six feet under

After my first read of "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers" I was thoroughly confused as to what in the world Dickinson was writing about. What are "alabaster chambers?" Who are these "members of the resurrection?" What do "dots on a disk of snow" have to do with anything? Eventually I was able to discern plausible explanations for the many enigmatic phrases used by Dickinson. After a bit of research, I interpreted an alabaster chamber to be a coffin, which makes more sense when thought about in context with a "rafter of satin and roof of stone." Most coffins are lined in a satin material and the roof of stone is referring to a tombstone marking the grave. The second line also gives a clue that the subject she is talking about is a buried person because they would be underground (6 feet under, in fact) and completely sheltered from outside elements. Reference to the "meek members of the resurrection" is undeniably a Biblical allusion (I think it's in Psalms?) that alludes to God's promise that the meek shall inherit the earth.

The second stanza basically just reiterates that nature is continuous and is not really affected by death. I think it serves as an interesting juxtaposition to the other two stanzas though. The first stanza gave me a cold and numb feeling, whereas the second stanza is full of light and spirited imagery. Just thinking about an image of a "castle of sunshine" makes me feel warm and tingly, not in the least concerned with death, which I think was Dickinson's goal. The third stanza returns to bleak representations of a world separate from those entombed in "alabaster chambers." I believe Dickinson uses "diadem" as a term for a crown, which can be interpreted as the fall of kingdom/monarchy, perhaps? Obviously, she also knew her Italian history-- I did not know what a "Doge" was, but thankfully Wikipedia did-- and she uses the surrender of Doges to represent another change in political power. These allusions are just pointing out the surrounding world persists and never ceases because death is inevitable and immutable. Finally, I read "soundless as dots on a disk of snow" as a metaphor for how relatively unimportant a single life or death is in the grand scheme of things. A dot on a disk of snow is a minute detail as one death is in the whole world.