Regarding History vs. When Death Comes

She is somewhat prepared to meet her demise. Although the tone of the poem is mainly calm, it does change as the speaker becomes closer to death. It is also very ironic because the speaker is referring to death in blithesome imagery. “We paused before a house that seemed a swelling of the ground the roof was scarcely visible the cornice in the Ground “ (5.1-4) the speaker refers to her grave as her home. The fact that she characterizes her grave as her home shows how comfortable she is with the idea of death. In the first three stanzas the poem is very relaxed. The usage of words such as “kindly” (1.2), “slowly” (2.1) and “civility” (2.8) give off an attitude of comfort. Furthermore in the 4th stanza the reader can recognize the speaker growing cautious as she begins to question her life and what exactly are the intentions of her companion. As the poem reaches the last stanzas the tone shifts from the once calm and casual tone to a more sad and serious resonance. The speaker is coming to the realization of her inevitable destiny.

Ultimately, the poem “Life” by Naomi Long Madgett has the tone of light-heartedness and the mood of comfortability with the thought of death. As life is short, I know that my parents, and everyone I love will all die someday, whether I am ready for it or not. This poem helped me with the thought of death.

In the poem “Because I could Not stop for Death”, Emily Dickinson describes death as an experience that she is looking back on. Dickinson uses a variety of elements, such as personification, imagery and irony to get her point across that death is not a dreadful event, but actually a pleasant experience. Although death is often perceived as being depressing and frightening, it should be viewed in a positive way realizing that it is the beginning of eternity.

I think that the moral of this poem is that life is precious, and that life should never be taken for granted. I think this is because the whole poem is comparisons between life and death, and because she says that the people who have passed away would do anything possible to come back to life, even under the worst conditions, to be loved, to love, and to be with the people they

Death is part of the human life cycle, approximately 151,600 people die each day. Everyone wonders how they will die, if they suffer, if it’s tragic or if it’s just simply peaceful. In each of the three poems the main focus is death. Each poem shows a different feeling about death. “Thanatopsis” by William Bryant, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult and “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas, all have different meanings of death.

Elizabeth Bishop’s poem First Death in Nova Scotia follows a small girl who is introduced to the concept of death for the first time through her cousin, Arthur. Even though the narrator is just a child who is experiencing death for this first time, she is extremely perceptive of her surroundings. The details and language the girl uses to describe the situation illustrates the difficulty the girl is having coming to terms with the idea of death, while also confusing her throughout the poem. The important concepts of death, grief, and loss of innocence are conveyed by Bishop through the encounter the girl is having with death. Bishop’s theme in the poem seems to be that death can be extremely sorrowful yet hard to understand and as such, people deal with these feelings in different ways, even children. The narrator, being a small child, naturally uses distractions in her surroundings and her figurative language to start to understand death at the end of the poem.

As Engle notes, “In the true way of a warrior, the speaker, in stanza 2, looks her own death in the eye and thereby not only escapes its hold over her, but also achieves that “edge” or tension in perspective essential to living one’s life fully and in the moment. Her attention is squarely upon “Him,” as they ride together in his carriage, and she exhibits no fear.” Whether you believe that the speaker is dead at the end of the poem, or that she has escaped the clutches of Death, this is an important element of this deeply layered poem. I believe that Engle downplays this and writes it off as the speaker being a “friend of death.” I find the speaker to be very anxious and perhaps even very afraid of her demise. Perhaps she hasn’t accomplished all she wanted to do in her

“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

Around the world, people of all cultures, religions, and so on, each acquired their own beliefs on unique aspects of spirituality, and the life of a human and what happens after life on the planet. Though most people believe in a universal definition of life as being joyful, fruitful, and a positive subject, death, on the other hand, has numerous definitions between each person. Some people consider death to be morbid, horrifying, and a negative thing, whereas others celebrate death and believe that their soul will live forever. Each of the countless observations of life and death are portrayed in diverse types of literature. One contributor and writer of such literature includes Emily Dickinson. In her poems “Because I Could Not Stop for

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

While the poem speaks of death, the tone is very subtle and joyful because of the multiple imageries of nature through diction such as “bird,” “garden,” and “water.”

I believe the structure of this poem is very significant to the interpretation of the

The anthology is compiled of my favorite poems, and I purposely selected poems with controversial and subjective meanings. Unlike other forms of literature, such as narrations, in which the meaning and language is more direct, poetry tends to be more personal and open to interpretation. In many cases, even the poet never clearly reveals their poem’s true intent, allowing a myriad of theories to formulate. The subjectiveness of poetry allows the audience to develop various interpretations, which also ensures that more people are identify with them through different ways. For example, the meaning of A Girl by Ezra Pound is still debated, and while it is mostly accepted that the poem is based off the myth of Apollo and Daphne, there are still

Her language and personification throughout the poem suggests that she doesn't believe that death is something to fear. The notion that she feels that death isn’t fearful is apparent by the first two lines in the poem. In the first stanza, she begins by personifying death and describes that “Because I could not stop for Death-/ He kindly stopped for me” (Line 1-2). Because of her use of the adjective ‘kindly’, it shows that even when she first meets him, she doesn't see Death as hostile.

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)”.