I died for beauty, but was scarce Adjusted in the tomb, When one who died for truth was lain In an adjoining room. He questioned softly why I failed? "For beauty," I replied. "And I for truth,--the two are one; We brethren are," he said. And so, as kinsmen met a night, We talked between the rooms. Until the moss had reached our lips, And covered up our names.

Both speakers die "for" either beauty or truth. The primary meaning of "for" is "in the cause of." It has a secondary meaning, which is "to achieve" or "to have as a goal." Which meaning is appropriate here, or can both be meant? Dickinson associates beauty and truth in this poem. The speakers' deaths are described in parallel language; they are buried in "adjoining" rooms and are "brethren" and "kinsmen." These descriptions also make clear that they are not identical; otherwise they would be buried in the same room and be twins. The ending is subtly prepared for with the question "why I failed?" The crucial word is "failed," rather than "died." Their deaths and any hopes of succeeding in their goals are futile. The moss covers their lips and their names on the grave marker; death has ended all communication and effectiveness. With this image Dickinson shows the powerlessness of the human condition and the relentless indifference of nature to human beings, who are obliterated at death. The speakers are never named; they are anonymous. Is it ironic that the only life in the poem is the moss?