Belonging to a place does not necessarily need to occur in a literal sense, but can also occur in a metaphorical sense. A spiritual sense of belonging arises from associating with a text, allowing a member of an audience to feel a sense of inclusivity. This demonstrates the relationship an author and an audience share through a piece of literature. By exploring ideas of belonging to nature, but more notably the way bird song represents the ever-changing nature of belonging, Dickinson creates a sense of inclusion through association with a text. Ecclesiastes 12:3-5 reinforces this idea of connections with nature by allowing an audience to associate with the text through the use of third person pronouns. Dickinson goes on to remove herself from her own context, and place herself in another, challenging senses of belonging to her time period. The scriptures found in Ecclesiastes 12:3-5 contrast this, by lacking contextual descriptors altogether, allowing a greater sense of belonging. By supporting ideas of belonging to the text, the composers create these connections with the audiences, giving them feelings of acceptance and understanding. This association with a text allows the audience to relate to spiritual connections, thus creating a sense of belonging to a metaphorical place.

Emily Dickinson’s poetry allows the audience to belong by using first person pronouns throughout her poetry, creating an association with the spiritual aspect of nature. Her inclusivity “makes us think of all the dead / That sauntered with us here,” by allowing the reader to take a moment to remember the deaths they have been touched by. Furthering this, “The saddest noise, the sweetest noise, / The maddest noise that grows –“ reinforces the idea that human life is fragile, and not beyond mortal range. The connections to nature are extended by “The birds, [who] make it in the spring,” referring to bird song, representing the temporal nature of belonging. The fragility of life is reiterated when “… the moss had reached our lips, / And covered up our names.” Again, Dickinson uses inclusive language to allow the audience to place themselves in the shoes of the character. Her choice of first person pronouns throughout her poetry invites the audience to belong to her works, bringing their own perspectives to the table.

Ecclesiastes 12:3-5 coincides with Dickinson’s use of inclusive language to belong to the text, however not through first person pronoun. Instead, the Bible verses use a third person omniscient narrator to convey the inclusivity of the scriptures. Dickinson’s use of bird song to represent the changing nature of belonging throughout time is also found within Ecclesiastes 12:3-5 “when people rise up at the sound of birds, / but all their songs grow faint…” This demonstrates the silence of death, as people move on in their lives and “mourners go about the streets.” reminiscing their memories with loved ones, as the audience remembers their own loved ones lost. The scriptures use nature as a turning point in the lives of all, as the presence of natural beings is removed and a sense of belonging to the text is achieved, thus creating a place in the natural order.

Dickinson allows her own connection to a futuristic audience, by distancing herself from her own contextual time period. By doing this, she creates immortality within her work, as the composer lives on long after her own death. By “inhale[ing] Despair” we are taking in misconceptions, such as the idea of our own life living on after our own death, without ever actually questioning the realistic elements our parting would have on the world. Dickinson’s sudden jump to “… distances of Centuries” suggests that she knows her works will be

published posthumously, and will be better understood by future audiences. Dickinson creates a sense of alienation by disassociating herself from her own context, and placing herself in another.

The scriptures of Ecclesiastes 12:3-5, on the other hand, suggests no time period, challenging Dickinson’s not belonging, by allowing association to any context. The lack of setting descriptors instead allows any audience to relate to “the people going to their eternal home.” This sense of eternity in itself displays an absence of time, as the home which all belong to experiences no periodic limitations. By rejecting these constrictions, the religious testimonies within Ecclesiastes 12:3-5 allow members of any contextual time period to belong to the text.

By bringing an audience together, the composers of the two texts allow a sense of belonging to be created through the use of inclusive language. Emily Dickinson’s distancing from her own context creates feelings of not belonging, while Ecclesiastes 12:3-5 challenges this, creating belonging through a lack of contextual references at all. These language features allow a person of any audience to reflect on their own experiences and connections to relate their own life to the word of a composer. The sense of acceptance and understanding created through this association instils a greater sense of belonging untouchable by the hands of time.