19 pages • 38 minutes read
Emily DickinsonA Clock stopped—
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1896A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Puppet
Swiss mantel clocks in the 1800s often had carved figures of human beings or animals as part of their make-up. In Dickinson’s poem it seems that this figure is mechanized, a “puppet” (Line 4) that normally “bow[ed]” before the stoppage occurred and it “dangled still” (Line 5). Clearly this is to show the fault in the mechanism, but on a symbolic level this aligns with human fragility and death. Puppets are often shaped in human form and a common image of having one’s strings being pulled by a master of Fate or a Supreme Being is implied here. This illuminates Dickinson’s theme that an individual must accept the inevitable fate of death. This mention solidifies that the breaking down of the clock is symbolic for the ending of a life and clarifies the extended metaphor.
Pendulum of Snow
The “pendulum” (Line 11) of any timepiece refers to the weight that regulates the mechanism by moving backward and forward. Without this motion, the clock cannot tell time. Here, the “pendulum” (Line 11) can also indicate the tendency for someone to swing from one extreme to another, perhaps in this case the living and the dead. This pendulum is made of “snow” (Line 11), suggesting either that it is very cold and thus frozen, or very fragile and easily blown apart. The whiteness of snow may also correlate with agedness of the clock or patient, suggesting that it was time for its breaking down due to old age. The important action here is “it will not stir” (Line 10). The ticking back and forth motion of the pendulum—as implied by the speaker’s continued personification between the clock and the human—symbolizes the motionless human heart. The pendulum here equates to the heart propelling the body. With the death, the heart ceases. Both becoming permanently still.
The Dial life
At the ending of the poem, the speaker notes the “Dial life” (Line 17) of the human being who has died. A dial refers to the face of a watch, clock, or sundial and how it is marked to show time. This idea helps to suggest the daily life of a living person, as it is often organized by repetitive habits and rituals and particularly time. We organize the world into units of time: years, days, time of day (morning, noon, night), hours, minutes, and seconds. This attention to time is particularly implied in the poem with the clock’s “Decimals” (Line 8), its marker of “Degreeless noon” (Line 9), its pendulum, and its “Seconds slim” (Line 15) clearly showing the passage of time as well as the human measurement of it. Using the term “Dial life” clearly links the imagery to the timepiece, but it also is effective in showing how humans live as well, and what we find important for demarcation. By showing the permanence of the “Dial life” (Line 17) running out, the speaker begs the question: to what we devoted our time?
Related Titles
By Emily Dickinson
