Emily Dickinson Poetry Comparison Essay

Emily Dickinson was one of the most amazing poets that ever lived. Though her work did not start to get published until after her death, it is still looked at as a great life accomplishment and is to this day some of the greatest poems. Dickinson was a poet who used the words of her poems to describe a feeling not just saying he or she is lonely or happy. A reader is able to see this in all of her work but for me it stands out in two of her poems that seem to have the same meaning but the way the emotion is portrayed is different in both of them. Loneliness is portrayed in both “There’s a certain Slant of light” and “The Soul selects her own Society” but the way a reader perceives the message of loneliness is different.

departure as the prime reasons for the sorrowful tone Dickinson used in her poems in the

First I will define imagery, followed by metaphors, rhythm, structure and the importance of figurative language. Imagery is associated with mental pictures but it can be more complex than just a picture. “ The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien tells the story of each soldier by simply describing what he carries. Users of vivid description hold the readers interest. (Crossroads, p.23). Another example would be Anton Chekhov in “ Misery”, users of abstract concept in his story such as misery and a society that doesn’t care about an individual’s pain.

Lyrical poetry is often used for the poet to express their emotions and tend to be written in a first-person perspective as a result. Because Dickinson never wrote in hopes of her poems being seen by the public, her poems are theorized to be a reflection of her thoughts. This is strengthened by poem 788 (709), “Publication – is the Auction”, where she deems it arrogant to publish when poems come from God. She says that “Thought belong to Him who gave it” (Dickson, “Publication – is the Auction”, 1) and it is not the right of the poets to sell that knowledge. Therefore, it’s clear that she is against publishing and this norm to conform to what society wants. As a result, it’s only reasonable to believe that her unpublished poems are a reflection of her thoughts. However, it is unknown as to what those thoughts were, due to the vagueness of her poems. She never outright explains what they mean and any answers that the poem may give, it just raises more questions. In 476 (712), “Because I could not stop for Death”, an explanation is never given as to what Death was a metaphor for and why she found it necessary to refer to what she passed by in the

Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson’s poetry is very different; however death seems to be a familiar topic amongst both poets. Opposites attract, and you could say the same for Whitman and Dickinson because though they have different writing styles both repeatedly write about death. Once more, although both Whitman and Dickinson have many different feelings about death, they also share many similar feelings about it as well. Although Walt Whitman's poetry is rather long and quite simple and Emily Dickinson's are often short and complex, the theme of death strongly ties their works together.

Sometimes her views are very romantic, but other times they are intimidating and a little eerie. Many people agree that, “[Dickinson’s] poems’ greatness comes from the elaborate use of literary techniques to give shape to death, and the ambiguity of meaning that allows different interpretations of these journeys”

When one thinks of Emily Dickinson, they usually think of the untitled works that seem to revere life, death, and the ever-present questioning of Gods existence. Edgar Allan Poe on the other hand, the name itself calls to mind the macabre and the dark yet loving way he drafts his poems and short stories. Though they both question, love, and revere death, there is some significant difference between the way that these two authors compose their work. Poe never seems to come to the light with his writings, instead the ever-present sense of death permeates his work. Dickinson, however, constantly calls into question what lies beyond death and almost seems to have a love-hate relationship with death and God.

Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are considered to be two of the best poets in the 19th century. These two poets have written many stories, poems, and books throughout their lives. They are each know for a different aspect. Dickinson is known for writing poems which question immortality and death, meanwhile Whitman is recognized for continuing the tradition of Transcendentalism. although they might have different ways styles of writing, these two often depict similar views for certain themes of life. In this case Whitman and Dickinson describe death in almost identical ways but yet still have dissimilarities which distinguishes their style of writing. Their definition also happens to be more fully explained and improved than that of the dictionary. To add more to that Dickinson also does a great job explaining the meaning of the brain in a more indepth and specific way. So one can say that authors, poets, and writers, have a unique and specific method of explaining the full aspects behind a word.

