Emily Dickinson

A Service of Song

A SERVICE OF SONG.
Some keep the Sabbath going to church;
I keep it staying at home,

bobolink for a chorister

A **chorister** is a church choir member. Dickinson substitutes a bobolink—a songbird known for its bubbling, joyful call—for formal church music.

With a bobolink for a chorister,
And an orchard for a dome.
Some keep the Sabbath in surplice;
I just wear my wings,

I just wear my wings

A **surplice** is the white ceremonial robe worn by clergy and choir. Her "wings" suggests she's already angelic without church costume.

And instead of tolling the bell for church,

little sexton sings

A **sexton** is the church caretaker who rings bells and digs graves. Here it's another bird, turning death's attendant into a singer of life.

Our little sexton sings.
God preaches,—a noted clergyman,—
And the sermon in never long;
So instead of getting to heaven at last,
I'm going all along!

going all along

Not "getting to heaven at last" (after death) but experiencing it continuously in the present moment. Heaven as ongoing experience, not future reward.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Dickinson's Religious Rebellion

CONTEXT Emily Dickinson refused to join the Congregational church in Amherst, Massachusetts, despite enormous social pressure. In the 1850s, this was scandalous—nearly everyone in her community had a conversion experience and joined the church. Her family attended services; she increasingly stayed home.

This poem (written around 1860) isn't atheist—it's relocating the sacred. She keeps the Sabbath, just not in the approved way. Notice the religious vocabulary she preserves: chorister, dome (cathedral ceiling), surplice, sexton, sermon, heaven. She's not rejecting Christianity's framework; she's claiming nature performs it better.

The poem's structure mirrors a church service—chorister (opening hymn), sexton (call to worship), God preaches (sermon), heaven (benediction). She's built a complete liturgy outdoors, substituting birds for clergy and orchard for architecture. The joke is that her service has all the same parts as theirs, just honest versions.

The Final Reversal

The last two lines flip Protestant theology on its head. Traditional Christianity promises heaven "at last"—after death, as reward for earthly devotion. Dickinson's speaker is "going all along"—experiencing heaven continuously, right now, in the orchard.

This is the poem's radical claim: that institutional religion delays heaven while nature delivers it. The church's sermon is implicitly long and boring ("never long" is sarcastic relief). God's sermon in nature is brief because it's direct—no intermediary, no waiting, no death required.

Notice "getting to heaven" versus "going." "Getting" implies arrival, destination, future tense. "Going" is present continuous—she's already in motion, already there. The exclamation point isn't triumph; it's the surprise of realizing you don't have to wait for joy.