In the poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, by Emily Dickinson and “Home Burial”, by Robert Frost, literary elements are used throughout both poems to get the message the authors are trying to portray. One main important literary element that is used to entice the reader, is symbolism, because it helps the authors describe something without actual describing it. Symbolism is also used because it shows how significant an object is. Characterization is also an important literary technique because it, gives the reader an idea on how the character would act, work, and their values in life. Death is a topic that is used in both poems. Also, every character express their opinion about death differently.
The first poem is “Because I
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This refers to my theme because Death isn’t in a hurry to take her to its final resting place, he will get you there eventually, so why the rush? One last quote that describes the theme is in lines 17-20, it says, “We paused before a House that seemed/ A Swelling of the Ground-/ The Roof was scarcely visible-/ The Cornice – in the Ground.” This quote expresses my theme because the speaker and Death reach their final destination and the speaker symbolizes the grave as her home because this is where she will be laid to rest for eternity.
The second poem is “Home Burial”, by Robert Frost. The poem is about a couple, Amy and her husband, losing their son causing Amy to go through emotional turmoil. Amy is trying to avoid the situation by trying to leave, but her husband is trying to pull her back, so he can figure out what’s wrong with her and as the poem continues the drama increases. The topic of the poem is sadness, which ties into the theme of Amy and her husband’s relationship is on the rock. The theme in this poem is that everyone goes through sadness, but bottling it up doesn’t help the situation. This is due to the death of their son and as the story continues the husband is trying to understand, why Amy is acting the way she is but she receives the message as rude and offensive. Most of the tension is coming from the graveyard, which resigns on their lot that contains their relatives and son. In lines 1-2, it expresses my theme because it has both
The themes and issues in the poem. Is the theme of death and dying and the issue that people are faced with when losing a loved one and how they don't want to see them give up and pass away. The poem challenges the idea of what people have about death and that it is a part of life and cannot be prevented but it is telling people not to fear death but to challenge it and not let it win. The poem also uses the metaphor of death being a good night to show that death isn't good or evil and that it is just a part of life but its telling people to keep on living and not to give up.
In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.
In the article “Death and Dying in Literature,” John Skelton stated, “One of the central tasks of literature is to impose a structure on life and death, giving meaning to both” (n.p.). Many literary works, including poems, focus on death in one way or another. This is true for “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold and “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson. “Dover Beach” and “Because I could not stop for Death” provide varying perspectives on the topic of death. In “Dover Beach,” Arnold attempts to portray how death, sadness, and suffering have resulted due to the world’s loss of faith (Shmoop Editorial Team). In “Because I could not stop for Death,” Dickinson views death as an event that everyone must face (Shmoop Editorial Team). Throughout their respective poems, Arnold and Dickinson use elements such as rhythm, symbols, and tone and style. These elements all work together to establish each poem’s perspective on death.
Emily dickinson was a young girl in the 1800s who liked to be at home and got homesick very easily. In the two poems that i am comparing she used death for the topic. Both of the poems i am reviewing talk strongly about death and the journey to getting there. While Emily was still a young girl she spoke strongly about death and often seemed suicidal. “Because I Could not Stop for Death’’ and “The Bustle in a House” by Emily Dickinson use mood and symbolism show her point of view on death.
Emily Dickinson is a poet who was much unknown during her time but is very well known for her profound use of syntax. She is very well recognized in the 21st century because of her obsession with death and immortality in her poems. Emily Dickinson is viewed as a morbid poet because of her fascination with death and the afterlife but this could be due to the fact that she lost several of her closest friends in 1880 or because of her religion and notions about god. I believe Emily wrote about death and immortality because she had an understanding of what it felt to lose people you care about. Emily became fascinated with it and gave readers a new insight in a topic that many people aren’t very comfortable with in her poem “Because I could not stop for death” Emily personifies death as a companion and not a freighting fate that we all have to face.
