To make One's Toilette-after Death 1
Has made the Toilette cool
Of only Taste we cared to please
Is difficult, and still-
That's easier-than Braid the Hair-5
And make the Bodice gay-
When eyes that fondled it are wrenched
By Decalogues-away-
Has made the Toilette cool
Of only Taste we cared to please
Is difficult, and still-
That's easier-than Braid the Hair-5
And make the Bodice gay-
When eyes that fondled it are wrenched
By Decalogues-away-
(F.471/J.485)
[1] One:: a nun, hinted by Decalogues in line eight. Death:: the end of the mundane world.
[2] cool:: dispassionate.
[3] only Taste:: the only experience of life, the devotion to God.
[4] difficult, still:: hard and calm, a nun's life.
[5-6] easier, gay:: the toilet before she was a nun.
[7] Eyes that fondled:: her view used to like it.
[8] Decalogues:: Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. The plural form is suspicious. Dickinson used Decalogue in other poem and her letter. She might try to say there are many times more Ten Commandments for nuns. By Decalogues away:: the fondled view is away due to decalogues that nuns follow.
Velvet and satin, replaced sackcloth and serge in the nun's toilette. Each cell was tapestried with rich hangings, and reflected in the finest Venetian mirrors all the accessories of the most refined coquetry; and much more! ─ The Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion (1842)