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Death is a common theme in literature. It is the end of the line on the human train of life. People have different views on death, with some fearing it and some embracing it as a passage to something else. Death can be interpreted in ways other than just loss of physical life, including loss of a loved one or even loss of sanity. Both Emily Dickinson’s poem “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” and Ambrose Bierce’s story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” deal with the theme of death, albeit in different ways. However, they are both losing what they hold dearest to them. These two pieces of work by Dickinson and Bierce are similar in that they convey the theme of the death or something they care about. “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” is one of …show more content…
In this story, the protagonist “lapses into a delusionary dream in which he escapes death after the weight of his body snaps the hangman’s rope” (Cummings par. 16). Farquhar’s dream is very short, but in his head it is hours in length. This dream is him getting away from the reality of the situation. In his dream, he delved into the inner part of his personality. At the end of his dream, he is rewarded with the ultimate vision of a female. Bierce says it is his wife, however it could just be the epitome of female beauty (Powers 280). In addition, “this shift enables Bierce to take the reader inside Farquhar’s mind to demonstrate how emotional upheaval alters not only how the mind interprets reality but also the way it perceives the passage of time” (Cummings par. 11). In this way he switches the point of view that the story is told from. The unknown part of Farquhar’s personality that Bierce shows the reader is represented by the Owl. This part is shown at a bridge named after an owl, so it goes together (Powers 279). A more real part of Farquhar’s personality is shown in his life, which is his devotion to the south. As a plantation owner, Farquhar has many slaves of his own. In this situation, Farquhar is all tied up himself. The final dream of his existence is getting out of the situation because being all tied up is scary (Cummings par. 17). Farquhar is also a satirical character, …show more content…
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” contains a theme of cheating death. Bierce shows that the end of his life cannot be evaded. He shows insight on what someone might be thinking at the end of their life. There is also a theme of deception. Bierce makes the reader “want to believe that Farquhar has managed to avoid death and achieve the glory he so wanted to attain, ignores clue throughout the narrative that Farquhar is hallucinating” (Wilson 163). Finally, there is a theme of slavery. Black things are mentioned, such as black bodies of trees and circle of black on the Farquhar’s neck where the rope was. Slavery is also mentioned due to the fact that Farquhar is a plantation owner (Cummings par. 18). Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” has the theme of death as well. This poem, like others of hers, shows how the senses are magnified before death. This death is probably not a physical death but a mental death (Panesar par. 4). This is shown when she has a loss “of order and clarity: (‘a plank in Reason, broke’(17))” (par. 3). She is pretty much going crazy at the end of the poem when her brain dies (par. 3). This common theme in literature is apparent in both of these pieces of literature, making them
In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.
In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” she uses the structure of her poem and rhetoric as concrete representation of her abstract beliefs about death to comfort and encourage readers into accepting Death when He comes. The underlying theme that can be extracted from this poem is that death is just a new beginning. Dickinson deftly reassures her readers of this with innovative organization and management, life-like rhyme and rhythm, subtle but meaningful use of symbolism, and ironic metaphors.
Although Whitman and Dickinson’s poems both center on the topic of death, they both have different ways of approaching it. Walt Whitman wrote the poem “Song of Myself” where he speaks of death and how it recycles the life that once was lived. His poem carries a joyous tune stating how as life moves on, the ones who are buried are reborn. Contrarily, Emily Dickinson’s poem “I heard a fly buzz- when I died.” has more of a morbid tone. Her poem speaks of someone being in their deathbed while others wait for her to die. These two poems show a distinctive contrast on how views of death are interpreted. These poems dive into the different interpretations of death, the varied effects they have, and how the tone affects the overall sense of the poem.
The poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson dramatizes the speaker’s experience with death by using the personification of death as a way for the reader to visualize her experience. Presented as a gentleman or potential suitor, death comes to pick the speaker up in a carriage. The surprise visit from him “tells the readers that no one can anticipate death” (Lin 2017), which is one of the main ideas of the poem. Death is described as being “kindly” and having “civility”, the speaker emphasizes how death is not as scary as he is often depicted (2, 8). They are joined in the carriage by immortality, which is also personified, and together they take a trip through the town. They pass by children in the school playground, fields of grain, and the setting of the sun. Their trip ends at a house, described as “A Swelling of the Ground”, which symbolizes the speaker’s grave (18). The speaker comments that the passing of time since death seems to be “shorter than the day” when in actuality it had been “centuries” (22, 21). This poem asserts that
Death is always a common theme in literature in not only old days but also present time, but in most of the case, death is described as a bad and horrible thing. Emily Dickinson is one of the most outstanding poets who write about the theme of death. In American literature, she is considered as one of the top three poets with Edgar Allan Poe and Whiteman. Her poems always have special using of punctuation, rhythm and image in writing about religion, death, love, nature and poetic art. That is why she makes a significant contribution to the American literature, especially in the poems write about her own feelings and thoughts about death.
