Recognizing the Life Theme Connections in 3 Emily Dickinson Poems
Life connections remain to be one of the significant themes shaping Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Her works give emphasis on speaker’s individual perceptions surrounding life and its connection with faith, personal values and what remains to be important. As Dickinson brings these themes forward, it opens up avenues for readers to develop an appreciation to the central message of the speaker and develop interpretations of its relevance of how we view life. The objective of this paper is to examine how life connections are manifested using 3 of Dickinson’s poems entitled: ‘Because I could not stop for death,’ ‘I had no time to hate, because’ and ‘If I should die’. Piecing together
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The first poem that I chose that allows Dickinson to dwell upon life connections is reflected in her poem ‘Because I could not stop for death’. Arguably, this piece enables readers to recognize the ability of the speaker to indicate connections with a God. Specifically, it gives an emphasis on man’s life after death and the journey towards understanding this state. Specifically, the quote “The Carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality” gives emphasis on the journey to understand the reality of existence after death. Looking at this quote further, it gives impression on her belief system in this piece. The ideas that are communicated to audiences surrounding immortality show one’s journey beyond that of the physical world. It emphasizes that beyond our existence in today’s world there is still another journey in the …show more content…
This particular piece examines the perspective of dealing with death. It gives readers the impression of what life would be and the wish that the speaker has. Using the lines “When we with Daisies lie That commerce will continue And Trades briskly fly” indicates how she would want to restore normalcy as much as possible. Rather than feeling sad and depressed about what happened, people should move on and continue living their individual lives. Connecting this poem to the overall theme surrounding life connections, Dickinson provides the relevance of individual values in the piece. The poem remains to recognize that dealing with death is always difficult. But this should not stop others to live. They must move forward and look into ways where they can find significance and connection in their lives. From the perspective of the dying person, this is a better scene to look at compared to mourning and grieving. Arguably, this is exemplified in the lines that say “It makes the parting tranquil And keeps the soul serene”. Clearly, this poem is about personal values as well as that of Dickinson. It shows that since death is inevitable in everyone, people should not mourn so much about their loss. The death of someone should not be a cause for people to not have normal lives. Rather, they must use this as an opportunity to commemorate and remember the wonderful memories that have been left
Dickinson gives us a joyous and happy view of death, which is like a kind gentleman that takes her on a journey. He is so civil, therefore. she willingly gives him her “labor” and “leisure”. She is not afraid of death, she instead receives it calmly. Whitman’s view is the contrary.
...humanize death and let the reader feel that death is a person who he can deal with. Also, she constantly uses imagery in her lines and she painted a perfect scene of what is going to happen when everybody dies, so the reader would have almost a clear image that will comfort him. Another literary element she was awesome in using is style. Dickinson’s organization had a hidden meaning of faith after death. Also, her punctuation use was so smart to show the eternity after death. Over all, using this combination of literary styles helped her to deliver her ideas easily and clearly after spending some time contemplating behind the lines. It is one death but different perspectives.
She chooses this arrangement of verse in order to ordain a religious aspect into the poem, which does well to suite the theme and what she is fond of. As the recollection of the speaker’s death progresses, Dickinson uses the stanzas to mark the stages of the
Emily Dickinson is one of the most popular American poets of all time. Her poetry is seen as intense and passionate. Several of her many poems seem to be devoted to death and sadness. No one seems to know the exact connections between actual events in her life and the poetry that she wrote. The reader can see vivid images of Dickinson's ideas of death in several of her poems. Dickinson's use of imagery and symbolism are apparent in several of her death poems, especially in these three: "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain," "I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died," and "Because I Could Not Stop for Death."
Emily Dickinson once said, “Dying is a wild night and a new road.” Some people welcome death with open arms while others cower in fear when confronted in the arms of death. Through the use of ambiguity, metaphors, personification and paradoxes Emily Dickinson still gives readers a sense of vagueness on how she feels about dying. Emily Dickinson inventively expresses the nature of death in the poems, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280)”, “I Heard a fly Buzz—When I Died—(465)“ and “Because I could not stop for Death—(712)”.
One thing the poet utilizes to demonstrate her point with imagery is the usage of time. In the poem, it states: “And time should gurgle on”, which illustrates that time will go on after one’s death. Dickinson also uses personification to give the viewers a better viewpoint on death. Also, the poet uses words such as “gurgle, burn, bustling go, and one might depart at option from enterprise below”, might relate to a loved one who died. Therefore, the poet tries to tell the audience it is okay to move on and love someone again. “Tis sweet to know that stocks will stand, when we with daisies lie, that commerce will continue”, is a saying from the poem which makes the speaker feel better that once we die the nature will die as well. On the other hand, the narrator is worried about dying and leaving things behind. The poem ends with this astonishing line “conduct the pleasing scene” to clarify that death is a pleasant thing to encounter since it’s the way of life. The poet looks at death as a process of life which makes it easier to
Many of Emily Dickinson's poems touch on topics dealing with loss. While loss is generally considered a sad or unfortunate thing, Dickinson uses this theme to explain and promote the positive aspects of absence. Throughout many of her poems, one can see clearly that she is an advocate of respecting and accepting the state of being without. Dickinson implies that through these types of losses, one can gain a richer and stronger appreciation for both success and belongings. Poems 67 and 1036 are two that capture the extent of Dickinson's feelings on loss. By understanding and comparing these two works, it is easy to recognize that Dickinson believes that possessing neither material possessions nor the joy of success are the real keys to happiness.
