Theme Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death By Emily Dickinson Romanticize Death

The Romantic Period is characterized as an artistic and intellectually stimulating literary movement. Writers of this genre and time are considered to be those who fused the elements of romance in their writings to enhance the human experience. Edgar Allan Poe, known as the father of the modern short story, epitomizes this notion in his writings. In “Annabel Lee,” and “The Oval Portrait,” Edgar Allan Poe uses romance to illustrate the essence of death and misery and to illustrate elements in which the reader can actually feel that was is happening in the story is happening to them.

Emily Dickinson's most famous work, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" is generally considered to be one of the great masterpieces of American poetry (GALE). Dickinson experienced an emotional crisis of an undetermined nature in the early 1860's. Her traumatized state of mind is believed to have inspired her writing. In this particular poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” the deceased narrator of the poem reminisces about that material day when Death came seeking for her. In stanza one of the poem, the speaker states that she had always been too occupied to give room to death, so in good manner, he stopped for her. She further remarks that, in his carriage, she was accompanied by Immortality alongside Death. "The Carriage held

Edgar Allen Poe's works are extremely emotional and powerful. He makes the reader feel the horror and see the terrific images of the scenes in their minds effortlessly. Poe successfully transports the reader into his works, making it feel realistic, but at the same time the audience is aware of the setting that is clearly impossible in the real life. His works are more fictional than Anne Bradstreet's, because of the unrealistic image of life. And this is what defines classical work of literature during the romanticism era.

Emily Dickinson concentrates many of her poems on the theme of death, predominantly her own. These “poems about death confront its grim reality with honesty, humor, curiosity, and above all a refusal to be comforted (“Emily Dickinson 1830-1886” 1659). While this was not an out of the ordinary topic during the American Romantic era, Dickinson seemed near obsessive in her focus. Additionally, Dickinson seems questionable in her thoughts on religion, another theme popular during the American Romantic era. Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for death” and “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” both explicitly examine the concept of death, the afterlife, and the author’s obsession with the melancholy.

Emily Dickinson's Feelings About Death Revealed in Her Poem, Because I could not stop for Death

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830. Except for a few months of travel, she remained in Amherst until her death. Dickinson began, in her twenties, a gradual retreat into the confines of the homestead, the house in which she was born, until for the last fifteen years of her life she didn't leave its grounds and saw no one but her brother and sister. As her withdrawal intensified, Emily's principal method of communication was through her letters. Emily Dickinson died on May 15, 1886 after an illness. ( Harold Bloom 11 - 13) Modern readers are apt to comment upon the frequency with which Dickinson returns to this subject of death. (Wolff, Cynthia, G. 749) "Because I could Not Stop For Death" was written in

Emily Dickinson, who lived from 1830 to 1886, also had a large impact in the American Romantic period. However, she would never know of the impact she had due to the fact that her writings were not published until after her death. The subject of her poetry ranged from religion to nature, which both are large influences to this time. One poem that fits in very well with this era is “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” The poem begins by saying, “Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.” This poem deals with human immortality and what occurs after we die. The desire for knowledge and wanting to understand what we currently do not are influences in American Romanticism. Dickinson seemed to be consumed with death and what happens to humans after death, she even wrote to a priest to ask what the state of mind was of a friend she had while he was on his deathbed. Her fascination with death played a major role in many of her

Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is a remarkable masterpiece that exercises thought between the known and the unknown. Critics call Emily Dickinson’s poem a masterpiece with strange “haunting power.”

The subject of death, including her own was a very prevalent theme in Emily Dickinson’s poems and letters. Some may find her preoccupation with death morbid, but this was not unusual for her time period. The mindset during Ms. Dickinson’s time was that of being prepared to die, in the 19th century people died of illness and accidents at an alarming rate, not to mention the Civil War had a high number of casualties, she also lived 15 years of her youth next to a cemetery. Dickinson’s view on death was never one of something to be feared she almost romanized death, in her poem “Because I Could not Stop for Death”, she actually personifies death while narrating from beyond the grave. In the first stanza she states “I could not stop for

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.

In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death “ (448), the speaker of the poem is a woman who relates about a situation after her death. The speaker personifies death as a polite and considerate gentleman who takes her in a carriage for a romantic journey; however, at the end of this poem, she finishes her expedition realizing that she has died many years ago.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1836) is one of the greatest poets in American literature. Although she spent most of her life working in relative anonymity, her status rose sharply following her death and the subsequent publishing of much of her surviving work. Two of Dickinson’s most well-known poems are “Because I could not stop for Death—" and “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died”. I say known as because Dickinson never actually gave her poems proper titles. For this reason, the first lines of her poems have come to be used as a distinguishing reference. This paper will briefly analyze both poems in an attempt to both compare and measure their relative literary merits.

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)”.

When thinking of both marriage and death, the word “eternity” comes to mind. Marriage is looked at as a symbol of eternal love, and death is looked at as a state of eternal rest. Also, Christians consider life after death as an eternal state. In “Because I could not stop for Death—,” Emily Dickinson portrays death by describing an eternal marriage.