Emily Dickenson And The Theme Of Death

Emily Dickinson And the Theme of Death

Emily Dickenson, an unconventional 19th century poet, used death as the

theme for many of her poems. Dickenson's poems offer a creative and

refreshingly different perspective on death and its effects on others. In

Dickenson's poems, death is often personified, and is also assigned to

personalities far different from the traditional "horror movie" roles.

Dickenson also combines imaginative diction with vivid imagery to create

astonishingly powerful poems.

In the 1862 poem, After Great pain, a formal feeling comes--, Emily

Dickenson presents death from the perspective of the bereaved. This poem is

written in the third person, and informs the reader as to the actions and

thoughts of the mourners through an omniscient narration. In contrast, most of

Dickenson's other death related poems show the reader the perspective of the

dead. The vivid imagery in this poem functions to enhance the reader's

perception of the poem. The following passage conveys a resplendent physical

sense of coldness as someone is frozen to death:

"This is the Hour of Lead--

Remembered, if outlived,

As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow--

First--Chill--then Stupor--then the letting go--"

The innovative diction in this passage creates an eerie a...