Emma Hall
Mr. de Guzman
American Studies– Period 6
17 November 2017
Dickinson Doesn’t Fear the Reaper What is death? The number of times this question has been Google searched worldwide has reached its highest point since 2004 in recent months (“Interest”). While this seems grim, it is a question about which many people wonder throughout their lives. It may be that it is impossible to know the answer to this question for sure, but there are people who develop their own ideas and share them. One such person was Emily Dickinson. Dickinson wrote extensively on the subjects of death and immortality, to a point that some have described as obsession. Through the poems “The Heart Asks Pleasure First,” “No Rack Can Torture Me,” and “Because I Could …show more content…
In the first stanza, Dickinson writes “No rack can torture me/My soul’s at liberty” (“No Rack” 1–2). She is saying that she cannot be tortured because she has a soul, her true self, and nothing can ever touch it. Furthermore, “You cannot prick with saw,/Nor rend with scymitar” (No Rack” 5–6). These lines refer to Dickinson’s soul. They say that no weapon, not even a saw or scimitar, can do the slightest damage to it. Her body can be killed or injured, but not her soul. In other words, the soul is stronger than the body, as stated in the lines, “Behind this mortal bone/There knits a bolder one” (“No Rack” 3–4). With the phrase “mortal bone,” Dickinson is using synecdoche to represent the physical body. Bone is a fundamental part of the human body, and the human body will die; however, closely joined with this body is “a bolder one,” the soul, which is immortal and will last beyond the death of the body. This idea is emphasized again in the lines, “Two bodies therefore be;/Bind one, and one will flee” (“No Rack” 7-8). The two bodies Dickinson is referring to are the physical body and the spiritual body, or soul. When the physical body dies, the soul is released, liberated. Similarly to “The Heart Asks Pleasure First,” this message and the overall tone of this poem is not …show more content…
Some people find her obsession with death grim, but, upon closer inspection, it can be seen as hopeful and calmly accepting. She found the light in what many see as a dark subject and came up with her own answers to a question that is still widely asked
Mr. de Guzman
American Studies– Period 6
17 November 2017
Dickinson Doesn’t Fear the Reaper What is death? The number of times this question has been Google searched worldwide has reached its highest point since 2004 in recent months (“Interest”). While this seems grim, it is a question about which many people wonder throughout their lives. It may be that it is impossible to know the answer to this question for sure, but there are people who develop their own ideas and share them. One such person was Emily Dickinson. Dickinson wrote extensively on the subjects of death and immortality, to a point that some have described as obsession. Through the poems “The Heart Asks Pleasure First,” “No Rack Can Torture Me,” and “Because I Could …show more content…
In the first stanza, Dickinson writes “No rack can torture me/My soul’s at liberty” (“No Rack” 1–2). She is saying that she cannot be tortured because she has a soul, her true self, and nothing can ever touch it. Furthermore, “You cannot prick with saw,/Nor rend with scymitar” (No Rack” 5–6). These lines refer to Dickinson’s soul. They say that no weapon, not even a saw or scimitar, can do the slightest damage to it. Her body can be killed or injured, but not her soul. In other words, the soul is stronger than the body, as stated in the lines, “Behind this mortal bone/There knits a bolder one” (“No Rack” 3–4). With the phrase “mortal bone,” Dickinson is using synecdoche to represent the physical body. Bone is a fundamental part of the human body, and the human body will die; however, closely joined with this body is “a bolder one,” the soul, which is immortal and will last beyond the death of the body. This idea is emphasized again in the lines, “Two bodies therefore be;/Bind one, and one will flee” (“No Rack” 7-8). The two bodies Dickinson is referring to are the physical body and the spiritual body, or soul. When the physical body dies, the soul is released, liberated. Similarly to “The Heart Asks Pleasure First,” this message and the overall tone of this poem is not …show more content…
Some people find her obsession with death grim, but, upon closer inspection, it can be seen as hopeful and calmly accepting. She found the light in what many see as a dark subject and came up with her own answers to a question that is still widely asked