Safe

I'm going to be honest, when I read the first stanza of this poem, I thought it was talking about a pearl in an oyster shell. However, after reading the poem several times, I came to the conclusion that Emily was (possibly) talking about religious people or death. The first stanza seems to describe a church. The church, as an institution, not so much as a building, remains resolute and "untouched by" any changes occurring in the world outside it. The followers of the religion remain inside it as well. On the other hand, I also thought that the first stanza seemed to be describing those who are buried and under the earth. They are also unaffected by the weather and events in the world around them.

The second stanza seems to go along more with the theme of death rather than religion. The "castle of sunshine" is heaven. In heaven, all is light and pleasant. However, the birds, which seem to represent a choir in church, sing an ignorant cadence, perhaps a hymn, results in "sagacity," or wise-ness to be lost. What this might mean is that people sing about heaven as a light and wonderful thing, but they are singing in ignorance and without wisdom. She seems to challenge the Christian belief of an afterlife.

The third stanza seems to go back to fit my interpretation of either death or religious peoples. If it discusses death, it's saying that the world continues above those who are deceased, emperors come and go unknown to those at eternal rest. Also, she could be saying that those who are religious are oblivious to the political or social events of the world around them, these events are "soundless as dots on a disk of snow" and have no impact.

My interpretation could be completely off, but that is what I gained from this poem. I'd really like to hear any feedback about my thoughts!