The Literal and Metaphorical Explainations of Death in Emily Dickinson’s Apparently With No Surprise
analytical Essay
700 words
The most feared aspect of life is also the most necessary. Death defines the human experience. In Emily Dickinson’s “Apparently With No Surprise”, she examines death from both a literal and specific to a metaphorical and over-arching perspective. Emily Dickinson shows us this through her poetry by explaining the aspects of death and how they relate to each and ever one of our lives. The apparent meaning of the poem is how death interacts in the cycle of nature, but closer readings reveal more intimate and complex meanings. Despite it being a necessary component of life, Dickinson often questions the timing and manner that her God chooses to carry out his duties. This poem uses subtle connotations, metaphorical allusions, and sly grammatical choices to convey both the awesome and arbitrary role that death plays in each and everyone one of our lives.
On the exterior, the literal meaning of this poem centers on the cycles of nature. The poem opens with the lines “Apparently with no surprise / To any happy Flower / The Frost beheads it at its play” describing a flower who is sadly cut down by cold wintery frost (1-3). She shows the repetitive and constant interaction between God and nature by saying “the sun proceeds unmoved / To measure off another day / For an approving God” (6-8). This shows how the big picture aspects of life are not affected by the impact of death. Like clockwork, the cycles of nature continue on and on. To show the interactions of nature, Dickinson chooses to have alliteration between the main actors in her poem, the Flower and Frost. In a most literal sense, Dickinson appears to state that death is just but another part in the experiences of nature, uncontrolled by man, only by God. The final lines of the po...
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...lization of death until this poem. After this poem, Dickinson forms a new opinion on death, one that embraces death as a necessity in the completion of the life cycle of humanity. On the other hand, Dickinson could be using this term sarcastically. If taken in a sarcastic tone, Dickinson could be mocking nature, God, or both for the experiences in her life. The author could have seen the loss of a loved one as unnecessary, unjust, or superfluous. So, Dickinson could be mocking the institution of religion as a whole, claiming that their God does not actually provide for the people. Much like a detective, Dickinson’s poem follows an order of ascending size from the small Flower, to Frost, to the sun, to finally the largest item, God. In this tone, Dickinson follows and ends with an accusatory attitude towards God on his indifference towards the value of a human life.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how emily dickinson's "apparently with no surprise" examines death from both a literal and specific perspective.
- Analyzes how dickinson's poem centers on the cycles of nature. the poem opens with the lines "apparently with no surprise" describing a flower cut down by cold wintery frost.
- Analyzes how emily dickinson's overt choices in capitalization reinforce subtle connotations in the reader’s mind.
- Analyzes how dickinson uses the multiple connotations of the word "apparently" to generate numerous tones in which to view this poem.
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- Emily Dickinson Death Theme Essayanalytical essayDeath is something no one bears the power to control. Emily Dickinson does an extraordinary job at presenting death in many of her poems. Dickinson uses death as the central theme for many of her poems. Living next to the cemetery from a young age, it had a great influence on Dickinson and her incorporation of death and immortality in her poems. Emily Dickinson talks about death and the meaning of death in many of the poems give her readers an understanding of how darkness can be viewed. It is strange for a writer to talk about death as much as she does, however, it is presented very smoothly in her poems. Talking so much about death, it seemed, as Dickinson was obsessed with the idea of an afterlife. The loss of a very close friend, Samuel
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how emily dickinson uses death as the central theme for many of her poems. being a traditional christian, she believed in the afterlife after death.
- Analyzes how dickinson's poems revolve around the theme of death, and how the narrator accepts death with open arms.
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1521 wordsRead More - Compare Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night And Because I Could Not Wait For Deathanalytical essayThe 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 this essay, the author
- Compares the two poems, "do not go gentle into that good night" by dylan thomas and "because i could not wait for death".
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- Analyzes how the lines repletion of the word rage accentuates the desperation for the fight against death.
- Analyzes how dickinson's poem is a woman accepting her death and welcoming it, while thomas' poem portrays the man urging his father to fight fiercely against death. both poems use personification, metaphors, imagery, and symbolism.
1435 wordsRead More - Emily Dickinson Because I Could Not Stop For Deathanalytical essayEmily Dickinson describes an unusual and meaningful trip with “Death”. The poem was written around 1863, originally, the poem was not titled. When it was published, Thomas Johnson named it depending on the meaning of the poem. Dickinson did not fond of gaining reputation and money-she even tried to avoid those. She focused on artist creation, for instance writing poems. Therefore, she achieved the extreme high levels in writing. Her poems are vacant and inspiring. She had a deep thinking about the connection of death and immortality in this poem. I am going to analyze the poem on its forms and depths to let the readers understand the poem
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how dickinson's poem "because i could not stop for death" attracted them. they want to understand her opinions about death and immortality, and compare her ideas with other philosophers.
