I Died for Beauty but Was Scarce by Emily Dickinson | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. “I Died for Beauty but Was Scarce” is an allegorical macabre poem written by Emily Dickinson that was published posthumously in 1890. The poem offers a discussion between two idealist persons, one died for beauty, and the other died for death. The speaker who died for beauty develops friendship and a rapport with the martyr who died for truth. However, soon their discussion ends as their voices and identities dissolve into oblivion. The poem offers a contrast of idealism against the stark reality of death, emphasizing that death is far more permanent than the ideals people die for.

The poem can also be interpreted as a discourse between truth and beauty that are laid beside one another in the graveyard of mind.

Structure of I Died for Beauty but was scarce:

The poem consists of 12 lines composed in three quatrains or stanzas. The poem follows a formal rhyming scheme of ABCB. Each of the four lines in all the quatrains follows a uniformly structured metrical scheme. Iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter dominate the poem. The tetrameter lines (the first and third in each stanza) have eight syllables and four feet, and the trimeter lines (the second and fourth) have six syllables and three feet. This structure offers a stress pattern of 4-3-4-3.

Dickinson used strong imagery in this poem. “Moss had reached our lips” and “covered up – our names” offer an imagery of the decaying effect of death. The two dead people buried in the same tomb are metaphors or personifications for the ideals of truth and beauty. Dickinson also used symbolism. While the ideals of truth and beauty symbolize perfection, death symbolizes failure. Dickinson used enjambment in lines 1,2, and 3 but used dashes and question marks in the other lines of the poem.

Summary of I Dies for Beauty but was scarce:

Stanza 1 Lines 1-4

“I died for Beauty – but was scarce
Adjusted in the Tomb
When One who died for Truth was lain
In an adjoining Room –“

The poem begins with a paradoxical tone as a dead person is speaking. It appears as if the poem is about the afterlife. However, the dead person is beauty personified. Beauty is being adjusted in the tomb carefully and lovingly. However, once she is inside, she feels lonely and scarce. She noticed that she wasn’t alone, there was someone else. A man who died for Truth. He may be a martyr or a soldier who died in the war. And the speaker could be a lover or a beautiful woman. Now, after their death, they both are put in the same tomb.

Stanza 2 Lines 5-8

“He questioned softly "Why I failed"?
"For Beauty", I replied -
"And I - for Truth - Themself are One -
We Brethren, are", He said -”

In the second stanza, the poetess opens up her metaphors. 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 is 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 lives for the fundamentals they believed in.

Dickinson used the term ‘failed’ for ‘died’. If a person fails the suggestion is that they somehow didn't quite make the grade in life, or died too young, or in suspicious circumstances. The poem appears thoroughly romantic and gothic but doesn’t appear macabre.

Stanza 3 Lines 9-12

“And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night -
We talked between the Rooms -
Until the Moss had reached our lips -
And covered up - Our names -”

In the third stanza, the poetess continues to describe the delicate relationship between the two ideals, Truth and Beauty. They have met like kinsmen at night and talked between their rooms. Their deaths for noble causes make them spiritually akin, which enables their communication. Like a found relationship where people do not run out of things to speak, the two keep communicating. Ironically, the conversation here happens between two corpses. Both have paid the ultimate price - how heroic, how perfect - and are now entering a new phase of their lives: death.

But, this doesn’t go long for they are covered by moss. The decay ends their ability to speak. They are once again silenced by the natural cycle of life and death. The image of the moss covering the bodies’ mouths erases not only their names but their memories from the time.

Dickinson was an avid reader and she read Shakespeare and John Keats. Some scholars suggest that this particular poem ‘I Died for Beauty but Was Scarce’ is a direct response to the penultimate stanza from Shakespeare's The Phoenix and the Turtle:

“Truth may seem but cannot be;
Beauty brag but 'tis not she;
Truth and beauty buried be.”

Some other scholars suggest that Emily’s poem could be inspired by the last two lines of Keats's Ode to a Grecian Urn:

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,- that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

In any case, Dickinson’s poem agrees with both Shakespeare and Keats and depicts the truth and beauty one in same, as a company in the afterlife.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!