Theme is considered the most important element in a poem. In the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night? the theme undoubtedly revolves around death but approaches towards the refusal of death, encouraging readers to "rage? against the absurdity of death. Conversely, the theme of the poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death?pertains to accepting death peacefully. In the poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death? the speaker of the poem accepts death calmly as "He kindly stopped [es] for me [the
Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson’s poetry is very different; however death seems to be a familiar topic amongst both poets. Opposites attract, and you could say the same for Whitman and Dickinson because though they have different writing styles both repeatedly write about death. Once more, although both Whitman and Dickinson have many different feelings about death, they also share many similar feelings about it as well. Although Walt Whitman's poetry is rather long and quite simple and Emily Dickinson's are often short and complex, the theme of death strongly ties their works together.
The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether its on television or newpaper, you'll probobly hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death effects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.
Slide 3: The theme of these two poems is Loss of love. These two poems elaborate on the feelings and actions towards losing a loved one, both the authors have different perspectives and different ideas about how it makes them feel and throughout the poems they express these feelings.
There are a lot of similar themes between the poems 'The Wanderer', 'The Seafarer' and 'The Wife's Lament'. One of the easiest themes I can point out is the use of the fact that they all wander, they're wandering through their lives not knowing exactly where to go, what to do or how to do it. They all feel lonely, sadness and grief. The hardships they all go through are different but still similar in ways. The way they deal with them are also different yet similar, The Wife searches for her husband and busies herself with thoughts of their lost love and old memories to distract and maybe even deal with the fact that she does not know what she is doing or where she is going, all she knows is that she loves her husband and longs for the love
With poems often being short in length, symbolism helps the author expand on a theme by using very little words. In ?Because i could not stop for Death,? Dickinson uses symbolism to give more substance to the journey with ?Death?. Dickinson symbolizes the ride in general as being a ride past her life to eternity. The setting sun is also a symbol for her dying life. As the sun sets and ends another day, her life ends as ?Death? takes her toward eternity. Thomas H. Johnson interprets this by saying ?the sun passed them, as it of course does all who are in the grave? (Johnson). In both cases, Dickinson symbolizes the ?sun? as a way of ending things, connecting it to the character's ending life. Dickinson also uses the third stanza as a symbol of how everything will go on normally while the character is being lead to the afterlife. The children and grain are growing which represents new life or the future (Melani). This symbol shows that ?Death? does not control everything, but can control on thing at a time. Symbolism is a key to many poems, to help the reader think deeper into the poem itself.
There are many different ways to describe death and the emotional feelings that come with death. Poems are one of the best ways to convey the process of death, the feelings that come with death, and impact of death. Emily Dickinson describes her own death in the poem, “Because I could not stop for Death” and the general idea that life is mortal. However, the poem provides Dickinson immorality through the power of her words. This poem describes death in a positive way by putting death in the form of man who has the persona of the gentlemen. Emily is actually a ghost and describes her death spirituality; therefore, she examines what real death might be like.
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 peace with the idea itself. This kind of comprehension was something Emily needed in order to cope with the loss of her loved ones who had been her only support and company in her isolated lifestyle. The theme of death is shown in the poem I picked for the research paper. In the poem called “How Far Is It To Heaven”, by Emily Dickinson it again deals with death but heaven and hell is included. This poem has only a few lines but it gets straight to the point and the theme of the poem hits you right in the face. One example is clear from the first two lines where it asks “How Far Is It To Heaven?” (Line 1) and “As far as Death this way” (Line 2). The poem is so simple but portrays a powerful message to the reader. Another huge theme of
He explains that their love is so strong that it will survive the distance. One example he uses to compare being away from each other is death in the literal sense. The main theme of this poem was the love between husband and wife, with a metaphorical theme to death. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” contains both themes, their roles are reversed. Death is the main theme continuing throughout the poem and is personified.
Tone is an incredibly powerful tool used to influence someone's personal emotions and interpretation of a piece. This being said, when personifying death, different tones can inflict different feelings and perspectives of death in each piece. This is exemplified in the different mediums of Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I could not Stop for Death” and Carlos Schwabe's artwork, The Death of the Gravedigger. Both of these pieces of art convey mostly different uses of tone, while some similarities are present.