“There is Another Sky”

There is another sky’ uses aspects of Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnets in order to craft an original sonnet form that does not conform strictly to either pattern. It was one of her earlier poems. Through this poem, Dickinson addresses her brother William Austin Dickinson. She presents two worlds, one is the real world to which the poet and her brother belong.

The other one is an imaginative place where both of them take refuge to escape the pangs of contemporary times. The main theme of this piece is the everlasting quality of poetry or art in general. Dickinson addresses this theme and others, such as time, aging, and change, within the fourteen lines of this sonnet. 

 Emily Dickinson speaks directly to her brother, Austin. She tells him that there is “another sky” to convince him to come back from Boston to Amherst. Contextually progressing, she tells her brother stories of “home”. The first line of the poem itself “There is another sky” is a metaphor towards expressing “There is another place for you”.

As per the context, Amherst is just another geographical location yet in her poem, it begets a celestial depiction comparable with the “Garden of Eden” where sunshine never fades and leaves are always green.

She wanted to portray the idea of home as something special. No matter what changes around home, home will always be home. Emily, being the loving sister, wanted her brother to know that in Boston there might be darkness and the flowers may wither, but “here” there is always sunshine and the flowers are forever blooming in her garden. “Here”, as per context, means Amherst or their home, however, it could also mean her being the heart of their home.

The writer expresses the unorthodox amount of love she has towards her brother in this poem, and because she loved him, she wanted him to be happy and this garden of hers serves that very purpose. Austin might be living very jolly but there are bound to be sad moments. Emily loves him so much that she wants even those sad moments to completely disappear. Living under a light that never fades is just her way of expressing her undying love for him.

The poem ends with “Into my garden come!” sending out an invitation to her brother and reminding that their home will always be his home. However, the nature of the poem allows it to be interpreted in another manner where Emily is describing herself to her brother. But, regardless of interpretation, it is still an invitation sent to her brother, Austin, to come back home

The lines are short, only 3 to 5 metric feet, and with Dickinson’s characteristic slant rhyme, the rhyme scheme is rough, ABCBCDECFCGHIH. This innovative sonnet sections itself into two quatrains and a sestet, making it a gentle melding of the English and Italian sonnets.