- Explains that they expanded the content and finished the analyzation. they also wanted to polish the part of synthesis and valuation.
- Analyzes emily dickinson's poem "because i could not stop for death" to let readers understand the poem deeper.
- Explains that the poem has 6 parts, each part has 4 lines, but it still contains rhymes that make the whole poem combined. the capital words are a smart technique, which can lead readers to follow her thinking.
- Analyzes how dickinson models a different image of death in the first part of the poem.
- Analyzes how the third section is full of symbolic meanings. dickinson passed by her childhood with death, then went through "fields of gazing grain".
- Analyzes how dickinson's view of death changed after a warm and enjoyable trip with the death. she realized that mr. death is not traveler, but spectator in her life.
- Analyzes how dickinson changed the word "pass" to "pause" in the fifth section of the poem.
- Analyzes how dickinson realized that life is short and windy compared with immortality, thus it is meaningless to focus on the length of human beings' life.
- Analyzes how dickinson connects philosophical thinking of death and the poem, which breaks the restriction of time and space.
- Explains the reasons people fear death are the same in essentials while differing in minor points. it is painful when people have to leave their family, lovers and friends forever.
1681 wordsRead More - Is Death Easy to Accept?analytical essayDeath is commonly viewed as a force that rules over us at all times, but the poems “Death, be not proud”, by John Donne, and the poem, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, by Emily Dickinson, paint a different light on the situation. Donne describes death, as something that should fear us rather than us fearing him, for Donne believes that death is not as powerful as we all say he is. While author Harold Bloom of John Donne: Comprehensive Research and Study Guide”, suggests that the poem was written to give people courage than present Death and his false manners. Dickinson, on the other hand sees death as something to be embraced, like a friend or lover, and when he comes we should welcome him with open arms. However, in both “Dickinson’s ‘Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, by Collamer M. Abbott, and “Because I, Persephone, Could Not Stop for Death: Emily Dickinson and the Goddess”, by Ken Hiltner, both suggest alternative views of what the poem could really be about, and what Death truly represents to them. Both Donne and Dickinson show a highly personified representation of death; giving each of their interpretations it’s own powerful personality using different types of figurative language and imagery. However while Dickinson accepts that death comes to everyone and must be embraced, Donne denies the personification that is death because of it’s presentation of power is false, but claims that what comes after is something to be welcomed.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the poems "death, be not proud" by john donne and "because i could not stop for death", by emily dickinson, paint a different light on the situation.
- Analyzes how dickinson's poem depicts death as a chivalrous man, and accepts him as her time.
- Analyzes how death can be personified in different ways in the poem.
- Analyzes how donne's personification of death is the main driving force behind his statements aimed at death.
- Analyzes how both sonnets represent an aspect of death and show that when the time comes, you can accept death for what it is, or fear it, though it will only have power over you for an instant.
- States that emily dickinson journal 10.2 (2001): 22-42. mla international bibliography.
- Explains booth, alison, and mays, "because i could not stop for death/ death, be not proud." the norton introduction to literature. peter simon.
1252 wordsRead More - Bryant vs. Dickinsonanalytical essay“Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” Dickinson influences the reader that death is a courteous gentleman instead of a terrifying figure and that sooner or later the gentleman will come to take one’s life. Many people aren’t willing to stop for death, but are taken away. In the poem, the poet puts away concerns of work and leisure. This is a reminder that death is the end of life and energy. The poet rides in a carriage with Death and immortality. During the journey, pleasant scenes of the poet’s past are passed. Once the carriage passed the setting sun suggests the inevitable end of mortal time. Beyond the sun, the dark earth and dew send chills. This is the final transformation of life to death. The carriage becomes a hearse, and the poet is taken to her grave t...
In this essay, the author
- Compares bryant vs. dickinson in "because i could not stop for death" using personification, extended metaphor, and william cullen's analogies in the poem "thanatopsis."
- Analyzes how dickinson's poem, "because i could not stop for death," reminds readers that death is the end of life and energy. the poet rides in a carriage with death and immortality.
- Analyzes how both dickinson and bryant viewed death as part of the circle of life and that unlike life, the cycle is immortal.
- Analyzes how emily dickinson and william cullen bryant used their beliefs, religion, imagination, and their talented writing skills to voice their opinion.
- Analyzes how william cullen bryant speaks a different language to him who in the love of nature holdscommunion with her visible forms, and she glides5into his darker musing, with mild and healing sympathy.
- Opines that of the last bitter hour come like a blightover thy spirit, and sad images.
- Opines that earth, that nourished thee, shall claimthe growth, to be resolved to earth again, and surrendered upthine individual being, shalt thou go.
