Emily Dickinson’s “My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close” is a poem that describes the anguish that she experiences regarding the deaths of two close loved ones. Her usage of strong imagery is able to immerse the readers and have them empathize with her pain. The poem begins as she introduces her torment from the experience as it transcends to the torment of all beings on earth.
In this poem, Emily Dickinson reveals that her life has closed twice before its close. In literal translation this means that her life has ended twice, resulting from death (1). It is not possible that she has physically died twice, but when interpreted differently, it might have been two dreadful instances that brought her immense suffering. She feels as if the events were so traumatizing her own life has ended. She contemplates how heavy the emotional burden another close death would be and claims it would be “so huge, so hopeless to conceive”, just as horrible as the prior two (4-6). In the last 2 sentences of the poem, she compares the current world we live in to hell and that all we need is heaven, since heaven is where we know all our loved ones who have parted, reside. (8)
"My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close" is comprised of two stanzas with four lines each. Figurative devices such as personification are used when intangible objects such as ‘life’ are portraying human actions such as ‘seeing’ (2). The poem has a rhyme structure of abcbbcdc. Metaphors such as “see” and “unveil” can be used to show vision (3). Analyzing the possibilities of who the two deaths could be, it is most likely the death of her mother, 'Emily Norcross', and that of her nephew, 'Thomas Gilbert Dickinson'; both occurring within a year interval of each other. The death of her 7 year old nephew from typhoid fever devastated her ability to conceive happiness. As the poem nears its end, it uses its sense of disparity in hopes of having the reader sympathize for her loss, understanding the tremendous amount of sorrow she went through.
In conclusion, Emily Dickinson’s “My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close” strongly depicts her mourning of two beloved ones. Her loss of those who were dear to her greatly influenced the poems she would construct in her lifetime. “My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close” particularly addresses the deaths of those closest to her.