The Bustle in a House, Emily Dickinson

The Bustle in a House

The Morning after Death

Is solemnest of industries

Enacted opon Earth –

The Sweeping up the Heart

And putting Love away

We shall not want to use again

Until Eternity.

This is yet another poem by Dickinson about death. Her focus is not on ones personal death, but the death of a loved one. Again in this poem, she capitalizes certain words to give them emphasis on the overall meaning. In the first line, the word Bustle is capitalized to really show the high energy in people after the death of a close loved one. She also capitalizes House to represent the connection of the people involved. In the second line, she capitalizes two words; Morning and Death. Morning can have a double meaning in this particular poem. One is the actual words meaning, the beginning of the day, and the other is the word Mourning, which is lamenting over the loss of someone. Dickinson's recognizable diction in the third line sets the mood of the poem by detailing to the reader the solemness of the death and even compares it to an industry, which gives the situation a distinct ritual that needs to be followed. In the second stanza of the poem Dickinson begins with saying, "The Sweeping up the Heart." This is a powerful line by the poet, because it forms a connection between anyone who has felt a pain like this and the poet. Dickinson realizes how important love is and doesn't neglect it in this second stanza. In the second through fourth line, she continues on with the sweeping of the heart to putting the love away, and having no need with it again until eternity. Dickinson is relaying that even though death may come with a very deep impact, we shouldn't mourn over a death for a long time, and just sweep up the broken pieces and save our love and emotions for that person until our eternity, death. Dickinson uses the pause between the first and second stanza as a shift, turning from the shock of death, to the emotion of lost love.