Regarding History vs. When Death Comes

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.

The one poem that really glorifies death is, “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. In the poem it states, “Romeo and Juliet

Emily Dickinson wrote two poems “I heard a buzz when- I died” and “Because I could not stop for death”. In these two poems, Emily Dickinson, describes two very different death experiences. While doing so Dickinson describes what she believes death to be. The poem “I Heard a buzz when I died,” takes a rough route to death with an even rougher shock. The other poem “Because I could not stop for death,” takes a gentler route to death with a not so gentle shock. However out of these poems, “I heard a buzz - when I died, “receives the worst shock. This character faces the brutal shock of death without any closure.

When Death Comes by Mary Oliver has all of the characteristics to be considered a great poem. It uses precise imagery to help me picture and further understand the overall message of the poem. Revealing such a compelling message, this poem enabled me to change my outlook on life. Lastly, I personally established a connection between the author

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)”.

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.

“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

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

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.”

In Patricia Engle’s review of Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”, Engle argues that Dickinson’s poem employs Death as a lover who takes whomever is reading the poem to “heaven”, if you will. She also posits the idea that our eventual death is just a state of mind and we do not all follow the same path to reach Death. The poem, at its core, is about the visceral fear of Death and not wanting to die. I disagree with Engle’s assessment. Engle’s take on Dickinson’s poem is an inaccurate one because it explains that Dickinson does not seem to be afraid of death, that Dickinson is very spiritually aware and even accepting of her eventual fate, and that Dickinson, or the speaker of the poem, has accepted death so he has “stopped” for her.

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

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;

The poem I chose is a sonnet, John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 10. Around 1609, John Donne wrote a variety of religious poems called ‘Divine Poems” that included nineteen sonnets (1410). This literature reflected his interest in Jesuit and Protestant meditative procedures (1410). Although this sonnet is short, the message I received from it greatly influenced my idea of death. The story starts off as the speaker standing up to death. He tells death that it has no power over him and shows death’s comparison to sleep. Death will be short and the speaker will awake eternally in heaven. Since the day we were born, all we have feared was death. John Donne’s message states that Death is somewhat non-existent by realizing it actually holds no power over you.