Emily Dickinson's View Of Death Essay

“And as to you Corpse I think you are good manure, / but that does not offend me / I smell the white roses sweet-scented and growing, / I reach to the leafy lips, / I reach to the polish’d breasts of melons” (Whitman “Song of Myself” Lines 1291-1293). Whitman knows that something amazing happens to the ones who die. Emily Dickinson on the other hand, remains either apathetic or has a negative opinion on death. “Or rather, he passed us / The dews grew quivering and chill / For only gossamer my gown / My tippet only tulle” (Dickinson “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” Lines 13-16). Dickinson admits that she is afraid of death. The quivering and chill is describing that death is cold hearted, and gossamer is covering her. If death were so nice, then he wouldn’t have such a creepy image and Dickinson would be describing her trip with him like a trip through a haunted house. She is afraid of him at this point. Though Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson may share different opinions about dying, they both know that death is inevitable and they will have their time one as well.

“Afraid! Of whom am I afraid? Not Death – for who is He?” (F345). Dickinson, on the other hand, was not shaken by the thought of death, but rather welcomed it. Dickinson’s poetry not only portrayed death as nothing to fear, but it also counterbalanced society’s disdain for death. In one of Dickinson’s most popular poems, she writes “Because I could not stop for death- he kindly stopped for me” (F479). Culture typically sees death as an unwelcome end that everyone must face, but her poetry depicts death as being kind enough to halt its progress to accommodate her. Why is Emily Dickinson’s poetry so in love with death? Death is the only reliable constant (Ottlinger, 42). “All but Death, Can be adjusted Dynasties repaired – Systems – settled in the Sockets – Citadels – dissolved – Wastes of Lives – resown with Colors By Succeeding Springs – Death – unto itself – Exception – is exempt from Change -” (F789). Perhaps the harshest aspect of her poetry’s death is that after it has taken another soul, life moves on simply

Emily Dickinson is well-known due to the fact that she uses an immense amount of death in her poetry; she is also known as being reclusive and death-obsessed. Although other poets don’t typically use large amounts of death in his or her own poetry, Dickinson decided to take her own path in order to get her point across; meanwhile, some found her obsession with death rather disturbing. On the other hand, death could be interpreted through various forms of symbolism. For example, death can symbolize things such as equality, religion, and journeys. Additionally, death can be used to express the loss of a loved one or even an internal loss of yourself, such as despair. Her poems about death

When so much of one’s life is left up to chance, it is nice to know that one can find certainty in death. Whereas life can be moulded to perfection and death is a guarantee, there is no way to tell what one will face following death. There are millions of different cultures, religions, and individual beliefs pertaining to the afterlife, but a definitive answer will never be known. The works of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson express two very unique interpretations of death and what follows. Both Whitman’s and Dickinson’s views of death include an idea of an afterlife, or of a continuation of the soul post death, but where Whitman welcomes the idea of demise without a trace of fear and his overall view of death is more mystical, Dickinson has a negative view of death and, at times, questions the possibility of an afterlife entirely.

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

Death was very prevalent in the life of Emily Dickinson. It had all started with the death of her loved ones and family friends that led her into a state of solitary where she had become very reclusive and gave her time to write the large amount of poems she created. It has provided people who have had something tragic or just in that state of mind to provide an outing as well as provide incredible imagery to pass onto a reader. Emily Dickinson was a poet that has very impressive way of using multiple themes in her poems that create incredible imagery. Each composition that Dickinson has created has impressive utilization of themes like nature, love, and death to create a more picturesque poem. Each poem had it own theme that came from past

Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is a remarkable masterpiece that exercises thought between the known and the unknown. Critics call Emily Dickinson’s poem a masterpiece with strange “haunting power.”

Death is usually visualized as a frightening character, for example the grim reaper is used in many novels or films. The word ”Death” (line 1) is associated more than someone passing away since Dickinson gave death human characteristics. Its shown when “Death” (1) “Kindly stopped” (2) for the speaker instead of rushing the speaker to enter the afterlife. For the reason that “Death” (1) “Drove slowly…. No haste” (5) meaning that he was patient making it seem like it is a peaceful journey to eternity. Also, as the speaker is with “Death” in the carriage she mentions that he has “Civility” (8) which means that someone is formal polite in behavior toward

The subject of death, including her own was a very prevalent theme in Emily Dickinson’s poems and letters. Some may find her preoccupation with death morbid, but this was not unusual for her time period. The mindset during Ms. Dickinson’s time was that of being prepared to die, in the 19th century people died of illness and accidents at an alarming rate, not to mention the Civil War had a high number of casualties, she also lived 15 years of her youth next to a cemetery. Dickinson’s view on death was never one of something to be feared she almost romanized death, in her poem “Because I Could not Stop for Death”, she actually personifies death while narrating from beyond the grave. In the first stanza she states “I could not stop for

Thesis of my paper that I am trying to prove to the reader is that Emily Dickinson is a brilliant extraordinary writer. She talks about mortality and death within her life and on paper in her poem works.

Emily Dickinson was infatuated with death and sought after it only to try and help

In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death “ (448), the speaker of the poem is a woman who relates about a situation after her death. The speaker personifies death as a polite and considerate gentleman who takes her in a carriage for a romantic journey; however, at the end of this poem, she finishes her expedition realizing that she has died many years ago.

Two of Emily Dickinson’s poems, “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death” are both written about life’s stopping point, death. Although the poems are written by the same poet, both poems view death in a different manner. Between the two poems, one views death as having an everlasting life while the other anticipates everlasting life, only to realize it does not exist. While both poems are about death, both poems also illustrate that the outcome of death is a mysterious experience that can only be speculated upon with the anticipation of everlasting life.

Emily Dickinson once said, “Dying is a wild night and a new road.” Some people welcome death with open arms while others cower in fear when confronted in the arms of death. Through the use of ambiguity, metaphors, personification and paradoxes Emily Dickinson still gives readers a sense of vagueness on how she feels about dying. Emily Dickinson inventively expresses the nature of death in the poems, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280)”, “I Heard a fly Buzz—When I Died—(465)“ and “Because I could not stop for Death—(712)”.

What most people know about Emily Dickinson is that she was an isolated poet from Massachusetts who composed plenty of poems in the 1800s, which was published after her death. Death and funerals are two major topics of Emily's poem. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" is one of Emily Dickinson's longest and most captivating poem. The artist Pablo Neruda is also a very popular poet for his political activism and his electric poetry. He was first known for his alluring poems such as "Today around evening time I Can Write." The poem "Nothing But death" is an example of Neruda's idyllic vision and style. Both the poems “Because I could not stop for death” and “Nothing But Death” are on the topics of death, therefore, their theme is also