I took one Draught of Life — Life Insurance

Life insurance is about death. Dickinson combined her view on life and the nature of insurance in some of her poems. The insurance gives life a market price, and has a quite complex form to fill in. These poems show that she knew how to live in her time.

I took one Draught of Life－¹
I'll tell you what I paid－
Precisely an existence－
The market price, they said.

They weighed me, Dust by Dust－⁵
They balanced Film with Film,
Then handed me my Being's worth－
A single Dram of Heaven!

(F.396/J.1725)

[1] Life:: life insurance. Draught:: a sketch in words; a slight or concise account, outline, abstract _{(OED 29)}.
[3] existence:: a life; the payment after death, which costs a life.
[4] market price:: the life's market price defined by the insurance company.
[5] weighed, Dust by Dust:: based on every detail of the insured.
[6] balanced, Film with Film:: calculated in many pages.
[7] handed, Being's worth:: gave the insurance contract as a life's worth.
[8] Dram of Heaven:: a little taste of death (an insurance contract about death), or the extreme happiness.

Registration can alone determine questions in relation to the duration of life, to diseases and causes of death. Insurance on human life and health is becoming common in our country. The rates are based entirely upon facts procured in foreign countries, which may not be proper rates for the population of the United States. ─ Western Lancet (1853)