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 – 

Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice –
I just wear my Wings –
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton – sings.

God preaches, a noted Clergyman –
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last –
I'm going, all along.
  236 (1861)

In this poem, the speaker (who seems to hold many of the same sentiments about religion and nature as Dickinson herself) explains her own personal way of honoring the Sabbath as compared to the more tradition concept. Instead of attending a church service, she stays at home with birds instead of a choir and an orchard of trees standing in for the tradition church building. She doesn’t feel the need to dress up and is able to more fully be herself here. Another bird takes the place of church belling ringing. In her form of worship, it is God himself who delivers the sermon, making her realize that she doesn’t have to wait to reach heaven, but heaven is here on earth in nature.
Emily Dickinson is known as someone with conflicting views on religion who never fully accepted the religious traditions of her time. This poem shows how Dickinson is able to find God through her own term in what speaks to her as an individual: nature. She portrays that the best way to find heaven is through a form of spirituality that is wholly meaningful to you and not simply by conforming to set traditions.

Dickinson Homestead, where she is able to find

God through nature

This poem counters the common Puritan ideas about how God is found in our lives, what Heaven really is, and how we achieve it. Martin points out that Dickinson never made a public profession of faith at a time when that was pretty much necessary to be a full member of the church and to enter heaven. She also notes that “Dickinson attended services at the church until sometime in her late twenties” (26). Since this poem was written when she was around 31, it seems likely that this had been her usual Sunday routine for a few years. When the rest of her family went off to church, Dickinson was provided with the privacy that she craved, giving her the opportunity to find God on her own terms.

It is notable to discuss the full rhyme in each stanza in their second and fourth lines. Many of Dickinson’s poems actively disrupt expected rhyme schemes, but here she adheres more strictly to one. The order that she created with the rhymes in this poem parallel the order that she finds in her nature-based spirituality compared to the church. There is of course an irony in this when you think about the strict rigidity of tradition in the Puritan church. Additionally, Dickinson’s use of almost perfect hymn meter for this poem about stepping away from church traditions helps to show that she it not fully rejecting the idea of God, but simply creating a way for religion to work for her on a more personal level.

Despite going against tradition, the speaker of this poem doesn’t seem to be bitter or condescending toward the “some” who “keep the Sabbath going to Church.” Since the poem describes the importance of a personal form of spirituality, the speaker is content with others who find God through church services instead of nature, as she does.

The imagery on line 6 of the speaker “just wear[ing] [her] Wings” signifies the freedom and power that she finds in her own personal form of religion. She doesn’t have to put on a fancy dress to go out to her orchard to celebrate the Sabbath; it is implied that the speaker feels the most comfortable when she’s wearing her wings. This emphasis on the freedom found in person comfort and individuality really sums up the main point of this poem. For Dickinson, a religion is only valuable when it fully provides for the personal need of its congregation. She created a Church of Nature in which she is able to truly experience God and discover a sense of Heaven on Earth. 

Martin, Wendy. The Cambridge Introduction to Emily Dickinson. Cambridge University Press, 2007.