...Not Stop for Death,” “I Heard a Fly Buzz,” and “Death, Be Not Proud” speak on death. Emily Dickinson wrote both “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard a Fly Buzz.” John Donne composed “Death, Be Not Proud.” These poems, written over 200 years apart, show how people continually try to understand and process death. Dickenson and Donne used different rhyming patterns to express their thoughts on death. It seems that the only similarities that these authors share appears to be that they wrote about death and were both poets. Emily Dickinson wrote “Because I could not stop for Death” in 1863. Dickinson's poem was not published until 1890, twenty-seven years after it was written and 4 years after Dickinson died. Emily Dickinson spent her life living in isolation. Some consider this Dickinson's most famous poem. In this poem, Dickenson looks at death and the journey that “Death” goes on. Death passes a schoolyard, fields of grain, and the setting sun as it heads toward eternity....
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...this exposition is to compare and contrast the symbol of death and impermanence in the poems Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson and Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas. Each poem offers a different perspective towards accepting death. In one literary work we have someone who welcomed death submissively, in contrast to another literary work where the author is willing someone dear to him to fight against death. Together the two literary works incorporated the same theme with dissimilar points of view, ranging from the way they utilize their respective literary devices such as personification, point of view, symbolism, figure of speech, tone, mood and imagery. The unconformity of the poems “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” overshadows the parallel theme of death connecting them. The first poem I’ll discuss will be the poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, which is written in the using a meter form. In agreement with Karen Silvestri, “meter in poetry is what brings the poem to life and is the internal beat or rhythm with which it is read (Silvestri, 2014)”. “Poetry is meant to be recited and the number of beats per line of spoken poetry determines the name of the rhythm, though not often seen, rhythms are named as tetrameter for four beats, (Silvestri, 2014)”. Dickinson’s poem consists of four lined stanzas. More specifically, “the initial and third line in every stanza has eight...
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...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 David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman, she experimented with expression in order to free it from conventional restraints. Like writers such as Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, she crafted a new type of persona for the first person. The speakers in Dickinson’s poetry, like those in Brontë’s and Browning’s works, are sharp-sighted observers who see the inescapable limitations of their societies as well as their imagined and imaginable escapes. To make the abstract tangible, to define meaning without confining it, to inhabit a house that never became a prison, Dickinson created in her writing a distinctively elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realized. Like the Concord Transcendentalists whose works she knew well, she saw poetry as a double-edged sword. While it liberated the individual, it as readily left him ungrounded. The literary marketplace, however, offered new ground for her work in the last decade of the nineteenth century. When the first volume of her poetry was published in 1890, four years after her death, it met with stunning success. Going through eleven editions in less than two years, the poems eventually extended far beyond their first household audiences. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830 to Edward and Emily (Norcross) Dickinson...
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...BECAUSE U COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH BY EMILY DICKINSON…. Type of Work “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is a lyric poem on the theme of death. The contains six stanzas, each with four lines. A four-line stanza is called a quatrain. The poem was first published in 1890 in Poems, Series 1, a collection of Miss Dickinson's poems that was edited by two of her friends, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The editors titled the poem "Chariot." Commentary and Theme “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” reveals Emily Dickinson’s calm acceptance of death. It is surprising that she presents the experience as being no more frightening than receiving a gentleman caller—in this case, her fiancé (Death personified). The journey to the grave begins in Stanza 1, when Death comes calling in a carriage in which Immortality is also a passenger. As the trip continues in Stanza 2, the carriage trundles along at an easy, unhurried pace, perhaps suggesting that death has arrived in the form of a disease or debility that takes its time to kill. Then, in Stanza 3, the author appears to review the stages of her life: childhood (the recess scene), maturity (the ripe, hence, “gazing” grain), and the descent into death (the setting sun)–as she passes to the other side. There, she experiences a chill because she is not warmly dressed. In fact, her garments are more appropriate for a wedding, representing a new beginning, than for a funeral, representing an end. Her description of the grave...
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...Emily Dickinson’s feelings towards death in the poem “Because I could not stop for Death” Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death” shows how the speaker is unfearful towards death. The poem consists of twenty-four lines, and six stanzas. She outlines how the death in the poem was in three stages: the car ride, the scenes, and the home. This is significant because the speaker shows the slow progression of her death and how it relates to an outline of her life. Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death” shows her feelings of calmness and un-fearfulness towards death. The car ride symbolizes the beginning of the speaker’s death, and is the first setting of the poem. The death was announced in a carriage. “He...