Dickinson doesn’t have the speaker complain about dying and be trying to avoid it instead she is calm and just riding along with death. She sort of goes on a date with him and is driving around taking their time to get wherever they need to go. When you get to the end you realize that she is already dead, and that’s why she wasn’t fighting it, because she was already there. The speaker had come to terms with what had happened and was reliving the moment when it happened. As one would expect, dealing with death, it was darker than her poem about hope. This poem was really able to capture emotion of death and portray it in an easy way to
Dickinson 's poem uses poetic devices of personification to represent death, she represents death as if it were a living being. Dickinson 's capitalization of the word “DEATH”, causes us to see death as a name, in turn it becomes noun, a person, and a being, rather than what it truly is, which is the culminating even of human life. The most notable use of this, is seen in the very first few lines of the poem when Dickinson says “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me”. In her poem Dickinson makes death her companion, as it is the person who is accompanying her to her grave. She states that death kindly stopped for her and she even goes as far as to give death the human ability to stop and pick her up. The occasion of death through Dickinson use of personification makes it seem like an interaction between two living beings and as a result the poem takes on a thoughtful and light hearted tone. The humanization of death makes the experience more acceptable and less strange, death takes on a known, familiar, recognizable form which in turn makes the experience more relatable. As the poem
In poetry, death is referred as the end of literature and it is associated with feeling of sorrows. However Emily Dickinson demonstrates that death is not the end of literature or feeling of sadness but death is a new element of inspiration in poetry and is the beginning of a new chapter in our life. In the poem ‘’Because I Could Not Stop for Death’, she discusses the encounter of a women with death, who passed away centuries ago. Dickenson uses metaphors and similes to show that the process of dying can be an enjoyable moment by appreciating the good moments in life, and by respecting death rather than fearing it. Also Dickinson portrays death in a humorous way as she compares it to man seducing her to go to her death as well, to childhood games that show the innocence of this encounter (Bloom). The poem is a reflection of how unpredictable death can be. Death is a scary process in life that should not be feared because it should be celebrate as new start.
Dickinson’s poem lives on complex ideas that are evoked through symbols, which carry her readers through her poem. Besides the literal significance of –the “School,” “Gazing Grain,” “Setting Sun,” and the “Ring” –much is gathered to complete the poem’s central idea. Dickinson brought to light the mysteriousness of the life cycle. The cycle of one’s life, as symbolized by Dickinson, has three stages and then a final stage of eternity. “Schools, where children strove” (9) may represent childhood; “Fields of Gazing Grain” (11), maturity; and “Setting Sun” (12) old age. In addition to these three stages, the final stage of eternity was symbolized in the last two lines of the poem, the “Horses Heads” (23), leading “towards Eternity” (24). Dickinson thought about the life cycle in terms of figurative symbols.
Imagery is a big component to most works of poetry. Authors strive to achieve a certain image for the reader to paint in their mind. Dickinson tries to paint a picture of ?death? in her own words. Thomas A. Johnson, an interpretive author of Dickinson's work, says that ?In 1863 Death came into full statue as a person. ?Because I could not stop for Death? is a superlative achievement wherein Death becomes one of the greatest characters of literature? (Johnson). Dickinson's picture to the audience is created by making ?Death? an actual character in the poem. By her constantly calling death either ?his? or ?he,? she denotes a specific person and gender. Dickinson also compares ?Death? to having the same human qualities as the other character in the poem. She has ?Death? physically arriving and taking the other character in the carriage with him. In the poem, Dickinson shows the reader her interpretation of what this person is going through as they are dying and being taken away by ?Death?. Dickinson gives images such as ?The Dews drew quivering and chill --? and ?A Swelling of the Ground --? (14, 18). In both of these lines, Dickinson has the reader conjure up subtle images of death. The ?quivering an chill? brings to the reader's mind of death being ...
When reading “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, it is important to note Emily Dickinson’s somber disposition on life as she tackles the heavy topics of death and the afterlife. Once understood, one can see that the message Dickinson conveys to the reader is one of hopelessness; that time and death hold power over our lives and are able to dwindle what was once meaningful.
In the poem we see a recurrent theme from Dickinson and that theme is death. We receive a different view of death this time around as a being that is both kind and comforting. Using literary elements such as rhythm, imagery, figures of speech, and symbolism, we are given an insightful view into the passage of the narrator. In Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death", we have the theme of death, not as something to be feared, but as a peaceful journey to eternity.
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.”