Thomas Higginson changing Dickinson's words. An interpretive paper on, "I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson became legendary for her preoccupation with death. All her poems contain stanzas focusing on loss or loneliness, but the most striking ones talk particularly about death, specifically her own death and her own afterlife. Her fascination with the morose gives her poems a rare quality, and gives us insight into a mind we know very little about. What we do know is that Dickinson’s father left her a small amount of money when she was young. This allowed her to spend her time writing and lamenting, instead of seeking out a husband or a profession. Eventually, she limited her outside activities to going to church. In her early twenties, she began prayed and worshipped on her own. This final step to total seclusion clearly fueled her obsession with death, and with investigating the idea of an afterlife. In “Because I could not stop for Death”, Dickinson rides in a carriage with the personification of Death, showing the constant presence of death in her life. Because it has become so familiar, death is no longer a frightening presence, but a comforting companion. Despite this, Dickinson is still not above fear, showing that nothing is static and even the most resolute person is truly sure of anything. This point is further proven in “I heard a Fly buzz”, where a fly disrupts the last moment of Dickinson’s life. The fly is a symbol of death, and of uncertainty, because though it represents something certain—her impending death—it flies around unsure with a “stumbling buzz”. This again illustrates the changing nature of life, and even death. “This World is not Conclusion” is Dickinson’s swan song on the subject of afterlife. She confirms all her previous statements, but in a more r...
The theme of death is most writers describing what a person has went through concerning a loss. The tone of death can be many things, it can be for the most part very sad and somber. The activity of death can be very gruesome, in its many forms. Different writers use characters to describe the different activities of death. Most people experience death at least once in their lives. Honor those who are brave enough to write about death.
In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could not Stop for Death” she uses a variety of poetic devices to enhance the feeling in the poem. In the poem, Dickinson writes, “ The Carriage held but ourselves/ And Immortality.” (3-4) she is using personification when giving immortality human qualities as he is supposedly riding in the carriage along with her and death. Alliteration is also a poetic device that is used in the poem when, “We passed the setting sun” (Dickinson 12). The most interesting device that is used in the writing is a very extensive extended metaphor comparing death to a journey. Emily Dickinson uses very good word choice throughout the poem making the carriage ride of death and the passing
When death is the main topic of conversation; it can usually be interpreted in two ways. In Because I Couldn’t Stop for Death, Emily Dickinson shows how one could put aside their emotions and consider death to be a positive thing that occurs as it can lead to an afterlife to look forward to. In contrast, Emily Dickinson’s other poem I Heard a Fly Buzz Before I Died, shows death to be this sad quite moment where everything is slowly coming to an end, and there is nothing to look forward it, no afterlife adventure. Although Emily Dickinson’s two poems, Because I Couldn’t Stop for Death and I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died orbit around the same central theme of dying, both poems show that there can be different approaches on what comes after death
Many writers use different aspects of literature to suggest certain themes or their interpretations of concepts in their works; Emily Dickinson, a posthumous poet in the 1800s, is no different. Following her death in 1886, the hundreds of poems that she wrote were edited and published by her sister; with no direct interpretations from Dickinson herself, her readers were left to decipher the subtle ideas that she incorporated in her poems. One of the many poems that Dickinson had written was “Because I could not stop for Death”, in which the main character (whom we can assume is a female according to Dickinson’s word choice of “[g]own” and “[g]ossamer”) of the poem encounters a personified Death, with whom she completes her journey to her own
The poem, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” by Emily Dickinson depicts a mental breakdown that consumed her at one point in her life. The most ideal approach to grasp Dickinson’s message is to give careful consideration to the emotions made by reading and rereading the poem itself and to reveal the significance of the poem by exploring the life of the Dickinson. Is Emily Dickinson’s poem explaining her road to insanity?
In the poems “ we grow accustomed to the dark” and “before I got my eye put out”, by Emily Dickinson they both talk about changes in life and how you overlook things Your vision, or direction. Both the poems speak about things that people go through in life, like even though you're going into the dark and you don’t know what you’ll find. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel to lead you. Also, getting your eye put out is just like a bad mood, If you're in a bad mood, then you’ll look at things in A bad way.
Emily Dickinson's poems reveals that death is her principal subject; in fact, because the topic is related to many of her other concerns, it is difficult to say how many of her poems concentrate on death. But over half of them and about a third centrally, feature the subject of death. Most of these poems also touch on the subject of religion, although she did write about religion without mentioning death. Life in a small New England town in Dickinson's time contained a high mortality rate for young people; as a result, there were frequent deaths around her. Coupled with Dickinson’s already pre-existing obsession with death, as well as her peculiar behavior towards the world, her agony over her lack of romantic love, and her doubts about fulfillment beyond the grave. Centuries ago, ...
Throughout Emily Dickinson’s poetry there is a reoccurring theme of death and immortality. The theme of death is further separated into two major categories including the curiosity Dickinson held of the process of dying and the feelings accompanied with it and the reaction to the death of a loved one. Two of Dickinson’s many poems that contain a theme of death include: “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” and “After great pain, a formal feeling comes.”