- Opines that the oak sends his roots abroad, and pierces thy mold.
- Analyzes how the venerable woods-rivers that move40in majesty, and the complaining brooksthat make the meadows green. the golden sun,45the planets, all the infinite host of heaven,are shining on the sad abodes of death.
- Opines that the globe are but a handful to the tribesthat slumber in its bosom.
- Opines that the gay will laugh when thou art gone, the solemn brood of care, and each one as before will chasehis favorite phantom.
- Opines that in the full strength of years, matron, maid, speechless babe, and gray-headed man-70shall one by one be gathered to thy side, by those, who in their turn shall follow them.
- Narrates dickinson's poem, "because i could not stop for death" and "the carriage held but just ourselves."
- Narrates how they passed the school, where children strove, the fields of gazing grain, and the setting sun. the dews drew quivering and chill.
- Analyzes how death is compared and contrasted in "thanatopsis" and "because i could not stop for death."
1041 wordsRead More - Deathanalytical essayIn Emily Dickinson’s poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death, death is being described as a human characteristic and redefines the conflict between life and the peaceful eternity of death. Considering Dickinson’s poetic history, she was greatly influenced by the seventeenth- century of New England and had a fascination with death. Most of the time death is portrayed as something inevitable, irreversible and scary, but in this poem Dickinson does a great job reversing these ideas into something much more appealing. The authors use of alliteration, personification, and imagery throughout the entire poem helps mold the main themes of life, death, and eternity that she is so prominent for writing about.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how emily dickinson's poem because i could not stop for death redefines the conflict between life and the peaceful eternity of death.
- Analyzes the use of alliteration in lines nine through twelve to emphasize the importance of what the speaker is trying to say.
- Analyzes how dickinson's use of personification in the poem helps contribute to the mood and overall beliefs of the speaker.
- Analyzes how the imagery used in the poem helps the reader picture death as a step into eternal life.
- Concludes that dickinson's "because i could not stop for death" is a poem describing life, death, and eternity all in one.
794 wordsRead More - Death in Dickinsonanalytical essayEmily 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."
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the poem is almost explaining the feeling as someone would explain a headache that builds and builds until finally it becomes so intense that one could barely bare the pain.
- Analyzes how emily dickinson's poetry is intense and passionate. the reader can see vivid images of her ideas of death in her three death poems.
- Analyzes how dickinson's poem "i heard a fly buzz-when i died" shows the reader that everyone is sad and trying to accept her death.
- Analyzes the metaphor of life as a journey and the meeting of one's life passing before his eyes, from childhood, through maturity, to sunset.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how emily dickinson explores her curiosity of death and the afterlife through her creative writing ability. her poems "because i could not stop for death" and "i heard a fly buzz when i died" show parallel and opposing views.
- Analyzes how dickenson's poem, "because i could not stop for death," illustrates the passage of her own death from beyond the grave in a more tender way.
- Analyzes how dickinson's "i heard a fly buzz when i died" is more ridged and scary when it comes to explaining death.
- Analyzes how emily dickinson uses different strategies to highlight the changeable character of death.
810 wordsRead More - Death Allows Various Interpretationsanalytical essayDeath 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how people rely on their religion to explain death. emily dickinson portrays death as a courtship in "because i could not stop for death."
- Analyzes how the puritan view of death captivated every aspect of life. they believed that god had control over every situation in life, with no immunities.
- Analyzes how taylor portrays the death of his children to be an act of god and a favorable act. he surrenders to god's will and takes pride in god’s decision to take them to heaven.
- Compares emily dickinson's poem "because i could not stop for death" with her own, which depicts death as a gentleman caller.
- Analyzes how dickinson constructs a delicate portrait of death by the courtly manner in which the characters interact.
- Analyzes how taylor and dickinson's poems convey only two interpretations of death, from the common perspective of culture to intrapersonal imagery.
- Cites gunnar engtsson's poem "emily dickinson". american poems.
953 wordsRead More - Emily Dickinson ?Because I Could Not Stop For Death?analytical essay“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 this essay, the author
- Analyzes how emily dickinson, one of the most respected poets in american history, has inspired writers for nearly two centuries. she had a severe sickness that led her to return home from the female seminary.
- Analyzes how emily dickinson's "because i could not stop for death" is one of her most discussed and famous poems due to its unique view on the popular subject of death.
- Analyzes how dickinson's "because i could not stop for death" gives the reader a feeling of gradual movement throughout the second and third groups and verses.
- Analyzes how dickinson's poem becomes more sorrowful as the woman gets closer to her final destination, but in the last four lines she gives the reader a glimpse of hope.
- Analyzes how emily dickinson conveys to the reader that death is the final passageway for this life, though there may be another life out there for you.
629 wordsRead More