Characterization of Death in Dickinson's Poetry
CHARACTERIZATION OF DEATH IN DICKINSON'S POETRY
Emily Dickinson had a sad life full with tragic experiences and its influences on her poetry can be seen in most of her works. During her life, she struggled with traumatic effects of a succession of deaths and due to this situation she spend the later half of her years in grief. The tragic deaths of people close to Dickinson have affected her writing and style of expression, in which death became a persisting theme of her poetry. Even though most of her poems consist directly on the subject "death", she also used unusual ways to write about this theme, by writing about immortality as a state of consciousness in an everlasting present. A typical example can be seen in her poems "Because I could not stop for Death", "I heard a Fly buzz when I died" and "I died for Beauty but was scarce".
Emily Dickinson wrote most of her poems for the period of sensitive apprehension during the civil war. Her poem, "Because I could not stop for Death", is a mischievous metaphor in which death is embodied as a man. The first lines of the poem "Because I could not stop for death / He kindly stopped for me," (1-2) reflect that she is pending to meet death on his own conditions. Typically, death is described as with pessimistic associations, however, Dickinson describes her carriage ride with death as, "I had put away/ My labor and my leisure too,/ For His Civility," ( 6-8). By illustrating death as being civil, she expresses a courteous and gracious picture of death. This line has also a religious perspective; hence, Dickinson capitalized "His" in order to indicate God. The poem continues with a stanza telling about many things she passes during her carriage ride with death. "We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain / We passed the Setting Sun," (11-12). While they pass the scenery of the sun, Dickinson portrays the amount of time that is going by with detailed natural imagery, so the carriage ride with death appears to be eternal. The next
Emily Dickinson had a sad life full with tragic experiences and its influences on her poetry can be seen in most of her works. During her life, she struggled with traumatic effects of a succession of deaths and due to this situation she spend the later half of her years in grief. The tragic deaths of people close to Dickinson have affected her writing and style of expression, in which death became a persisting theme of her poetry. Even though most of her poems consist directly on the subject "death", she also used unusual ways to write about this theme, by writing about immortality as a state of consciousness in an everlasting present. A typical example can be seen in her poems "Because I could not stop for Death", "I heard a Fly buzz when I died" and "I died for Beauty but was scarce".
Emily Dickinson wrote most of her poems for the period of sensitive apprehension during the civil war. Her poem, "Because I could not stop for Death", is a mischievous metaphor in which death is embodied as a man. The first lines of the poem "Because I could not stop for death / He kindly stopped for me," (1-2) reflect that she is pending to meet death on his own conditions. Typically, death is described as with pessimistic associations, however, Dickinson describes her carriage ride with death as, "I had put away/ My labor and my leisure too,/ For His Civility," ( 6-8). By illustrating death as being civil, she expresses a courteous and gracious picture of death. This line has also a religious perspective; hence, Dickinson capitalized "His" in order to indicate God. The poem continues with a stanza telling about many things she passes during her carriage ride with death. "We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain / We passed the Setting Sun," (11-12). While they pass the scenery of the sun, Dickinson portrays the amount of time that is going by with detailed natural imagery, so the carriage ride with death appears to be eternal. The next