Essay about Death in Emily Dickenson - 1313 Words

Death in Emily Dickenson With the thought of death, many people become terrified as if it were some creature lurking behind a door ready to capture them at any moment. Unlike many, Emily Dickinson was infatuated with death and sought after it only to try and help answer the many questions which she pondered so often. Her poetry best illustrates the answers as to why she wrote about it constantly. She explains her reason for writing poetry, â€Å"I had a terror I could tell to none-and so I sing, as the Boy does by the Burying Ground-because I am afraid.†(Johnson xxiii). There is no doubt that Emily Dickinson is frightened of death and the unknown life after it. To release her fears, she simply†¦show more content†¦Because Wadsworth was her only mentor at the time, Dickinson feared she would have no one to turn to for direction. To add to the upset of the death of a loved one, the pressures from her father to do well in school plagued her so much that â€Å"she found her only refuge in seclusion† (Capps 15). Dressed in the purifying color of white, Dickinson turned to life in the seclusion of her bedroom writing down her fears and pains of death and the hope of life after death (Conarro 71). â€Å"Withdrawing from traditional ways of seeing, she separated her consciousness from almost all others and tried to understand the phenomenon that is consciousness itself† (Bu*censored* 1). There were many things which Emily Dickinson tried to understand, but she was particularly interested in the mystery of death. It is evident in her poetry that, â€Å"the idea of death was for her the overwhelming, omnipresent emotional experience of her life, and powerfully influenced her poetry, especially in its intensity and richness† (Ferlazzo 64). It overtook her thoughts and became a obsession which she had to satisfy; yet Dickinson would not confide in the church to help provide the â€Å"food† she hungered for. Ford explains that she believed â€Å"that having felt no inner conversion, she could not honestly acknowledge allegiance to a church†(18). He goes on to say that, â€Å"thisShow MoreRelated Emily Dickenson And The Theme Of Death Essay604 Words   |  3 Pages Emily Dickinson And the Theme of Death nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Emily Dickenson, an unconventional 19th century poet, used death as the theme for many of her poems. Dickensons poems offer a creative and refreshingly different perspective on death and its effects on others. In Dickensons poems, death is often personified, and is also assigned to personalities far different from the traditional quot;horror moviequot; roles. Dickenson also combines imaginative diction with vividRead MoreAnalysis of Themes the Tenets of Romanticism Within Poetry1587 Words   |  7 Pagesliterature started in roughly the 1790s and ended around the 1830s. This was a period when people’s imagination and love for nature flourished, prospered and then sky-rocketed. When comparing the two poems The Ropewalk and Because I Could Not Stop for Death for theme and tenets of romanticism, it is evident that both poets’ exemplify the power of imagination and the weight of nature through poetic devices. While one poet expresses the individual-self the other contradicts with a more social mindset. TheseRead MoreDeath Is Death And The Idea Of Death1290 Words   |  6 Pagesinterpret what you are reading. One such theme is death and the idea of death. Death has always been in the collective conscious of Americans because, it is, well, inevitable. It is most certainly coming for each and every one and is inescapable. A comm on phrase in today’s culture is â€Å"only two things are certain in this world; death and taxes.† Death has always stirred mysticism and aversion, maybe even fear in the hearts of women, men and children alike. Death, in the past, has come sooner to many due toRead MoreEmily Dickinsons Because I Could Not Stop For Death1249 Words   |  5 Pages Emily Dickinsons 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 1860s. Her traumatized state of mind is believed to have inspired her writing. In this particular poem, â€Å"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 oneRead MoreSylvia Plath Poetry Analysis1301 Words   |  6 PagesWright, Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickenson all express their views on life and death, however, do so in varying manners. Through imagery, Wright and Plath both consider life’s beginnings, however, Wright considers it to be a beautiful gift, whereas Plath views birth as an empty burden. Subsequently, through structure Dickenson and Wright each acknowledge life, expressing how in some cases it is difficult, yet in other circumstances it is celebrated. Finally, through tone, Dickenson and Plath convey theirRead More Death in Auden’s Funeral Blues, Forche’s Memory of Elena, and Dickinson’s Last Night that She lived1678 Words   |  7 PagesDeath Reflected in Auden’s Funeral Blues, Forche’s Memory of Elena, and Dickinson’s Last Night that She lived Death is a natural and inevitable part of life. Everyone will experience death, whether it is of a loved one or oneself. In W.H. Auden’s poem â€Å"Funeral Blues† (1003), he describes such a catastrophic event and the drastic effect that it has on his life. It is interesting how people choose to accept this permanent and expected event, death. Similarly, Emily Dickinson has writtenRead MoreDominant Themes In Whitmans Poetry Essay711 Words   |  3 PagesThe dominant themes that are more pervasive in Whitman’s poetry are democracy, life/death cycles, individualism, and nature. These themes play major roles in some of his more notable poems such as â€Å"Songs of Myself† or â€Å"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.† He used democracy as a theme to bring society together, and unite everyone based on their general beliefs. He depicted life and death cycles to merge society together on a spiritual level. Despite his eagerness to unite society he also embr aced individualismRead MoreAmerican Renaissance Writers Essays1409 Words   |  6 PagesEdgar Allen Poe and Ralph Waldo Emmerson. It is important to note; however, that during this period, women writers were more accepted and more common. This truth is evidenced through the writings of such great women as Harriott Beecher Stowe, Emily Dickenson, and Louise May Alcott. Culture, Politics, and Religion The Renaissance had a profound influence on the course of the development of modern American society, culture, and, since it is a natural extension of both, artistic expression. TheRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem My Last Duchess By Robert Browning1370 Words   |  6 Pagesthis being said, most chose to write about current things that were happening during their time of existence in the Enlightenment time period. Emily Dickenson; Robert Browning; and Jamaica Kincaid are three of many talented writers who along with all of the things they wrote about were the issues that woman faced throughout time in history. Emily Dickenson wrote the poem 303 which talked about a woman who chose to empower herself; Robert Browning wrote the poem My Last Duchess about a woman who wasRead MoreDeath Is Inevitable By John Donne Essay1560 Words   |  7 PagesDeath is inevitable. At times, death may see as the starting of a new chapter. An example of this is Meditations XVII by John Donne, the speaker talks about how everyone has a path in life and God is the one that decides who dies and who doesn t. By many, death is seen with fear, anger, denial, and grieve. In the poem, I Felt a Funeral in My Brain by Emily Dickinson, the speaker appears to be losing her mind and uses funeral as a metaphor; a representation of the speaker s emotions dying. For me