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...Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are two Modern American Poets who dependably elucidated the subject of death. Subject of death in like manner experiences the huge point of Frost. In various a verse he makes out of "rest" which is associated with death. "Fire and Ice" is a preeminent ballad on annihilation by excess of desire or contempt. "Halting by Woods on a Snowy Evening", "After Apple Picking", "An Old Man's Winter Night", each one of these verses have a reference to death. "Mandate" is a work in which three of Frost's most over the top subjects’ separation, end and the last limitations of man are blended. Each life is given off an impression of being sad in light of the way that it wears away into death. The verse has thwarted expectations...
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...and some find poetry entertaining. Two of the greatest American poets are Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. These 1800s poets have a unique writing style; however, on opposite ends of the poetry spectrum. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman only share a few similarities. They were extravagant composers in the late 1800s; furthermore, they both contributed to the American literature collection. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman poems enclosed poetic lines and stanzas. Their poems were modern and challenged the traditional characteristics, and they both choose to write about mundane principals (Howard). The two poet’s contents are extremely different. Emily Dickinson would write about the conventional circumstances and discus the brutal side of life. Emily Dickinson would place a vast amount of symbolism and imagery. Since Emily Dickinson isolated herself, her verses would contain ample amounts depressing thoughts. She would also devise about her own ideas and what she was passionate about (Calvano). Walt Whitman uttered his courageous personality in his writings. Needing an idea to write about, Walt Whitman would take something that was decent in life and then just...
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...literary works on the subject of death. Most people have seen death, even experienced the death of a relative or close friend. Sometimes there is anger or denial at the sudden loss of a loved one. Death has many strong emotions attached to it. Fear, depression, grief, remembrance, and celebration are some of these emotions, and they can be found in many literary works on the subject of death. Despite the myriad of different ideas and emotions surrounding death, the finality stays the same. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas are two great poems on the subject of death. Readers can get a sense of the powerful feelings and emotions about death by comparing and contrasting these literary works, and by examining each author’s use of literary elements. These works about death were written by two poets in very different times and with different upbringings. Emily Dickinson was a 19th century poet who “lived and moved, however restlessly, in the dimension prepared for her by the New England Puritans”. She stood in stark contrast to Dylan Thomas. Thomas was a 20th century poet, a socialite who lived his life to extremes, including some serious drinking problems. These two authors are nearly...
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...Emily Dickinson’s poetic form, with her four-line stanzas, ABCB rhyme schemes, and alternations in iambic meter between tetrameter and trimeter, is derived from Psalms and Protestant hymns, Dickinson systematically takes the forms interposing rhythmic dashes intended to interrupt the meter and indicate the short pauses. Her subjects are most often parts of the topography of her own psyche. Dickenson explores her feelings with conscientious and often painful honesty but never loses sight of their poetic application. One of Dickenson’s greatest techniques is to write about her own emotions in a kind of universal homiletic tone. For example, “After great pain, a formal feeling comes” this seems to describe the reader’s mind as well as it does hers. This poem is unique because it compares a small object the brain to vast, huge spaces like the sky and ocean as well as such a large figure, God. At the beginning of the poem it sets up the first comparison between the brain and the sky. Dickenson claims that the brain is wider than the sky, yet follows up with “For-put them side...
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...in either heaven or hell depending on what they believe. This quote relates to the poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson because they both say that death should not be scary, with death comes spending eternity in heaven. Dickinson describes her journey with death in this poem. Readers benefit from Dickinson's poetic voice through the theme, content, and literary devices that form a beautiful poem. The theme throughout the poem is that death should not be as scary as people make it seem. When someone dies, they spend eternity in heaven if they have a relationship with God. The last two lines in the poem say "I first surmised the Horses' Heads were toward eternity." So they were headed toward eternity in heaven. As said in 1 John 5:11 "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life and life in his son." So when one has Jesus in their heart they have eternal life in him. This relates to the poem's theme because if one knows where they are going to spend eternity, death is not as scary. Emily Dickinson used many literary devices to enhance her poem. For example, death is personified throughout the poem; she made death seem to be a person. In the poem she says "He...
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...I heard a fly buzz - When i died The death in this poem is painless, yet the vision of death it presents is horrifying, even gruesome. The appearance of an ordinary, insignificant fly at the climax of a life at first merely startles and disconcerts us. But by the end of the poem, the fly has acquired dreadful meaning. Clearly, the central image is the fly. It makes a literal appearance in three of the four stanzas and is what the speaker experiences in dying. The room is silent except for the fly. The poem describes a lull between "heaves," suggesting that upheaval preceded this moment and that more upheaval will follow. It is a moment of expectation, of waiting. There is "stillness in the air," and the watchers of her dying are silent. And still the only sound is the fly's buzzing. The speaker's tone is calm, even flat; her narrative is concise and factual. The people witnessing the death have exhausted their grief (their eyes are "wrung dry" of tears). Her breathing indicates that "that last onset" or death is about to happen. "Last onset" is an oxymoron; "onset" means a beginning, and "last" means an end. For Christians, death is the beginning of eternal life. Death brings revelation, when God or the nature of eternity becomes known. This is why "the king / Be witnessed in his power." The king may be God, Christ, or death; think about which reading you prefer and why. She is ready to die; she has cut her attachments to this world (given away "my keepsakes") and anticipates...
