Great poetry is thought to never be fully understood by readers and even by those that devout their career and time to being experts on it. People can spend countless hours analyzing a poem, but may never fully understand exactly what the author was writing about. Readers must both compare and contrast different works and prior knowledge to draw conclusions about poetic pieces. In Emily Dickinson’s poem written in 1862, first published in 1935, “We grow accustomed to the Dark“, and Robert Frost’s 1927 poem, “Acquainted with the Night”, the two poems both convey the unrelenting darkness and night in the world. Although, Frost has often times written about the beauty of nature in his poems, if you take a close look, there can be a dark connotation …show more content…
Both poets prove that the darkness of which they speak of is greatly misconceived by many, they convey that the “dark” (Dickinson 1) or “night” (Frost 1) is often misunderstood and that something’s are “neither wrong nor right” (Frost 14). These poems of great darkness attempt to shed “newness of the night” (Dickinson 2) to their audience, or in Dickinson’s case never intending to publish her works, her own self. They attempt to enlighten their readers,, a loose term,, and gain a new understanding of the unknown darkness and night that society has black-labeled and ostracized. Even more, there are a few common reoccurring archetypes in literature that stay consistent in most literary works, universal patterns such as; the rise and the fall, the mentor and the student, the journey and the ending, and the most pertinent and commonly used; the good and the evil, with light always being embodied by good and darkness always being the symbol of evil. But really what is darkness and light? Scientifically speaking, similarly just as darkness and light, cold does not truly exist it is just simply a space that heat does not reach. So technically, light and dark are not truly comparable with the archetypical good and evil. Society has taken …show more content…
Both poets prove that the darkness of which they speak of is greatly misconceived by many, they convey that the “dark” (Dickinson 1) or “night” (Frost 1) is often misunderstood and that something’s are “neither wrong nor right” (Frost 14). These poems of great darkness attempt to shed “newness of the night” (Dickinson 2) to their audience, or in Dickinson’s case never intending to publish her works, her own self. They attempt to enlighten their readers,, a loose term,, and gain a new understanding of the unknown darkness and night that society has black-labeled and ostracized. Even more, there are a few common reoccurring archetypes in literature that stay consistent in most literary works, universal patterns such as; the rise and the fall, the mentor and the student, the journey and the ending, and the most pertinent and commonly used; the good and the evil, with light always being embodied by good and darkness always being the symbol of evil. But really what is darkness and light? Scientifically speaking, similarly just as darkness and light, cold does not truly exist it is just simply a space that heat does not reach. So technically, light and dark are not truly comparable with the archetypical good and evil. Society has taken
Mr. Kenneth Muir, in his introduction to the play - which does not, by the way, interpret it simply from this point of view - aptly describes the cumulative effect of the imagery: "The contrast between light and darkness [suggested by the imagery] is part of a general antithesis between good and evil, devils and angels, evil and grace, hell and heaven . . . (67-68)
2. l50-53). This example of darkness imagery is saying that the day is turning into night, all the good things are going to sleep, and the evil. creatures are coming out. The evil in this previous quotation and the two. before adding to the ominous atmosphere. Since the imagery creates an ominous atmosphere.
“A sensible man will remember that the eyes may be confused in two ways- by a change from light to darkness or from darkness to light; and he will recognize the same thing happens to the soul” (Plato 3). In a literal meaning, the term dark is defined as, “with little or no light,” and the term light is defined as, “the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible” (Dictionary.com). However, when used in a piece of work, such as this one, darkness and light can be associated with an endless amount of meanings. For instance, by using imagery, any author can write a story about one event that’s happening, but have a deeper, more meaningful message that isn’t so straightforward. For example, in both Oedipus the King and “The Allegory
Dickinson’s Christian education affected her profoundly, and her desire for a human intuitive faith motivates and enlivens her poetry. Yet what she has faith in tends to be left undefined because she assumes that it is unknowable. There are many unknown subjects in her poetry among them: Death and the afterlife, God, nature, artistic and poetic inspiration, one’s own mind, and other human beings.
Much has been said about Emily Dickinson’s mystifying poetry and private life, especially during the years 1860-63. Allegedly it was during these years that the poetess, at the most prolific phase of her career, withdrew from society, began to wear her “characteristic” white dress and suffered a series of psychotic episodes. Dickinson tended to “theatricalize” herself by speaking through a host of personae in her poems and by “fictionalizing” her inner life as a gothic romance (Gilbert 584). Believing that a poem is “the best words in the best order” (to quote S.T. Coleridge) and that all the poems stemming from a single consciousness bring to surface different aspects / manifestations of the same personal mythology, I will firstly disregard biographical details in my interpretation of Dickinson’s poems 378, 341 and 280 and secondly place them in a sort of “continuum” (starting with 378 and ending with 280) to show how they attempt to describe a “plunge” into the Unconscious and a lapse into madness (I refrain from using the term “journey,” for it implies a “telos,” a goal which, whether unattainable or not, is something non-existent in the poems in question). Faced with the problem of articulating and concretizing inner psychological states, Dickinson created a totally new poetic discourse which lacks a transcendental signified and thus can dramatize the three stages of a (narrated) mental collapse: existential despair, withdrawal from the world of the senses and “death” of consciousness.
