Alyssa Ingrassia
Mr. Mennenoh
English III H
9 December 2015
Title
* Seven billion people are currently walking this Earth- some are sleeping, some are laughing, and some are speaking. Ultimately time on Earth will end for everyone, no matter the age, race, or culture, and all of the mistakes and memories made in life will reduce to nothing. In no means does this state that any individual 's life proves irrelevant, but the exact opposite. Everyone has dreams for the future and regrets of the past, but the only time ever experienced in life occurs in the present. This may sound philosophical or even poetic, but the reality of a statement such as this is undeniable. Emily Dickinson, an innovative and original nineteenth century poet, includes
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The idea behind this word can be interpreted in a infinite amount of ways, but each description has a common thought process of something to be reached or obtained. This implies that whatever desire an individual has lies somewhere else. Not here. This thought process can lead people searching for entire lives, but forever can never be found. Eternity relates to time and time does not include the past, present, or future. A deep understanding surfaces when the idea of " forever is composed of nows" is taken literally (Dickinson 1). Dickinson 's poem describes how the imaginings of the future and regrets of the past are solely felt in the now and the time an individual spends thinking of the months coming occurs in the time presently passing. Therefore, when people spend entire lives planning a future, they end up wasting the time given in the present. The imperative concept to understand in this situation is simple: time stops for no one. When individuals " Let Months dissolve [into] further Months," simply existing and not completely living, they lack the knowledge that a replay button does not exist in life ( Dickinson 7). Each moment lived contains more importance than the last, and the fact that modern day society treats time as a given birth right and not a blessing helps to strengthen Dickinson 's emphasis on living life in the moment. People waste entire lives on unimportant desires and unnecessary worries because they expect more time. A large concern of …show more content…
Within one thousand, four hundred and forty minutes, many things can happen- a baby being born, new friends made, and memories created. In one day, a person can discover the world or discover who they are. However, their remains one problem: life can be lived one of two separate ways. Either an individual can spend every day anxious about the future and depressed about the past, or a person can spend each day as a series of daring adventures. To live a fulfilled life, a person does not have to jump off cliffs or change the world, a fulfilled life can be categorized as anything an individual does that takes them one step closer to living a happy life. Dickinson did not complete crazy feats in her daily life, she wrote. She wrote everyday and she never tried to impress other people, she simply did what she loved to do. Dickinson intended to express her personal opinion on how she viewed life not as a whole, but as a single day adventure. She never intended for her poems to reach the public, but that exemplifies the truth that life can work in mysterious ways. Emily Dickinson became famous after her death, but she wanted to write poems that had an impact. It cannot be expressed in words how much she has achieved her goal. People around the world are reading her poems, and all she did to have this happen was live her day to day life fully. That can be described as the greatest
Although, Emily Dickinson physically isolated herself from the world she managed to maintain friendships by communicating through correspondence. Ironically, Dickinson’s poetry was collected and published after her death. Dickinson explores life and death in most of her poems by questioning the existence of God. Dickinson applies common human experiences as images to illustrate the connection from the personal level of the human being, to a universal level of faith and God. This can be seen in Dickinson’s Poem (I, 45).
Humans have believed this since the beginning of time, valuing their survival and existence over animals, nature, and anything else that came in its way. Annie Dillard is an American author who has written many award-winning pieces in various genres, as well as been awarded a Pulitzer Prize. In Annie Dillard’s creative non-fiction essay “The Wreck of Time”, she discusses the effects of human life on the planet and human population within the last century. She introduces the idea that “there must be something ultimately heroic about our time, something that sets it above all those other times” (Dillard 56). This idea is that people value human life that is spent here on earth and the lives of everyone around them. People believe that each century becomes more and more valuable and impactful towards the progression of our society. People see that in ‘those other times’ people were not as smart as they are now and didn’t contribute as much to the world. Due to this, the value of human life only continues to increase as the impact that one human being can contribute also increases. During one’s life they will form connections and relationships that they value and find to be extremely important within their personal
“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). Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she spent most of her life with her younger sister, older brother, semi-invalid mother, and domineering father in the house that her prominent family owned. As a child, she was curious and was considered a bright student and a voracious reader. She graduated from Amherst Academy in 1847, and attended a female seminary for a year, which she quitted as she considered that “’I [she] am [was] standing alone in rebellion [against becoming an ‘established Christian’].’” (Kort 1) and was homesick. Afterwards, she excluded herself from having a social life, as she took most of the house’s domestic responsibilities, and began writing; she only left Massachusetts once. During the rest of her life, she wrote prolifically by retreating to her room as soon as she could. Her works were influenced ...
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.
The poetic work penned by Emily Dickinson is often viewed cryptically mainly due to the aspects of less punctuation and presence of destructive language that aligns imagery. For the purpose of analysis, the poem selected is Dickinson’s 754, ‘My Life has Stood – A Loaded Gun’ which was published in 1999. The poem has eluded critics and the interpretation of this work was carried out in a number of ways including frontier romanticism and a spirituality expression. On the other hand, the poem is underpinned with an extensive metaphor, in the light of which the life of the speaker becomes a loaded gun. The beginning of the poem depicts a typical American scene with the existence of a gun, a hunter, and a trip to the woods for hunting. The poem
The life led by Emily Dickinson was one secluded from the outside world, but full of color and light within. During her time she was not well known, but as time progressed after her death more and more people took her works into consideration and many of them were published. Dickinson’s life was interesting in its self, but the life her poems held, changed American Literature. Emily Dickinson led a unique life that emotionally attached her to her writing and the people who would read them long after she died.
