How much the present moment means
To those who've nothing more -
The Fop - the Carp - the Atheist -
Stake an entire store
Opon a moment's shallow Rim
While their commuted Feet
The Torrents of Eternity
Do all but inundate -
F (1420)
The speaker discusses life’s value from the standpoint of one who does not believe in a life to come. The present means immensely more to those not hoping for the future because it is all they have, “nothing more.”
Dickinson uses water imagery in relation to eternity to show the vastness of it: “Torrents of Eternity” and “inundated.” Torrents are “violent or rushing” streams, implying that eternity is violent and fast like the image pictured above (Emily Dickinson Lexicon). Inundate means full and overflowing, showing eternity does not fill the people who live for the moment, those who stay on the “shallow Rim.”
Dickinson uses the Fop, the Carp, and the Atheist as her example groups who share this feeling. A fop is a vain man who is overly concerned about his appearance while a carp is a complainer and critic. It is interesting that Dickinson throws the atheist among this crowd. She equates one who does not believe in God with vanity and criticism. All three of these people are concerned about the present more than the eternal future, but for different reasons.
Vanity is defined as “excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements” by the OED. A man full of vanity would not be concerned about the future because he is so concerned about the present. How does he look? How is he perceived? He is living for the now because he cannot see past the present. The carp, who complains and criticizes everything, is also overly concerned with the present. So concerned that he can only discuss how awful and flawed it is. This person does not have hope for a better life but dwells on the failures of the present. The atheist, having no belief in God, would not have a concept for the afterlife. There would be no reason to be concerned about something that he did not believe exists.
The atheist would obviously not be concerned about the afterlife because he does not believe in it, but the fop and the carp show their unbelief by their actions. Their way of life, vanity and complaining, shows that they do not think about eternity or the life to come. Their actions are purely focused on the present. Dickinson describes the lack of care for eternity as living on the “shallow Rim,” showing that she personally values eternity and the afterlife because it is vast and deep, exciting and epic.
Though Dickinson does not believe in the Christian concept of heaven (see “Going to Heaven!”), she believes in a heaven of her own. She cherishes the afterlife that she has created, full of nature. She cannot agree with those who have no concept of the afterlife because to live for now alone is vain.
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