I Died for Beauty
I DIED FOR BEAUTY BUT WAS SCARCE
Belonging
Communication- in this poem the spirits of beauty and truth communicates until they are forgotten. The dialogue initiated between the two representatives demonstrates their recognition of each other, but that they are also subject to the constraints of time, when their ‘lips’ are stopped by ‘moss’
Enjambment- first verse uses enjambment giving the lines a flow, gives a subtle effect
Allegory- death and truth are personified
Personification- truth and death are given charactristics, beauty
Similie- ‘and so, as kinsmen met a night’
Metaphor- ‘we brethren are’ he said’
Imagery- description of moss covering lips and names
Summary-
The poem “I died for Beauty—but was scarce”, is about two dead people having a conversation about their previous lives. One of them died for truth, one of them died for beauty. They talk and at the end of the poem, moss comes and covers up the names on the tombs. “I died for Beauty—but was scarce”, by Emily Dickinson is a poem about death and man’s insignificance over the course of time.
Set in a tomb, the first stanza opens up the poem introducing two different characters, both of whom are dead. The first person introduced is the narrator who has died a recluse, and did not conform to society when she was alive. This is seen in the first line, the word “scarce” which means to be absent or elusive. Clearly the narrator was scarce in her life and when she died, all her non-conformity was ignored, and in line two, she was “Adjusted in the Tomb”. Adjusted can mean: to adapt or conform. Simply being buried in a tomb is an epitome of societal conformation. This is just part of the death theme, and man’s insignificance because after a lifetime of recluse, it only takes her death for her to conform; or, perhaps, made to be conformed.
The second half of the first stanza introduces and quickly describes a new character, immediately naming him “One who died for Truth”. The narrator introduces
Belonging
Communication- in this poem the spirits of beauty and truth communicates until they are forgotten. The dialogue initiated between the two representatives demonstrates their recognition of each other, but that they are also subject to the constraints of time, when their ‘lips’ are stopped by ‘moss’
Enjambment- first verse uses enjambment giving the lines a flow, gives a subtle effect
Allegory- death and truth are personified
Personification- truth and death are given charactristics, beauty
Similie- ‘and so, as kinsmen met a night’
Metaphor- ‘we brethren are’ he said’
Imagery- description of moss covering lips and names
Summary-
The poem “I died for Beauty—but was scarce”, is about two dead people having a conversation about their previous lives. One of them died for truth, one of them died for beauty. They talk and at the end of the poem, moss comes and covers up the names on the tombs. “I died for Beauty—but was scarce”, by Emily Dickinson is a poem about death and man’s insignificance over the course of time.
Set in a tomb, the first stanza opens up the poem introducing two different characters, both of whom are dead. The first person introduced is the narrator who has died a recluse, and did not conform to society when she was alive. This is seen in the first line, the word “scarce” which means to be absent or elusive. Clearly the narrator was scarce in her life and when she died, all her non-conformity was ignored, and in line two, she was “Adjusted in the Tomb”. Adjusted can mean: to adapt or conform. Simply being buried in a tomb is an epitome of societal conformation. This is just part of the death theme, and man’s insignificance because after a lifetime of recluse, it only takes her death for her to conform; or, perhaps, made to be conformed.
The second half of the first stanza introduces and quickly describes a new character, immediately naming him “One who died for Truth”. The narrator introduces