Emily Dickinson #11

Prague Astronomical Clock – photo by “Judith,” 2005

This poem appears to argue (contra Neoplatonism) that the identity of the soul does not disappear in Eternity:

“Two lengths has every day,
Its absolute extent —
And area superior
By hope or heaven lent.
Eternity will be
Velocity, or pause,
At fundamental signals
From fundamental laws.
To die, is not to go —
On doom’s consummate chart
No territory new is staked,
Remain thou as thou art. ” – Emily Dickinson

In some versions of the poem, the fourth line has “By Hope or Horror.” Both hope and horror alter the way in which subjective “felt” time is perceived.