I Measure Every Grief I Meet, By Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson effectively captures human suffering in its rawest form. In comparison to her other works, Dickinson’s “After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes” may be her most discomforting work. The piece is dismaying in that it forces the reader to unwrap our darkest emotions: sadness, anguish, and anxiety. While other poets speak of the joys of love or the finality of death, Dickinson unravels the emotional wounds inflicted upon humanity by grief, heartache, and loss. In the piece, Dickinson painstakingly takes the reader through the process of dealing with our often ignored emotions.

In the first stanza, Emily Dickenson states that she can feel the mourners treading to and fro, until it seemed all sense was breaking through (Hungerford,

Susanna Dickinson was born in William’s County, Tennessee in the year 1814. Susanna did not live in the most wealthy home as a child, meaning schooling was not top priority for her and her family. She also never learned how to read or write due to lack of schooling. Sense Susanna did not have any education, she worked on her family’s farm until the age of fifteen when she married a blacksmith, Almaron Dickinson. This marriage lasted from 1829 to 1836. Before

The raw emotion present in the poem can be felt immediately as the speaker describes the nature of the woman’s death. The speaker is clearly close to the dying woman, and is impacted by her deteriorating health as he/she describes how this situation alters his/her outlook of the world in lines two through four. Not only do these lines illustrate how the speaker is affected by the death of the woman, but the lines 19 and 20 also show this as the speaker says how his/her soul is “too jostled… to speak at length.” These lines exemplify the speaker’s disbelief at the death of the elderly woman and show, through his/her silence, how affected he/she really is. Death renders most in a state of sorrow and guilt for the continuation of life after death;

In this poetic exploration Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson; the assumption of accepting death has been the ultimate interpretation of this poem. Clarification/evidence has given readers an idea that death is unavoidable and that eternal darkness is what awaits after death. Some might say death is a sinister man who only takes your life out of spite, but others would object and lure other pears to be optimistic to the true meaning of death. In a different perspective Dickinson’s poem could be understood as “rebirth”. Death being a blessing, as a result of an awakening to an afterlife, “new beginning”. Depicting this poem many interpretations can lead to many different ideas. The strategic poem Dickinson wrote allows you to appreciate her examination of death as a positive outlook.

In the poem, by Emily Dickinson, the speaker conveys a complex type of attitude that examines the death of her friend on “The last night she lived.” The speaker conveys multiple emotions throughout the poem including an extreme pain towards the idea of death. Another emotion the speaker feels is how inevitable the death of her friend is, how she can do nothing about it other than be with her by her side. Towards the middle of the poem the speaker starts to feel guilt towards themselves when the speaker says,” Tomorrow were, a Blame” suggesting that it isn’t fair this innocent woman must pass away. Another mechanism to observe that adds onto the speakers attitude is how aware of little things the speaker is before the

Emily experienced the deaths of many loved ones during her lifetime, which could link to why her poems revolve around despair.

Born on December 10 in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts as Emily Elizabeth Dickinson and died on May 15, 1886, at age 55. Her parents were Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson. Her parents married in 1828 and had three children. He father was a lawyer that was educated at Amherst and Yale. He served the Massachusetts State Legislature and Massachusetts State Senate. Little is known about her mother Emily but there is information that she studied at Monson Academy and had an interest in sciences. She was the middle child of three children. Her grandfather was Samuel Dickinson who is known as the founder of Amherst College. Her older brother was Austin who was a year in half older than Emily. Her younger sister was Lavinia who was two years younger

Emily Dickinson is known for writing poems that relate to death and dying, and the poem “Because I could not stop for death” is no exception. This is a narrative poem that illustrates the passage from life to death as a carriage ride through a quiet town. In this particular poem, the speaker has already passed away and is remembering what seems to be a fond memory, however that is not revealed till the final stanza. There are only two characters, The speaker and Death. The speaker is a lady who is reminiscing on a carriage ride she took with Death. She conveys her ride in a very light manner, almost as one would of a pleasant first date. Her tone is very calm and she seems almost at ease, as she and Death take a slow ride through town. She introduces Death in the first stanza as if he was a gentleman with manners. Throughout the entire poem Death is personified as a polite man. This is first implied in Line 2 when the speaker says “he kindly stopped for me-”. Hearing this can also suggest to the readers that the speaker is not afraid of death but perhaps even relieved “he” had finally arrived. There is no evidence to suggest how this particular lady in the poem died. However in Line 5, when the speaker says, “We drove slowly- He knew no haste”, could be inferred that she died slowly, maybe from a terminal sickness. As they are riding along they pass children playing in the school yard, fields of grain, and the setting sun. Finally at the end of the poem, they reach their

Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” gives us a bone-chilling sensation that constantly illustrates an image for the reader on how the speaker feels about death and what presents itself shortly after. Death is immediately introduced as a dominant character and central point of the poem. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” being the first line and the title already informs the reader that the speaker has an explication of what happened during the day she died and what is happening after. Dickinson uses a great deal of imagery and symbolism throughout the poem to characterize death and how it accompanies the theme of both mortality and immortality.

Emily Dickinson’s poems are shorter than most, but that does not mean that they lack depth or skill. Dickinson uses many brilliant literary techniques in her poetry such as allusions, personification, juxtaposition, metaphors and so many others. Her unique use of symbolism throughout her poems really makes the reader think twice on what they are reading. And since the majority of her poems are short, it makes it easier to reread the poem numerous times. In Emily Dickinson’s Poem, “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”, Dickinson uses a personified version of death to lead the speaker of the poem through a journey to the end of her life, that involves the contrasting concepts of time and eternity.

Emily Dickinson was born in a town named Amherst in Massachusetts on December 10, 1830 to Edward Dickinson and Emily Norcross. “Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was well known as the founder of Amherst College. Her father worked at Amherst and served as a state legislator. He married Emily Norcross in 1828” (Emily Dickinson Biography). Dickinson’s

As shown in one of her poems titled “I measure every Grief I meet” she states “I wonder if it hurts to live – And if They have to try –And whether – could They choose between – It would not be – to die – “(lines 5-8). In knowing that it leans more towards the death if aimed towards Dickinson and her death. Her sanity and purpose have died, and the disarray inside her mind is compared to the mourners at a funeral walking backward and forward. Then she goes into the funeral beginning and these mourners sit down, and the funeral begins to take place, however, with an Emily Dickinson poem, the meaning can’t be as straightforward as this. The funeral suggests the loss of something, here is where the reader can begin to think on their own and reason. Who, or what, is this ‘Funeral in my brain’ for? Has she lost her reasoning and sense of purpose in life. Observe the end of the first stanza, Dickinson says that ‘it seemed / That Sense was breaking through’. (line 4) If sense is her common sense, her reason, and her sanity is breaking through, that could note the realization of the loss of herself. “Of course, in this case the experience itself is one of disassociation. Since the speaker adds

From experiencing pain and knowing the world around her Emily Dickinson wrote an encouraging and engaging poem. If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking is an eight line, one stanza poem with a deep meaning. Portraying true pain and feeling in a positive light, thoughts and memories are shared through a small piece of writing. The defining theme of Emily Dickinson’s poem is, a good and selfless life is helping those in need because anyone can need

Walt Whitman is a man who against slavery during the Civil War, he said: everyone is equal, it does matter a person’s skin is black or white, they all have the same red-running blood at I Sing the Body Electric. Walt Whitman is comparing Death and Race, everyone is equal. The death happened all over the place. Emily Dickinson feels death always follow her around: “So huge, so hopeless to conceive-/ As these that twice befell.”(line 5-6 ). In this poem, Emily Dickinson feels death is painful and sadness, when she was young, her best friend has died then she started to get health problem. This one of the reason that makes she feels death always around her. When she gets older, she locked herself in the room. Emily Dickinson did not have a chance to see more things around the world, so she looks at death from a personal perspective. But when her thought and her work is not being understood, she wrote done I DIED for beauty this poem, in this poem she had a different understanding of death. In this poem Emily Dickinson showed the person who can be resting in peace, to be immorality after death, is the person who only lives for beauty and truth. “And, so as kinsmen met at night,-”( line 9). “ as kinsmen” Emily Dickinson is using the