The Ideal Death
Growing up, denying death has played an important part in my life. The word death was something that I was uncomfortable with. I had forbidden myself to come close to a dead body or even watch one on TV. As a person, I acted tough on the outside, but inside I was just a little girl who was so scared to come across to the dead. At the age of fifteen, we received the news of my grandmother's death, but being strong headed, I refused to attend the funeral. I had the idea in my head that, once the living talks about the dead, they will also end up dead. Flashing forward, my first year in college, I took the Sociology class Death and Dying to help me understand death. The course allowed me to become more aware of death; however,
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They all discuss the degradation of the value of death and how individuals experience death in different ways. Emily Dickinson's poetic work focuses on the various types of death and the enjoyment that comes with it. In her poems, she demonstrates different literary techniques that allow her to elaborate the meaning of death. Although Dickinson's ideas are very vague at times, it challenges the reader to think that various ways people can handle death. However, Claude McKay has a different mindset idea of death behind his poem. His work addresses the violence and bloodshed and the grief that is associated with death. To him, death is not that great if you are dying for no reason or cannot even enjoy your end. To him there should be a purpose to an individual’s death, and it should not just be naturally accepted. This poem was directly addressed to black people encouraging them to react to the death in the black …show more content…
The main point that keeps come in Dickinson’s the acceptance of death poem. Also, the everlasting trip that awaits individual’s in their life. In Dickinson, poem she creates an upstanding image of death by saying yes, death will yes come, but is not as bad as you think. She recognizes death as a graceful and powerful journey that she is eager to embark on. On the other hand, McKay's "If We Must Die" goes beyond Dickinson's fantasies about death. His poem isn't thinking of death in the ideological sense, but he's facing that challenge. To him, the question was not whether or not he was going to die, but how he will meet it either in the right manner or not. He urges death without a meaning, understanding and purpose is pointless; therefore the black communities should represent what is right. To McKay, "If They Must Die" he believes if they must die than it should be a natural death. The king of natural death that everyone wishes for and they can accomplish that by fighting for the what they deserve as humans and not "hogs" or "dogs". In addition, point out how their our enemies are killing like chicken; yet, we resist fighting the enemies. He also encourages them to fight for their like regardless of the outcome. He advises them not to encourage the people who seek for their down fall. According to McKay, "our precious blood may not
Emily Dickinson presents death in the poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” through the use of personification and the use of extended metaphor. William Cullen Bryant presents death through the use of the analogies in the poem “Thanatopsis.” Although each poet presents death differently, the meanings are similar.
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
Although Dickinson addresses death, one of her prevalent themes, in this poem, she does it very differently. This poem describes the death of a loved one and the grief that ensues, something that many people experience sometime in their life. In other poems when Dickinson speaks of death it is about her own death or Death as a figure who has its own personality because she was quite intrigued by it. This poem deals more with a human experience and emotions that everyone can relate to.
"I first surmised the horses' heads were toward eternity."(Dickinson) In this poem a girl goes on a carriage ride with death and immortality. This carriage ride is very slow and the girl has to gives up a lot for death, almost like he is her family. When she is on this carriage ride she passes many sites that she was too busy to see before. Then death and her stop at a house which looks similar to a grave. Then she dies into eternity. This poem begins with a carriage ride, through many scenes, and ends at the house which becomes her barrel ground. In "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson, the main character is affected by the setting because she has to give up so much for this carriage ride, but then she gets an abundant amount out of it when she sees the many sites, and then in the end when she realizes her journey is over, she is sad to leave the world, but happy that she is going to eternity.
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.
Death is a controversial and sensitive subject. When discussing death, several questions come to mind about what happens in our afterlife, such as: where do you go and what do you see? Emily Dickinson is a poet who explores her curiosity of death and the afterlife through her creative writing ability. She displays different views on death by writing two contrasting poems: one of a softer side and another of a more ridged and scary side. When looking at dissimilar observations of death it can be seen how private and special it is; it is also understood that death is inevitable so coping with it can be taken in different ways. Emily Dickinson’s poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died” show both parallel and opposing views on death.
Emily Dickinson stands out from her contemporaries by discussing one of man's inevitable fears in an unconventional way: death. In two of her poems, "I heard a fly buzz when I died" and "Because I could not stop for death," Dickinson expresses death in an unforeseen way. Although Dickinson portrays death in both of these poems, the way that she conveys the experience is quite different in each poem. Dickinson reveals death as a grim experience, with no glimpse of happiness once one's life is over in "I heard a fly buzz when I died. " In contrast to this, Dickinson consoles the reader by characterizing death as a tranquil journey in "Because I could not stop for Death."
Analysis of "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson. The poets of the nineteenth century wrote on a variety of topics. One often used topic is that of death. The theme of death has been approached in many different ways to do it.
No two poems are ever exactly the same. This can be shown in two of Emily Dickinson’s poems “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers and Because I could not stop for Death. If you take these two poems and compare them you will find some similarities, but overall there are a lot more differences that set them apart. She may stick to writing about topics she knows like life, nature, love, death, and religion but she makes sure that the detail in each one is different and unique. In “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers and Because I could not stop for Death there are difference in the speaker, theme, and imagery used throughout the poems.
The Professor's House centers on Godfrey St. Peter, a prolific historian and professor reaching what seems like the end of his career. St. Peter feels deeply alienated from his recent success, as well as discontented with the trappings of wealth, success has left him. Cather explores the tensions between class structures and values belonging to each class. St. Peter has ascended to an upper-middle-class lifestyle through his academic achievements, contrasting his childhood. However, he feels more attached to the simple possessions from his past than the materialistic values of the wealthier class he now inhabits.
Emily Dickinson is one of the most important American poets of the 1800s. Dickinson, who was known to be quite the recluse, lived and died in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, spending the majority of her days alone in her room writing poetry. What few friends she did have would testify that Dickinson was a rather introverted and melancholy person, which shows in a number of her poems where regular themes include death and mortality. One such poem that exemplifies her “dark side” is, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. In this piece, Dickinson tells the story of a soul’s transition into the afterlife showing that time and death have outright power over our lives and can make what was once significant become meaningless.
To analyze a poem like Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die”, one must first understand the context of the writing. At the time it was created, the Red Summer of 1919 was occurring. This was a revitalization of anti-racial feelings that swept across the United States, and the time period was characterized by an increase in hate crimes against African American communities. The casualties included dozens dead, hundreds of injuries, and the burning of over a thousand houses owned by blacks. Claude McKay, being a militant civil rights supporter, used this poem to encourage the black community to retaliate against these attacks.
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)”.
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.”
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.