Dickinson uses light to express happiness and freedom from all hardships in life. When we are feeling down exposure to light will allow our soul to be free again. For example, in “There’s a certain slant of light,” Dickinson claims that light oppresses upon us on winter afternoons. This tells us that Dickinson is relating light to happiness which we may see in the winter. Many do not like the cold winter days but light

One of the prevalent themes of Emily’s work is death. Since she wrote about her inner world and troubles, death as a theme could not be avoided. Emily Dickinson had to face the losing friends to death. Several deaths of family members, including her mother, father and a nephew helped contribute to the theme in her poetry. These events affected her health but she found a way to cope with the idea of death with her poetry. She developed an attitude towards death, seeing it as a transition from mortality to immortality. She accepted its inevitability and tried to make peace with the idea itself. This kind of comprehension was something Emily needed in order to cope with the loss of her loved ones who had been her only support and company in her isolated lifestyle. The theme of death is shown in the poem I picked for the research paper. In the poem called “How Far Is It To Heaven”, by Emily Dickinson it again deals with death but heaven and hell is included. This poem has only a few lines but it gets straight to the point and the theme of the poem hits you right in the face. One example is clear from the first two lines where it asks “How Far Is It To Heaven?” (Line 1) and “As far as Death this way” (Line 2). The poem is so simple but portrays a powerful message to the reader. Another huge theme of

One poet uses the poetic device “meter” seen as not an ordinary conversation but a specific beat in music, creating a regular beat that reflects on a calm and steady perspective, while Whitman uses no rhyme nor pattern of meter more like an ordinary conversation. Furthermore, the mentioning of the theme itself death, come at different times of both poems, Dickinson introduces the theme in the first stanzas of her poem while Whitman inkling that the poem is about dying towards the fourth stanza of his poem. The rhyme schemes for both poems is different while Emily Dickinson poem has a rhyme scheme of “abcb” Whitman’s poem has a rhyme scheme of “acbc”. Although the attitudes of poems may be similar they express themselves in their way. For example, the attitude in Whitman poem, is about death, drifting away like air and then his body being reborn like grass, death being part of nature and needed to be accepted as such. Dickinson attitude in her poem is calm, relaxing, and inviting which may seem ironic since both poems are portraying death but from whole different feel and

Emily Dickinson’s poem There’s a certain Slant of Light is a powerful reflection on the pain of depression and other internal struggles. As a recluse, Dickinson most likely was familiar with these feelings and conveys them in a way we can all relate to. Although cryptic at first, this poem communicates many universal emotions as well as an insight into Dickinson’s state of mind. Stanza one opens with Dickinson referring to “a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoon -”.

This poem is written in ballad form which is odd because one would think of a ballad and think a love story or an author gushing on about nature not an allegory about personified Death. Dickinson both unites and contrasts love/courtship with death, experimenting with both reader’s expectations and the poetic convention dictating specific poem form. This is why Dickinson is widely hailed because of her unconventional writing methods.

Her love for dashes a creates madness at end or midline. Critics say Emily Dickinsons works are not with her time espeacially for a woman in the 19th century. Edgar Allan Poe was a gothic poet with a unique style which makes his work even better to some. Poe’s poems are characterized by a musical effect of words to the reader’s emotion as in the poem The Raven. Poe’s poems are characterized by a gloomy and threading tone. His poems lean towards tradition while maintaining gothic aspects and evil happenings. Poe’s horror and lack of love themes are believed to have been his personal reflection per the lonely life that he lived. The theme of death is attributed to his sorrows after he lost his parents at a very tender age of three. Poe and Dickinson’s pomes were characterized by traditional writing styles and they all reflected upon the poet’s lonely lives. Both poets exhibited good poetic writing styles with a theme of death and lack of love. The pomes’ excellent writing style resulted in emotional poems. On the contrary, Poe was an excellent gothic poet whose poems are characterized by death, horror and uncertainty. Dickson’s poems are characterized by themes such as death, nature, religion, eternity or love although

The literary elements that i will be talking about are, enjambment, the theme of death and elision. Firstly enjambment is seen more than once throughout the duration of the poem. Dickinson says, “Heavenly Hurt, it gives us/We can find no scar,” (Dickinson, 5-6) during that part of the poem she uses enjambment to create a dramatic pause, to show that it is not an actual physical scar, but a mental one caused by, “Heavenly Hurt”. As with The Village Blacksmith, in A certain Slant of Light there us a common theme of death throughout both. This theme is seen when Dickinson says, “When it goes, 'tis like the Distance/