“One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted” Summary

“One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted” Themes

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  The Darkness and Mystery of the Mind

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted”

• Lines 1-4

  One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted —
  One need not be a House —
  The Brain has Corridors — surpassing
  Material Place —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Far safer, of a Midnight Meeting
  External Ghost
  Than its interior Confronting —
  That Cooler Host —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  Far safer, through an Abbey gallop,
  The Stones a’chase —
  Than Unarmed, one’s a’self encounter —
  In lonesome Place —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Ourself behind ourself, concealed —
  Should startle most —
  Assassin hid in our Apartment
  Be Horror’s least —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  The Body — borrows a Revolver —
  He bolts the Door —
  O’erlooking a superior spectre —
  Or More —

  

  

  

  

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“One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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• Diacope

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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“One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Chamber
• Surpassing
• Material Place
• Midnight Meeting
• External ghost
• Abbey
• A'chase
• A'self
• Assassin
• Revolver
• Superior
• Spectre

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted” Speaker

“One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted”

More “One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted” Resources

• External Resources

  • Emily Dickinson and Gothic Literary History — Learn more about the Gothic literary genre and some of the ways it influenced Dickinson's poetry.

  • About Emily Dickinson — Learn more about the poet's life and work.

  • Original Manuscript of "One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted" — Check out a scan of the poem in Dickinson's own hand, written around 1862.

  • Major Characteristics of Emily Dickinson's Poetry — An overview of some of the most prevalent characteristics of Dickinson's poetry, such as her use of common meter and choice not to identify the speakers of her poems.

  • 1855-1865: The Writing Years — A more in-depth description of Dickinson's most prolific creative period, during which she wrote "One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted."

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!