tant basis (I'm going all along) which is the more true path towards salvation. The humor in the last poem is not as explicit as found in the other poems discussed, nor is the irony as directly expressed as in Success ... The irony is first suggested in the opening lines of "Some keep the Sabbat going to Church - / I keep it staying home" and reaches it most explicit form in the closing lines of "So instead of getting to Heaven, at last – I'm going, all along." It might be that due to the fact this poem addresses social conventions more than actual spirituality and a belief in God that Dickinson chooses to keep the level of irony lower than found in "Faith"... The humor found in this poem is less explicit as well. While the contrasts of a Bobolink for a Choirister and a Orchard for a Done is humourous, in these descriptions Dickinson appears to be confessing her own individual, private communion with God to the reader. Thus she does not accentuate the humor in the juxtaposition of the objects in order not to trivialize her own beliefs, but allows enough humor to enter the description to stamp the poem with the child-like free spiritedness found in ...Nobody.... Again in this poem, the poetess' desire for seclusion and unconventionality is expressed eloquently through a light-handed treatment of the subject matter. In conclusion, it can be stated the examples of Emily Dickinson's work discussed in this essay show the poetess to be highly skilled in the use of humor and irony. The use of these two tools in her poems is to stress a point or idea the poetess is trying to express, rather than being an end in themselves. These two tools allow her to present serious critiques of her society and the place she feels she has been allocated into by masking her concerns in a light-hearted, irreverent tone. Word Count: 1330...
