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Emily dickinson literary technique analysis
Literary analysis of emily dickinson
Emily Dickinson's writing style
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Emily Dickinson is said to be one of America’s greatest original poets of all time, because she experimented with literary elements in order to free them from their standard restraints. Dickinson shaped and molded a new type of persona for the first person point of view. Although, the first stanza begins with a relaxed and pleasant tone, nothing appears relaxed, pleasant or cheerful throughout the rest of “Because I could not stop for Death”. Instead, the narrator’s journey with death demonstrates that Death will not wait for you, It always comes no matter if you are prepared or unprepared.
In the first stanza Death is personified as a gentleman. “ He kindly stopped for me”(1) in this phrase the use of “He” implies Death is a man . similar
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Dickinson lets the reader know that the narrator is visualizing the three main stages of life by including symbolism. The symbols are the school, “Fields of Gazing Grain and the setting sun”(4)which all represent a different stage. The first stage “ We passed the school, where children strove.”(5). This line represents the young stage of life. This is the stage where you are learning right from wrong. The second stage “ We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain”(6) Represents the mid stage of life. This is the stage you are harvesting. The last stage “ We passed the setting sun”(7). This line represents the final stage of life. This is the stage where you are aging and dying. Dickinson’s use of repetition of “We passed”(8) lets the reader know the narrator has been through each stage of life. Dickinson uses imagery to help create an image of all the stages of life for the …show more content…
As the poem goes on, Dickinson conveys a change in tone with the use of diction and imagery “ We passed the Setting Sun- Or rather - He passed Us”(9-10), this image confirms that death will not wait for the narrator. The change is tone is also demonstrated in these two line. The tone changes from relaxing and peaceful to ominous and gloomy.
The narrator was not prepared for death. “ For only Gossamer, my Gown”(11) Once again Dickinson use of imagery describes cobwebs on the narrators gown. The gown shows that she was not expecting death. “My Tippet- only Tulle”(12) A tippet is a long fur scarf or shawl worn around the neck and shoulder. The narrator’s wardrobe confirms she was not ready for death.
Stanza six serves as a reflection on life. “ Since then - ‘tis centuries”(13) This line notifies the speaker it has been centuries since the narrator has died. “Feels shorter than the Day”(14)In this line the narrators feels like it was just yesterday when she died. “ I first surmised the Horses’ Heads Were toward Eternity”(15) This line is an image of the carriage,the narrator is reflecting back to the carriage
In “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, Ms Dickinson talks about death. At the end of the poem we find out that it happened many years ago. She was describing a death that was to come or already had happened. She says “We passed the Setting Sun/Or rather He passed us.” Implying that they were passing things
He also made us experience the awe and misery of the mother by describing her “trembling steps” when she went to read. the letter, her “sickly white face and dull in the head”. In addition to her state after her son’s death, she was “presently drest in. black”, “her meals untouched”, “fitfully sleeping often waking” and “sleeping”. her “deep longing.to be with her dead son”. Dickinson uses imaginative and figurative language.
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
Emily Dickinson is well-known as a poet who lived a secluded and sheltered life. Many of her poems focus on subjects of death and dying. In “Because I could not stop for death”, Emily Dickinson expresses her very personal thoughts on death and what follows. She presents these thoughts in the form of a poem in which she shares her feelings and philosophies as someone who experienced life as a sheltered recluse. This paper will review Emily Dickinson’s poem, and will evaluate her use of familiar sensory stimuli to describe the three stages of life as well as her use of personifications, metaphoric devices, and tone to illuminate death in a pleasant light and contradict its connotation as the end.
First of all, the speaker starts her poem personifying death as a kind gentleman who comes to pick her up for her death journey. It is obvious if the reader looks at “He kindly stopped me” (2). This kind of personification makes the reader feel that death is something normal and dealing with it is just like people dealing with each other.... ... middle of paper ... ...
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.
With her use of imagery, Emily Dickinson is able to govern how the reader feels and reflects about death. In her poem, "Because I could not stop for Death," the word "could" signifies that death has occurred as a past experience. Due to this poem being based on a past event, Dickinson is able to use imagery to relate death to a fresh memory of hers. In the beginning of the poem, Dickinson writes, "Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me." Not only does Dickinson portray death as a man, but she does so in a way that the man is not perceived in a negative way. She writes as if the man is her lover, kindly stopping in a way as if he was to suit her. Death is not to be our enemy, but instead is our companion. In the next two lines, in lines three ...
Death has always been viewed as something man fears or runs away from but, everyone knows that's a battle you can’t win. In the death will always catch up to you and haul you away no matter who you are. “Because I could not stop for death” by Emily Dickinson is about a person who sees death as a man, who is their friend. The author uses imagery and alliteration in order to go into the full depth about the personal relationship, he or she has with death.
" The third quatrain seems to speed up as the trinity of death, immortality, and the speaker pass the. children playing, the fields of grain, and the setting sun, one after another. The poem seems to get faster and faster as life goes through its course. In lines 17 and 18, however, the poem seems to slow down as Dickinson writes, "We paused before a House that seemed, "A Swelling of the Ground. " The reader is given a feeling of life slowly ending.
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 ...
The amazing poem entitled, Because I could not stop for Death, was written by a 19th century poet, Emily Dickinson. It was considered as one of her famous masterpieces of American poetry. This lyrical poem was published in 1890; as a quatrain consisting of six stanzas. Dickinson paints a portrait of death which is neither brutal nor fearful, but instead it is a calm way to an individual’s inevitable end. Dickinson’s usage of crisp imagery and multiple layers of personification convey the message as; do not be afraid of death.
...f multiple centuries following the narrator’s death nothing had happened even remotely worth mentioning. The transition to death appears to be an undesirable fate that, according to Dickinson, all must someday face.
Dickinson uses controlling adjectives –“slowly” and “passed” – to create a tone that seems rather placid. For example, “We slowly drove –He knew no Haste / …We passed the School … / We passed the Setting Sun” (5,9,11,12), sets a slow, quiet, and clam atmosphere. The tone in Dickinson’s poem puts readers’ ideas on a track towards a boggling atmosphere.
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.”