Emily Dickinson’s “’Tis so much joy” dramatizes the exuberance of venturing forth on an undertaking and despite a possible loss, one can experience “so much joy.”
What a treat to visit Poet Seers and find a lovely Dickinson poem featured as the Poem of the Day! And its message of inspiration is a valuable and uplifting one. For the speaker of the poem, the possible devastation of loss is offset by the fact that she had the faith and courage to venture forth and to attempt to win.
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“Life is but life, and death but death!”
The speaker excitedly proclaims that “Life is but life, and death but death!” She furthermore exclaims, “Bliss is but bliss, and breath but breath.” So if she meets with defeat, she can proclaim defeat is but defeat, or as she puts it, “At least to know the worst is sweet. / Defeat means nothing but defeat, / No drearier can prevail!”
But if she wins, there will be a gun salute and the church bells will ring, but she will have to be careful and gradually get used to the winning, because for her “heaven” would be winning, and if she were to become conscious of being transported to heaven, she might become too excited: heaven “might o'erwhelm me so!”
Overwhelmed vs Extinguished
Interestingly, in the Thomas Johnson publication of Dickinson’s original versions of her poems, instead of “o’erwhelm me so” she says “extinguish me.” The editors who changed Dickinson’s extinguish to overwhelm, no doubt, did so because they deemed such a word a mere exaggeration.
But true prophets or seers, those who reach the breathless state of samadhi, satori, nirvana, do realize that their physical level of being is “extinguished” as they commune in heaven with the Divine. So Dickinson’s original better expresses what the speaker of the poem means.
The poem is inspirational, however, even if the reader takes its message to apply only to the physical level of being. The healthy attitude of viewing defeat as just defeat and not the end of one’s striving can prevent depression and illness, because one will retain the hope, courage, and faith to continue striving to live a fulfilling life.
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