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...The Inescapable Theme of Death Aria Turner ENG 125: Introduction to Literature Stephanie Miclot May 19, 2014 Dying is part of the cycle of life. We’re born, we live, we grow old, and we die. Where we go after that remains a mystery. Everyone has a fear of dying, since nobody know what happens, people often wonder where your go. Death is a recurring theme in life and in all forms of literature. Since this theme has become so popular, many different works of literature have been created from short stories to poems. As an effort to help society cope with the inevitable event of death, many stories were created showing a softer more serene side to death. The poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickens, and allegory “I Used to Live Here Once”, by Jean Rhys both share an overall theme of death. There are also other themes such as acceptance, and journey. Although the story told by Rhys, ends very intensely, with the character realizing she has died. Both works still have the same theme. These two pieces of literature, share similar themes which are conveyed in different yet unique ways. Both works are told. To understand the work I will briefly describe who the authors are and about their background. Jean Rhys was born in a place in Dominica known as Rousseau, in 1890. Jean Rhys, not her name at birth was actually born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams until she changed it around 1924. Her father was from Britain and her mother was...
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...Caroline Merrick Instructor Mason ENG 231-352 9 October 2014 The Many Sides of Death The world has forever struggled to understand the complex and thoughtful mind of the poet Emily Dickinson. For most of her life she remained a recluse, isolated from society, and left to do what she loved to do, which was write. Dickinson witnessed a lot of hardships in her later years, including the deaths of many family members and friends. Witnessing so much death in her lifetime sparked her interest in the concept of mortality, and it appears as a major theme in many of her poems. Dickinson seemed to have many different ideas about the subject of death. Three poems that represent these different viewpoints on the subject are “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died,” “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” and “I felt a Funeral in my Brain.” Although all of these poems are about death, each of them represents it in a different way. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is a representation of one of Emily Dickinson’s views of death. This poem emphasizes the journey that one takes from life to eternity. This journey is represented as a carriage ride with death. Death in this poem is personified and appears as a kindly gentlemen who was courteous enough to stop for the narrator when she was too busy to stop for him. On the carriage ride, Death takes the narrator through scenes of her childhood. In lines nine through twelve, “We passed the School, where Children strove/ At Recess-in the...
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...recognize that they cannot escape from. The death pull is as constant as is the struggle to survive. Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are two such poets who have chose death as their muse for several pieces. I have chosen two poems by each poet that represent death in a new or altered light, from Frost, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”, and “Out, out—˝. From Dickinson I have chosen, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” and “Because I Could not Stop for Death”. These poems work to show the reader death, but each in different views as well as working to reveal a new message from the previous. “Out, out—” works at showing the disengagement viewers of death experience. The poem turns objective in the last eight line which helps the reader to see neither they nor the narrator can see something as individual and internal as death shown through the sudden callous narration in lines 32-34, “Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it./No more to build on there. And they, since they/ Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.” Contrasting this, the preceding twenty-six lines are alive with vivid figurative language, especially in regards to the buzz saw. The poem opens with personification, “The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard”, and later in line 15, “At the word, the saw,/As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,/Leaped out of the boys hand…” The title of this poem also promotes a story. It comes from a line by Shakespeare, his play Macbeth. A play where a young boy is also...
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...has grown from the four hundreds books that are donated by John Harvard (hcl.harvard.edu, 2014).With the financial help and library from John Harvard, Harvard University admitted students and educated them on theology, logic and mathematics. John Adam, the second president of the United States, was graduated from Harvard College. During his learning in Harvard college, his knowledge of Greek, Latin, rhetoric and logic has deepened and so other knowledge (John Adams Historical Society, 2014). Without John Harvard as Harvard College benefactor, the college will not have sufficient resources to educate John Adam and other citizens. Harvard University is the oldest higher education in the United States. John Harvard, its benefactor, played a major role in its initial development. Till now, Harvard University provides a wide range of courses and scholarships to provide chances for potential students. Harvard University is considered as the most prestigious university in the United States. Due to its reputation, a lot of students wish to enter this outstanding university. Without the contribution made by John Harvard, there will not be today’s Harvard University. There is John Harvard statue in front of Harvard University to remember his kindness and generosity that have made up such a marvelous university. Even though there are not a lot of people know about his looks, his contributions that he has made in the past will not be forgotten. Literature Emily Elizabeth Dickinson...
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