AS Lit: 'Behind me - dips Eternity'

Time is presented in 'Behind me - dips Eternity' in various ways. The structure of the poem itself creates an idea of time being an endless entity, while Dickinson also uses the idea of time to question the idea of life.

One of the most noticeable elements of time in this poem can be seen through the way the poem is structured. The poem does not contain a full sentence, but rather just contains a series of phrases separated by hyphens. One interpretation of Dickinson's decision to exclude any complete sentences in her poem is that she's trying to replicate how time itslf has no 'full sentence' Time as we know it does not have a start, nor does it have an ending, and so it can be argued that Dickinson is trying her best to replicate that endless and immeasurable sense of time within her poem. Furthermore, even though there is no full stop in the poem, it is still read at a relatively slow pace. This is because the numerous caesurae used in the poem is very disruptive: 'In perfect - pauseless Monarchy.' In this sense we could argue that Dickinson is trying to manipulate our sense of time, by making the poem appear to be fast paced, yet it actually moves along very slowly. Perhaps this is what we perceive time to be in our ordinary lives, since time often appears to go quickly, yet in reality time is not actually altering its pace, rather it's just our perception of time that alters.

Nervertheless, in the first stanza of the poem Dickinson tries to position herself on a sort of timescale: 'Behind Me - dips Eternity - / Before me - Immortality - /Myself - the term between.' This unconventional way of trying to enhance our understanding of abstract concepts by mixing it with something concrete and visable is a common technique throughout her poems. In this instance, however, she is using the idea of 'positioning' and geography to help us gain a more vivid image of how vast time is and how little we are in relation to time. This metaphor creates an image of Dickinson pinpointing her position on a map, and when viewed in this context, Dickinson is making us realise how vast time is.