Emily Dickinson's Garden of Poetry

Death is like the insect
Menacing the tree,
Competent to kill it,
But decoyed may be.

Bait it with the balsam,
Seek it with the saw,
Baffle, if it cost you
Everything you are.

Then, if it have burrowed
Out of reach of skill—
Wring the tree and leave it,
'Tis the vermin's will.


Many poems that Dickinson wrote were about death because it was such a major part of her life. She saw a lot of death in her life and she was also unsure of what death would be like for her. This poem might be one opinion that she has about death. Because Dickinson has no faith, she does not believe that people die because it is God's will. She believes that it is just a part of nature. An insect will destroy a tree, not because the insect has anything against the tree, but because that is what the bug has to do to survive. Death will come like a bug comes to the tree, that is just the way it is.