Compare And Contrast Death In Poetry

Comparing and contrasting death in poetry Many people find it hard to imagine their death as there are so many questions to be answered-how will it happen, when, where and what comes next. The fact that our last days on Earth is unknown makes the topic of death a popular one for most poets who looks to seek out their own emotions. By them doing that it helps the reader make sense of their own emotions as well. In the two poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickenson and “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, the poets are both capturing their emotion about death and the way that they accepted it. In Dickenson’s poem her feelings towards death are more passionate whereas in Dylan’s poem the feelings

The speaker believes that there is life after death, she believes that death isn’t the end but it is one step closer to eternity. She believes that death is something that happens to us and is not something we can challenge or decide when and how it happens. In the poem Dickenson presents death as something other than death. She uses the poetic device of personification to present death as if it was a human being. (Napierkowski 26-38.) She humanizes the experience making it more acceptable, fearsome and less abstract. (Napierkowski 26-38.) She capitalizes death to make the word more like someone’s name rather than being depicted as the end of human life. Dickenson describes “death” as her companion who is accompanying her to her resting place, her grave. (Napierkowski 26-38.) She states in the poem that “He kindly stopped for me.” Therefore making the event of death, through her use of personification an interaction between human

He puts together all men from the wise, the old and the wild by stating that they all will eventually face death, and when that time comes he urges them to fight “rage” for longer life, rather than just accepting death. His portrayal differs from Dickenson’s as he presents death by using metaphors and imagery. (Napierkowski p49-60) He describes death as being “that good night” and the use of that metaphor causes death to become something unknown. Thomas suggests that death is like night time, it’s dark and unfamiliar. Thomas is presenting death as something that should be feared and something that we should fight against. His message in the poem is about how precious the gift of life is and he uses imagery with the phrases “old age should burn and rave at close of day. “(752) and “wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight.” (752) Thomas uses those poetic devices to convey anger and how powerless someone feels when being confronted by death. When Thomas reveals his father’s curse at the end of the poem you get a sense of passion that he feels for life and how he desperately wanted to send this powerful emotion to his