ABSTRACT
Her verse conveys her sense of complete enclosure and blurs the distinction between the convent’s interior and her own body: in her “native cell,” she is “At home within” herself (1, 2). Not only does the poem collapse body and room, but it also depicts that dwelling space through images of negation. The cell “shut[s] out” “all noyse” and all light (since “All windows close”), except for a “dim flame” provided by the allegorical “Taper” of faith (2, 5). That dim flame is nothing like a pleasant hearth fire, physically spreading warmth and comfort. The nun’s only view from the closet she portrays is the harsh, frightening prospect of “Hell and Judgment” (6).
