Many people deal with the death of a loved one in many different ways. American poet Emily Dickinson wrote poetry to deal with the death of her loved ones, along with the company of her religion. Dickinson wrote a variety of poetry dealing with nature, god, death, illness, beauty, suffering and survival. In Dickinson’s poem “After Great Pain” she expresses a theme of death through many different aspects like religion.
In Dickinson’s poem she writes in a free forum form creating a three stanza poem with 13 lines. Within in her poem “After Great Pain” the rhyme scheme is very loose being ABCC in the first stanza rhyming “bore” and “before. Then in the second stanza the scheme being DEFGG, when “grown” and “stone” are rhymed together. Then in the third stanza the scheme continuing as the first two with IJKK with the rhyming words being “snow” and “go”. In all three stanzas there is a basic outline, with making the last word in the last two lines rhyme. In addition Dickinson’s poem includes an extended metaphor and also two similes. The second stanza of Dickinson’s poem is the extended metaphor, which explains the ways one would act during the time of a loved one’s death:
The Feet, mechanical, go round –
A Wooden way
Of Ground, or Air, Or Ought –
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone –
(Dickinson 762). In Dickinson’s poem the aspect of religion is mentioned within the first stanza. Dickinson tries to represent an image of Jesus in his tomb through the simile “The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;” (Dickinson 762). A different simile that is in Dickinson’s poem is in the second stanza last line when she writes “A Quartz contentment, like a stone –” (Dickinson 762). A source of imagery in the poe...
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...se of loss – like John Donne did in his poem “Death, Be Not Proud” – yet become content the fact that your loved one has died and that they are now in a better place.
Not everyone deals with the death of a loved one the same, but all can empathize with one another. American poet Emily Dickinson shows how she deals with the death of a loved one through her poetry. Dickinson shows the reader that it is okay to go through the five stages of grief when death occurs, but she also explains to the reader that the entire process may be mechanical. The poem “After Great Pain” gives a deepening insight to the human condition through the eyes of Dickinson; that even through death we must learn to become content and just… let go.
Works Cited
Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 5
Compact ed. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print.
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.
Dickinson employs vivid impressions of death in this poem. In the first line, she employs the analogy between sleep and death; sleep is silent but death lives within silence. She uses the word “it” to help identify something other than human. She declares that “it….will not tell its name” as thought it refuses to speak and then resents the dead for its stillness and laziness. Then she acknowledges the attraction she has to death by doubting its “gravity”. In the third stanza, she expresses that she would not cry for the dead because not only is it offensive to the dead but it might panic the soul to return to dust. Christians believe that from the earth we are made and once we die, we return to the dust of the earth.
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.
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)”.
Emily Dickinson is one of the numerous poets who uses death as the subject of several of her poems. In her poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," Death is portrayed as a gentleman who comes to give the speaker. a ride to eternity. Throughout the poem, Dickinson develops her unusual. interpretation of death and, by doing so, composes a poem full of imagery that is both unique and thought provoking.
In this poem, the woman did not just die but she has been dead. She is communicating from beyond the grave, by describing her journey with death. Death is portrayed as a gentleman who takes the speaker on a ride to eternity. Dickinson wrote this poem in a way that the reader is able to feel what the woman is going through. In this poem, death is seen as a passive and not as being something bad. Dickinson’s form and tone enables the reader to have an understanding of the message she is trying to convey. In this poem, each verse paints a piece of a picture for the reader and as you get to the end of the poem the picture is completed.
The two poems, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, by Dylan Thomas and, “Because I Could Not Wait for Death”, by Emily Dickinson, we find two distinct treatments on the same theme, death. Although they both represent death, they also represent it as something other than death. Death brings about a variety of different feelings, because no two people feel the same way or believe the same thing. The fact that our faith is unknown makes the notion of death a common topic, as writers can make sense of their own feelings and emotions and in the process hope to make readers make sense of theirs too. Both Dickinson and Thomas are two well known and revered poets for their eloquent capture of these emotions. The poems both explore death and the
In After great pain, a formal feeling comes(341), Emily Dickinson offers the reader a transitus observation of the time just after the death of a loved one. Dickinson questions where one goes in the afterlife asking, 'Of Ground, or Air' or somewhere else (line 6)' We often remember those who die before us, as we ourselves, as morbid as it may be, with everyday, are brought closer to our own deaths. As used in most of her poetry, she continues in iambic meter with stressed then unstressed syllables. Dickinson, however, straying away from her norm of 8-6-8-6 syllable lines repeating, uses a seemingly random combination of ten, eight, six, and four syllables, with the entire first stanza of ten syllables per lines. Line three lends itself to ambiguity as Dickinson writes, 'The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,' he, refers to the heart, yet she doesn't specify exactly what he bore. Dickinson refers to the Quartz grave growing out of the ground as one dies, lending itself to a certain imagery of living after death (lines 8-9). Although the poem holds no humor, she stretches to find what goes on after death. As we get to the end of the process of letting go of the one dying, Dickinson reminds us of the figurative and literal coldness of death. The cold symbolizes an emotion and lifeless person as well as the lack of blood circulation.
“Because I could Not Stop for Death” is one of Emily Dickinson's most discussed and famous poems due to its unique view on the popular subject of death. Death in this poem is told as a woman's last trip, a trip where she is going into toward eternity. The way that the poem is written it makes the reader feel the woman‘s tragedy on a much more personal level. Different from the more popular views of death being brutal and cruel, Dickinson makes death seem passive and easy. The theme of the poem is that death is a natural stage in our life cycles, but at the same time she gives comfort to the reader that death is not the end of our journeys, but more like another beginning. The form and tone that Dickinson uses throughout the poem helps her reader to understand the message that she is trying to get across in the poem. The way that the poem is written is that each set of verses tells the reader one little story and as you read the poem all the stories ...
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.
Since the poem starts with the unidentified pronoun “it,” both the reader and the speaker attempt to figure out what this word is referring to throughout the progression of the work (Dickinson 1209). The first and second stanza describe various things that the speaker’s condition is not, such as “not Death,” “not Night,” and “not Frost.” Dickinson uses parallel structure and the repetition of the phrase “it was not” followed by reasons that eliminate a possibility of what “it” is, which gives the stanzas a sense of order, as well as constant juxtapositions tha...
Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is a remarkable masterpiece that exercises thought between the known and the unknown. In Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not stop Death,” there is much impression in the tone, in symbols and in the use of imagery that over flow with creativity. One might undoubtedly agree to an eerie, haunting, if not frightening, tone and use of symbolism in Dickinson’s poem.
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 ...
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.”