Emily Dickinson had an interesting life, and is a profound woman in the history of America and literature. Emily wrote many poems. Some are titled, and many are given chronological numbers instead of headlining the main theme. I am interpreting Poem #315.
Recognized for experimenting with poetry, Emily Dickinson is said to be one of the greatest American poets. Her work was an amazing success even after being published four years after her death in 1890. Eleven editions of Dickinson’s work were published in less than two years. Emily Dickenson’s personal life, literary influences and romantic sufferings were the main inspirations for her poetry.
Miss Dickinson is often compared with other poets and writers, but “like Shakespeare, Miss Dickinson is without opinions'; (Tate 86). “Her verses and technical license often seem mysterious and can confuse critics, but after all is said, it is realized that like most poets Miss Dickinson is no more mysterious than a banker. It is said that Miss Dickinson’s life was starved and unfulfilled and yet all pity is misdirected. She lived one of the richest and deepest lives ever on this continent. It was her own conscious choice to deliberately withdraw from society into her upstairs room…'; (Tate 83). She kept to “only a few select friends and the storm, wind, wild March sky, sunsets, dawns, birds, bees, and butterflies were sufficient companionship for Miss Dickinson'; (Loomis 79). She dealt with a lot both physically and psychologically and in the end she still came out on the top. So as Allen Tate best said it “in her own historical setting Miss Dickinson is nevertheless remarkable and special'; (82).
Emily Dickinson, who achieved more fame after her death, is said to be one of the greatest American poets of all time. Dickinson communicated through letters and notes and according to Amy Paulson Herstek, author of “Emily Dickinson: Solitary and Celebrated Poet,” “Writing was the way she kept in touch with the world” (15). Dickinson’s style is unique and although unconventional, it led to extraordinary works of literature. Dickinson lived her life in solitude, but in her solitude she was free to read, write and think which led to her nonconformity and strong sense of individualism. Suzanne Juhasz, a biographer of Dickinson, sums up most critics’ idea of Dickinson ideally: “Emily Dickinson is at once the most intimate of poets, and the most guarded. The most self-sufficient, and the neediest. The proudest, and the most vulnerable. These contradictions, which we as her readers encounter repeatedly in her poems, are understandable, not paradoxical, for they result from the tension between the life to which she was born and the one to which she aspired” (1). Dickinson poured her heart and soul into over 1,700
Poetry is defined as literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm whether collectively or as a genre of literature. I chose to do all three poems by the one of our four great American poets, Emily Dickinson. The poems I have chosen to are, “Because I could not stop for death”, “Success is counted sweetest”, and “Triumph may be of several kinds”. The theme of each individual poem and its true interpreted meaning will be the focus of this paper.
Emily Dickinson is one of the great visionary poets of nineteenth century America. In her lifetime, she composed more poems than most modern Americans will even read in their lifetimes. Dickinson is still praised today, and she continues to be taught in schools, read for pleasure, and studied for research and criticism. Since she stayed inside her house for most of her life, and many of her poems were not discovered until after her death, Dickinson was uninvolved in the publication process of her poetry. This means that every Dickinson poem in print today is just a guess—an assumption of what the author wanted on the page. As a result, Dickinson maintains an aura of mystery as a writer. However, this mystery is often overshadowed by a more prevalent notion of Dickinson as an eccentric recluse or a madwoman. Of course, it is difficult to give one label to Dickinson and expect that label to summarize her entire life. Certainly she was a complex woman who could not accurately be described with one sentence or phrase. Her poems are unique and quite interestingly composed—just looking at them on the page is pleasurable—and it may very well prove useful to examine the author when reading her poems. Understanding Dickinson may lead to a better interpretation of the poems, a better appreciation of her life’s work. What is not useful, however, is reading her poems while looking back at the one sentence summary of Dickinson’s life.
No matter how bad things may seem, there is always hope for things to ameliorate. When people believe that the future will be promising, they can have something to look forward to as opposed to dwelling on the past or the problems of the present. This hope can give a person a positive outlook on life and motivate him or her to look past what is happening in the present. In the poems “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson and “The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy, they both convey similar messages about hope. Both works display the theme of hope being present at all times no matter how bad things may seem and is a consistent option for anyone in need of help.
Dickinson unravels this thesis in the poem by explaining how time is not composed in the past, or in the future it is only composed of “nows” referring to the present time. The majority of this poem develops her idea that time is “untouchable” unless it is in the moment (O’Brien). In accordance with that line, the following sentence gives insight into her point by providing support in creating a paradox. This paradox is used in this poem to exaggerate her point in that time exists only and
Dickinson’s poem lives on complex ideas that are evoked through symbols, which carry her readers through her poem. Besides the literal significance of –the “School,” “Gazing Grain,” “Setting Sun,” and the “Ring” –much is gathered to complete the poem’s central idea. Dickinson brought to light the mysteriousness of the life cycle. The cycle of one’s life, as symbolized by Dickinson, has three stages and then a final stage of eternity. “Schools, where children strove” (9) may represent childhood; “Fields of Gazing Grain” (11), maturity; and “Setting Sun” (12) old age. In addition to these three stages, the final stage of eternity was symbolized in the last two lines of the poem, the “Horses Heads” (23), leading “towards Eternity” (24). Dickinson thought about the life cycle in terms of figurative symbols.