Death Allows Various Interpretations

Death is inescapable, therefore demanding attention by all. Throughout American literature there have been many attempts on explaining death through whatever means comprehendible. Most commonly, people rely on their religion to reveal the answers for the questions associated with death. This approach is demonstrated in the poem, “Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children” by Edward Taylor. His religion dictates his attitude towards death and carries him through grief. There are also those who look at death from a much different perspective, less religiously. In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, she portrays death as a courtship. She adopts her own image of death disconnected from any religious view. No matter what source, whether it is religious or otherwise, we all have conceptions of death as we trudge onward toward the inevitable. These various conceptions, whether common or criticized, are revealed in the works of Early American Poets such as these.

For New England settlers, death spread with unmerciful vengeance. Striking people of all ages, it became an omnipresent part of life. The Puritan view of death captivated every aspect of life. They believed that God had control over every situation in life, with no immunities. Edward Taylor, a Puritan minister and poet, writes of the death of his children, represented as flowers, in the poem “Upon Wedlock and Death of Children”. He writes “But oh! a glorious hand from glory came / Guarded with Angels, soon did Crop this flower”( 19-20 ), displaying his Puritan view that God is ultimately in control, Taylor claims the occasion of his children’s death to be a glorious divine intervention . However disheartened he is because of the death o...

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...ts of society. These poems by Taylor and Dickinson convey only two interpretations of death. From the common perspective of culture to intrapersonal imagery, death is perceived in countless forms.

Works Cited

Bengtsson, Gunnar. “Emily Dickinson”. American Poems. Feb. 2010. 28 Feb. 2011.

Dickinson, Emily. “Because I could not stop for Death”. Norton Anthology of American

Literature. Shorter 7th edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York : Norton, 2008. pg. 1214-1215. Print.

Stanford, Donald E. "Edward Taylor". Poetry Foundation. 2010. 28 Feb. 2011

Taylor, Edward. “Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children”. Norton Anthology of American

Literature. Shorter 7th Edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York : Norton, 2008. pg. 140-141. Print.