Emily Dickinson, a poet that was never truly heard until after death. Life is not always what you think it will be and sometimes your words are worth more after your gone. “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died,” and “Because I could not stop for Death” both poems engrossed on the subject of death. It is ironic and humorous; that after her death is when people began to read her poetry. Emily Dickinson was somewhat of a hermit so many people had not read her poetry until long after it was wrote; for she did not publish it herself. These poems are noticeably similar focusing on the subject of death, which is also the subject that makes them different. “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died,” is completely focused on death in a physical state; and “Because I could not stop for Death” focuses on death as a spiritual journey: The poems both present the existence of an afterlife, the speaker is dead and yet their voice is heard.
The topic of death, an obvious similarity: That Emily Dickinson states in the title of these poems. Death is a very strong word, with meaning and the power to capture an audience. Emily Dickinson inserts slant rhyme and exact rhyme, like used in church hymns. There are several places where Dickinson inserts a slant rhyme in “Because I could not stop for Death.” For example, in the in the fourth stanza words chill and tulle again with third stanza she uses a slant rhyme between the words ring with sun “at recess- in the Ring...setting Sun.” Also, in the other poem “I heard a fly buzz – when I died” has several slant rhymes one of them is in the first stanza, room rhymes with storm “In the room…of storm” (lines 2-4) and exact thyme that is in lines 14 and 16 with words “me” and “see.” Personification is another similar...
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...the several differences they are still much more similar than one would confer. The main subject is death and a description of the end of her life in both of her literary works. Death is a strong and meaningful word. That often comes up in Emily Dickinson’s literary works, and is not a word not used by many poets. Emily Dickinson was a unique person and it greatly impacted her poems in a sharp and powerful way.
Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. “I heard a fly buzz – when I died.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and writing. Seventh Edition. X.J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. Saddle River. Pearson Education, 2013. 776. Print.
Dickinson, Emily. “Because I could not stop for Death.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and writing. Seventh Edition. X.J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. Saddle River. Pearson Education, 2013. 777. Print.
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. “Although Emily Dickinson is known as one of America’s best and most beloved poets, her extraordinary talent was not recognized until after her death” (Kort 1).
One primary element of death is the experience of dying. Many of of us are scared of the thought of death. When we stop and think about what death will be like, we wonder what it will feel like, will it be painful, will it be scary? In Emily Dickinson's poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death, she focuses on what the journey into her afterlife will be like. Dickinson uses the first person narrative to tell her encounter with death. The form that she uses throughout the poem helps to convey her message. The poem is written in five quatrains. Each stanza written in a quatrain is written so that the poem is easy to read. The first two lines of the poem, “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me;” (Clugston 2010), gives you a clear view of what the poems central theme is. Unlike most poems that are about death, Dickinson's attitu...
Although Emily Dickinson was a private person throughout her life, some critics gave a negative view to her work. For example, the work of “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is dissenting toward the nineteenth century woman. Critics imply that this work of Dickinson had a negative influence on marriage and independent women. They believe the proper place for a woman was beside her husband, but a husbandless woman, according to Dickinson, was uncertain of herself. Although the independent woman has a life, she is literally speaking through a grave. She has been deceived, driven to her death, and has been abandoned.
Emily Dickinson wrote hundreds of poems during her lifetime that dealt with death. She seemed to have an almost morbid fascination with the subject. Her poem "I heard a Fly buzz - when I died" is one of the many poems she wrote about this ghastly topic. The symbols she used make this poem interesting because they can be interpreted on more than one level. The punctuation and capitalization used also give the poem an abstract quality. Like much of Dickinson's poetry, this poem is both startling and somber.
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.
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.
Dickinson, Emily. ?Because I could not stop for Death.? Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Kennedy, X.J., Dana Gioia. New York, NY: Pearson Longman, 2005, 1103.
Dickinson, Emily. "Because I could not stop for Death." Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.h. Abrams. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc, 1993. 726.
Because I Could Not Stop for Death is proclaimed to be Emily Dickinson’s most famous poem. This poem reveals Emily Dickinson’s calm acceptance of death. She portrays death as a gentleman that surprises her with a visit. Emily illustrates everyday scenes in a life cycle. While her metaphors explore death in an immutable way, her lines often contain as much uncertainty as meaning.
In “I Heard a Fly Buzz- When I Died”, Emily Dickinson used setting, diction, and figurative language to illustrate death.
Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are two Modern American Poets who consistently wrote about the theme of death. While there are some comparisons between the two poets, when it comes to death as a theme, their writing styles were quite different. Robert Frost’s poem, “Home Burial,” and Emily Dickinson’s poems, “I felt a Funeral in my Brain,” and “I died for Beauty,” are three poems concerning death. While the theme is constant there are differences as well as similarities between the poets and their poems.
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.”
Death is a prevalent theme in the poetry of both Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson. They both examine death from varied angles. There are many similarities as well as differences in the representation of this theme in their poetry. Plath views death as a sinister and intimidating end, while Dickinson depicts death with the endearment of romantic attraction. In the poetry of Plath death is depicted traditionally, while Dickinson attributes some mysticism to the end of life.