I Died For Beauty But Was Scarce

Essentially I feel that each poem in its own “Funeral Blues” (W. H. Auden), “Death, be not proud” (John Donne), and “Because I could not stop for Death” (Emily Dickinson) are unique in their own way however, I feel that two poems in particular may show more similarity in each other versus all three being compared at once although, I will be comparing and contrasting all three poems towards the end of this essay. For example, When reading “Funeral Blues” (W. H. Auden), I felt a greater sense of similarity to “Because I could not stop for death” (Emily Dickinson) versus “Death, be not proud” (John Donne) so I will begin to discuss those poems first. When comparing each poem I will

    Figurative language plays a key role in the poem, as well. The best example is  The Morning after Death,  which sounds a lot like  mourning after death.  In fact,  mourning  could even replace  morning  and the poem would still make sense. Another example occurs in the second stanza, when Dickinson uses the words  sweeping  and  putting.   By using such cold, unfeeling words when describing matters of the heart, the author creates a numb, distant tone. She really means that after someone dies, one almost has to detach oneself from the feelings of love that once existed for the deceased.

In each poem, the poets share distinct views on the perception of death. While Dickinson’s poem, Because I Could Not Stop for Death, structures her poem to present her central theme of accepting death peacefully and agreeable. On the other hand, the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by, Dylan Thomas uses rejection and denial in the process to present his poem’s theme. Both narrators distinguish death with detailed words or phrases. For example, in Dickinson’s poem she states, "Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me" (1-2).

He explains death in quite literal ways and keeps the imagery on the lower end of things. He wants the idea of death to be understood while being straightforward on what happens. He does not add the idea that death is a miserable, horrible ordeal, and does not make others feel as though when you die, you are lost in an abyss of nothing like Dickinson would. In his poem Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, he says, “But my mate no more, no more with me! We two together no more” (Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, 29. 4-5). He creates an idea of how people and nature truly die without the dramatization that Dickinson would

“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.

Dickinson starts the first stanza of the poem with, “Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me” (807). Clearly she was not ready to go, death simply took her by surprise and brought her busy life to a halt. This could be seen as a beautiful way to take on death because death is usually said in such a morbid tone and the fact she associated “kindly” with death makes it beautiful. The second line says, “The Carriage held but just Ourselves – and Immortality” (Dickinson 807). The author emphasizes Carriage, Ourselves, and Immortality. Dickinson seems to be talking about her own death chariot and by immortality, she believes her death is not the end, but rather as a step to eternal life.

Firstly, the repetition in the phrase “we passed” in the third stanza shows that the nature of humans is to go through different stages in life before death. Dickinson ends the third stanza with the line “We passed the Setting Sun” which is the last stage of life, death. This reveals that at the start, the first stage of life is to go through school, study and get educated. By the time humans grow up, mature, and grow old it is the setting sun; which means that life is almost over, the way the sunsets there is just a bit of sunlight left before nighttime (either rephrase the entire sentence or remove the highlighted part). Life is the same way; humans should not fear death because it is a normal stage of living. One of the main reasons Dickinson wrote this, is because she strongly believes that there is eternity and that afterlife does exist. She saw it as a glorious and exciting time because everyone would be in heaven. This view was influenced by her upbringing in a Christian home and was a Bible reader. Moreover, Dickinson refers to the grave as her house in the line, “We paused before a House that Seemed.” This exemplifies that Dickinson is very comfortable and pleased with the idea of death, leaving this life, and the afterlife. She experienced many family deaths in her lifetime, like her mother, father, and

Both the “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson contain age-old themes. These themes focus on inevitable feelings and events of life; love and death. Although both “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” contain the two themes, they differ greatly in how they are presented and what they represent. In “Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” a husband traveling away from his wife is consoling her.

Dickinson gives Death many characteristics that help to shape our image of him. The line "He kindly stopped for me" in the first stanza, immediately gives a male gender (2). This male image gives the reader the traditional idea of the gentleman caller. This line also reveals a kind quality of death. The kind quality is important throughout this poem because it allows the speaker to

Archibald MacLeish explains it by saying, “No one can read these poems … without perceiving that he is not so much reading as being spoken to….” (qtd. in Wolff 120). Her humor is shown throughout her poems. Wolff suggests that writing in first person was Dickinson’s “most profound riddle (or joke) of all.” (Wolff 120) The circumstances of Dickinson’s life, “the general disempowerment of the human condition (always under sentence of death)” and the discrimination toward women during her time period, greatly affected her poetry (Wolff 124). For her time period, she wrote about woman's death defiantly (Wolff 124) Unlike the other poets who simply wrote about the death of beautiful women, she wrote poems in which the dead women spoke (Wolff 124). Dickinson’s approach was very unique compared to any other poet during that time. Through her poetry she could not only shatter the idea of women dying being beautiful, but she could also mock other poets Christian traditions (Wolff 125). Her talents are not only focused on death though, in some poems she is able to express “ a celebration of life, sexuality, parturition, and art…” (Wolff

In Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” there is much impression in the tone, in symbols, and in the use of imagery that exudes creativity. One might undoubtedly agree to an eerie, haunting, if not frightening, tone in Dickinson’s poem. Dickinson uses controlling adjectives—“slowly” and “passed”—to create a tone that seems rather placid. For example, “We slowly drove—He knew no haste / …We passed the School … / We passed the Setting Sun—,” sets a slow, quiet, calm, and dreamy atmosphere (5, 9, 11,

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.

In order to counterbalance the sense of maddening, Dickinson uses structured elements of poetry to allow the reader to gain insight into the horrors of mental breakdowns. The use of phrase and word repetition plays a significant role in expressing the barbarity of a psychological crisis and helps create an ominous tone. In the first stanza, Dickinson describes the

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)”.

In regard to Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” Critic Eunice Glenn says: “In the first two lines Death, personified as a carriage driver, stops for one who could not stop for him. The word ‘kindly’ is particularly meaningful, for it instantly characterizes Death. This comes with surprise, too, since death is more often considered grim and terrible” (Glenn). Critic Charles R. Anderson says, “Death, usually rude, sudden, and impersonal, has been transformed into a kindly and leisurely gentleman” (Anderson).