosophical argument into only a few lines.