Question

Read these lines from Emily Dickinson's "324" ("Some keep the Sabbath going to Church"):

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – I keep it, staying at Home – With a Bobolink for a Chorister – And an Orchard, for a Dome –What is one purpose of the metaphor in this excerpt?

A.To indicate that the speaker does not believe in God
B.To suggest that the outdoors is just as holy as church
C.To compare the speaker to the sermon given at church
D.To link two unlike concepts: church and one's conscience

Answer 1

B. To suggest that the outdoors is just as holy as church

Answer 2

B. To suggest that the outdoors is just as holy as church.

Step-by-step explanation:

Emily Dickinson's poem "324" "Some Keep the Sabbath going to Church" shows the poet declaring her own ways of praising and worshiping the Lord. She used the metaphor of "a Bobolink for a Chorister – And an Orchard, for a Dome" to show that one need not go to church physically to worship God. She herself stayed at home and still managed to do the same. She uses the Bobolinks(a kind of bird) as Choristers and the orchard as a Church/place of worship.

Emily Dickinson seems to suggest that the only way to praise God and be a believer is not going to church or dressing in any specific attire or even listening to the sermons. Rather, one can also be a true believer and attain wisdom and faith by being a true Christian and living life according to God's ways. Attending church is not even necessary, if one can live his/her life according to God's ways. She used the metaphor of the birds and the orchard to make a point that even the outdoors is just as holy as the church.