The two poems convey their messages through figurative language and sound devices very similarly; this further exemplifies the like-mindedness of both authors. In terms of figurative language, both authors use metaphors to symbolize depression and loneliness; Frost uses the night as his metaphor, and Dickinson uses the dark. They also both begin with personification; Frost’s being: “I have been one acquainted with the night” (1), and Dickinson’s being: “We grow accustomed to the dark” (1). Personification is used to give both the night and the dark the ability to connect; this allows the reader to gain a sense of how long the narrator has felt alone, thus, enough to feel a bond between it and themselves. Sound devices are also used throughout
One of Emily Dickinson’s greatest skills is taking the familiar and making it unfamiliar. In this sense, she reshapes how her readers view her subjects and the meaning that they have in the world. She also has the ability to assign a word to abstractness, making her poems seemingly vague and unclear on the surface. Her poems are so carefully crafted that each word can be dissected and the reader is able to uncover intense meanings and images. Often focusing on more gothic themes, Dickinson shows an appreciation for the natural world in a handful of poems. Although Dickinson’s poem #1489 seems disoriented, it produces a parallelism of experience between the speaker and the audience that encompasses the abstractness and unexpectedness of an event.
Darkness by Lord Byron is a romantic piece of literature depicting the bleak demise of our current world. The speaker begins his poem as a “dream” but “not all a dream,” (1) immediately showing doubt for the story to follow. The poet then imagines the end of the world through a series of natural, social, and supernatural events. Byron does not believe in life after death or a certain religion; therefore, the end is really the end. This idea that life is over after death, intensifies the “darkness” in the poem. During the time Byron wrote this poem, there was a theory that the sun would burn out the earth, basically destroying the world. This influenced Byron to write Darkness because the earth in reality was headed toward a dark black place of nothing. This could be a reason that Byron wrote that the palaces and huts would be burned to give light and warmth because it is much needed in this dark world. He uses diction and imagery in this piece to increase the darkness and gloominess of it. Lord Byron utilizes these stylistic techniques to convey the theme of the future conclusion; da...
Though these authors looked like twins lived during the same era, examining their literature demonstrates that they had little influence on one another. The parallels between Dickinson and Poe include their dark Romantic subject matter, though Dickinson is considered a Modernist, and their use of first-person narrators who display drastic psychological states under the presence of death. Aside from these indistinct similarities, they have many differences in how they write about life and death. In “Because I could not stop for Death,” Dickinson characterizes mortality as a guide to the afterlife, while Poe portrays death as intimidating in “The Tell-Tale Heart” and like a thief in “Annabel Lee.” In addition to this, Poe’s illustration of nature in “The Raven” is also darker than Dickinson’s view in “Nature is what we see.” Dickinson believes nature is godlike and shows more of a Romantic view of nature than Poe, who uses symbols of birds to connect the outdoors with mortality. When considering these works, Poe is a more dark, Anti-Transcendentalist writer compared to Dickinson. Further, he writes short stories and poems that horrify the reader while Dickinson writes dynamic, unorthodox poetry that is difficult to compare to other writers. The eccentric minds of these authors is ultimately expressed in their provocative literature that continues to influence writers
Although both poems were written by the same poet around the same time, their idea of what lies after death differs. In one of the poems, there appears to be an afterlife, while in the other poem, there is nothing. For example, in her work of, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, Dickinson tells the reader a tale of a woman being taken away by Death. The Death would either take the women to hell or heaven, giving us our first indication of an afterlife. Also in the fifth stanza, Death and the woman make a stop before a house where they see “… The Roof was scarcely visible – The Cornice in the Ground-“; the woman is lying in the soil beneath, where her Soul and Spirits are looking towards the house, representing an afterlife. As the poem proceeds to the sixth stanza, the reader is given a conclusive evidence of the afterlife when the woman revives how it has been centuries since the death has come to visit...
Within the poem Poe divides the characters and imagery into two conflicting aspects of light and dark. Almost everything in the poem reflects one world or the other. For example, Lenore, who is repeatedly described as ?radiant? epitomizes the world of light along with the angels she has joined. Another image of light would be the lamplight the character uses to light his chamber, his refuge from the darkness of the outside. However, The Raven, as well as the dreary December night shows signs of darkness. These images of light and darkness go even further to represent life and death, the man?s hope of an afterlife with Lenore and his fear of everlasting loneliness.
Dickinson's poetry is both thought provoking and shocking. This poem communicates many things about Dickinson, such as her cynical outlook on God, and her obsession with death. It is puzzling to me why a young lady such as Emily Dickinson would be so melancholy, since she seemed to have such a good life. Perhaps she just revealed in her poetry that dark side that most people try to keep hidden.
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 ...
“Fire and Ice” is a poem that paints a bleak picture of the future in which there are two paths, fire and ice, that both lead to the end of the world. Frost uses language throughout the poem that appears to be simple, but is actually very effective at communicating deeper, insightful meanings. He connects fire and ice to desire and hate and creates multiple levels of complexity. For example, the simple passage “Some say the world will end in fire, / Some say in ice.” (“Fire and Ice” 1-2) introduces the two main symbols in the poem, but, at the same time, pulls the reader in because desire and hate are so personal and such a significant part of human nature. After the symbols are presented, the narrator involves himself or herself in the poem by saying “From what I’ve tasted of desire / I hold with those who favor fire.” (“Fire and Ice” 3-4). A clear decision is made here in favor of fire, implying that the narrator favors desire. Frost believes that the world will eventually be destroyed by destructive and negative human traits: desire, greed, and jealousy. Yet in Frost’s mind, these traits are still preferable to hate. This opinion is demonstrated by the narrator’s choice of fire. Frost prefers the heat of passion and fire to the ...
Both poets, in these works and many others, display a fascination with the death of themselves as well as the death of peers, and loved ones. Both Frost and Dickinson experienced a great deal of death throughout each of their lives. Frost’s greatest loss was the death of his son, which is greatly depicted in his poem “Home Burial.” Dickinson suffered the loss of many friends and family. She spent a lot of her time in her room looking out upon the headstones of these people.