dickinson essay

Submitted By brit741
Words: 1450
Pages: 6
Open Document
Brittnee Marshall
Professor Stephen Clifford
English 232
25 September 2014 Because I Could Not Stop for Death

In the poem "Because I could not stop for death", Emily Dickinson talks about her acceptance of death as something inevitable and out of her control; although she seems confused about being alive or dead as she keeps narrating. This poem is said to be Emily Dickinson’s most famous poem. This poem reveals Emily Dickinson’s calm acceptance of death. She portrays death being a gentleman that surprises her with a visit. Emily illustrates everyday scenes into a life cycle. While her metaphors explore death in an unsurpassable way, her lines often contain as much uncertainty as meaning. In the first stanza, when she says “Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me"(Line 1-2), she’s not ready to die but accepts the fact that it is a natural thing that happens to all human beings, and comes at its own time, no matter what you are doing or where you are it will come and take you, to which she seems content with. She personifies death as if it was a kind gentleman, or her groom that comes to pick her up and take her away in his carriage on a pleasant ride; she also realizes that ironically someone else is riding along with them, “Immortality” looking at it in a positive way. It is also interesting to point out how she separates death from immortality, when she says “The carriage held but just ourselves—and immortality” (Line 3-4). She seems excited about her journey with her two companions, and feels so pleased by this gentleman’s courtesy that she gives up her distress and freedom to enjoy it; when you are dead, there are no more troubles and no more leisure time. Dickinson feels happy with her exchange of life for death’s civility. It now seems that she wanted to die sooner but couldn’t, and death came to her but in slow form as if she was ill. She doesn’t realize where she is headed as he drives the carriage away slowly, with no hurry, this means that she is already dead, and being taken in a hearse. She sees her life as movie being played in front of her as they pass the school, the fields of grain, and the setting sun. Children at play reminds her of her own childhood, being energetic and full of life; the grains suggest harvest time (growing, being productive, ripe), adulthood; and she gazes at them as if there is something that she missed or didn’t do at that time of her life, a time she should have enjoyed(Line 9-12). The setting sun, she sees it as the end of the day, but it really means the mature years, getting older and heading towards the end of life, a time to put everything away and rest (Line 12). It seems as if death is giving her a tour of her life, her memories, and to get a last glimpse at the life she’s leaving behind before heading to her final destination. It must have been early morning as she talks about how the air felt so chilly and how it made her tremble when she says: “The dews drew a quivering chill” (Line 14). Also because she is wearing this soft, delicate, thin fabric gown and cape, she feels this chill when it gets damp and cold, in contrast to the warmth she felt while gazing at the grains; but it is also because she realizes where she is heading. Her attire, the flowing, transparent look of her delicate and tulle (a thin translucent material) gives a ghostly impression of her. In the last part of the poem, as they paused before the house (Line 17), which could also mean home, her new home; she starts to contemplate that this is a grave, with the swelling ground, a roof that is hard to see (the top of the casket), and the cornice in the ground (the tombstone), and realizes that she is buried there (Line16-20). She comes to the conclusion that she has been buried a long time ago, although it feels like it has been less than a day (Line 22). She senses that her life has passed her by like the sun did before she
Show More

Related Documents: dickinson essay

Dickinson: Emily Dickinson and Persona Essay examples

pronoun in ‘her sweet ‘references the nurturing quality of a female in which the persona shares a strong connection with. Dickinson’s use of these techniques portrays how the persona’s experience with society limited her sense of belonging. However Dickinson also showed how the relationship between nature and the persona enriched the connection resulting in a feeling of belonging. I died for beauty explores belonging through the shared relationship of death that all humans must experience. It demonstrates…

Words 1899 - Pages 8

Dickinson: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Dickinson a Poet Essay

Emily Dickinson A poet who took definition as her province, Emily Dickinson challenged the existing definitions of poetry and the poet’s work. Like writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Davis Thoreau, and Walt Whitman, she experimented with expression in order to free it from conventional restraints. She crafted a new type of persona for the first person. The speakers in Dickinson’s poetry are sharp-sighted observers who see the inescapable limitations of their societies as well as their imagined…

Words 427 - Pages 2

Essay on Dickinson in the Maelstrom

‘Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch, Dickinson is truly a tortured soul, tortured with the sweet relief of death just hanging an inch above her grasp, but no, more agony is given. The experience that Dickinson is recalling is broken into three parts, the maelstrom, the goblin, and the dungeon. These three terrifying situations clearly describe the tortured mind of a talented poet. The first line of the poem is, ¨’Twas like a maelstrom, with a notch,¨ since this is given in past tense one must believe…

Words 933 - Pages 4

Emily Dickinson Essay

Phares 1 English 2130 25 April 2013 Unit 3: Emily Dickinson A Representative Author: Emily Dickinson is an excellent representative of Unit Three because of her literary contribution. Emily Dickinson is known as one of America’s greatest poets. According to Wikipedia, Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts December 10, 1830. Her grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was the founder of Amherst College. Her father, Edward Dickinson, followed his father’s footsteps in the academic life. He did…

Words 655 - Pages 3

Essay Emily Dickinson

injustice to another, then what should you do? What types of examples/rationales does Thoreau give? And in your opinion, in what way does the “Higher Laws” chapter of Walden correspond to the argument made in Disobedience essay (or not)? Cite at least 1 direct quote from the essay and from that “Laws” chapter in your comparison. If the law requires you to uphold an injustice to another, what should you do? Thoreau states that you should do what you believe is right; do not conform to a government…

Words 1446 - Pages 6

Dickinson Technologies Essay

Dickinson Technologies, Inc.: Lack of Internal Control Structure This report deals with an external audit of Dickinson Technologies, Inc. Dickinson Technologies Inc. is an international manufacturer of instruments, with manufacturing operations both inside and outside of the United States. Dickinson Technologies, Inc. has a net income which has increased each year, from $3.8 million seven years ago, to a projected $15.6 million in the current fiscal year. (Agoglia, Brown and Hanno, 2003) The…

Words 1322 - Pages 6

Essay on Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson's unusual character and style has made her become one of the world's most famous poets throughout the 1800s. In her poems, she expresses her feelings about religion, nature, death and love. Her poems tell a great deal about her lifestyle, which was very secluded and withdrawn from society. Even though she was a famous poet, less than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime. Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in…

Words 1090 - Pages 5

Essay on Emily Dickinson

poetry? Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she lived almost all of her life. She was raised the 1800s. She was a very private person and as her life progressed, she became more and more secluded. As she rarely left her home, she found her voice and her way of communicating through her poetry. Only seven out of over 1,775 of her poems were published in her lifetime (anonymously). Emily Dickinson died in 1886 in the same house where she was born. Dickinson is known for her…

Words 723 - Pages 3

Essay about Emily Dickinson Research

and sadness come and go, but they're still able to enjoy things and look forward to the future. In contrast, people who are depressed have a constant feeling of sadness. They don't enjoy anything and find it hard to be positive about the future. Dickinson uses many poetic techniques to show the mental breakdown that is caused in the mind when suffering from clinical depression or other mental illnesses. For example in her poem, “After great Pain, a formal feeling comes” the final stanza suggests a…

Words 1740 - Pages 7

Comparison essay Frost and Dickinson

Dark and Night The two poems “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost and “We grow Accustomed to the Dark” by Emily Dickinson both show many similarities, in the titles of their poems as well as their usage of literary devices. The authors create a tale about a person battling with depression and how they cope with these feelings differently and similarly. Frost and Dickinson use similar literary devices in their poems, using imagery to portray the personal feelings of the poet, metaphors to show…

Words 636 - Pages 3