In the pieces “Because I could not stop for Death” and “Gacela of The Dark Death” Emily Dickinson (Dickinson) and Federico Garcia Lorca (Lorca) express the theme of Death in similar ways. Another concept that both authors explore is time and how Death influences the speaker’s perception of it. The figurative language used in these pieces have significant impact on how the subject matter of Death is presented. The symbolic elements of each piece, such as the life cycle also contribute to the overall messages each author is trying to communicate.
In “Because I could not stop for Death” Death is a very obvious theme to notice, even the name implies Death’s presence as a main component in the piece. Unlike traditional representations of Death which …show more content…
Lorca uses very structured imagery to develop the theme of Death in his piece. Lorca opens his piece with the line “I want to sleep the sleep of the apples” (Lorca) this line indicates Lorca’s exploration of the natural world, he goes as far as giving the apples a human quality. Sleep in the context of this piece is a parallel to Death. They do not refer to the same concept, but share very similar qualities. Death, the colder more concise term in Lorca’s piece alludes to a form of rest where the soul and physical body are trapped inside of a coffin, while sleep is a peaceful and rejuvenating state in which the soul transforms. Due to language barriers the translation of the poem shows reversals in these themes, a clear example of this would be the line “I want to sleep that sleep of that child, who longed to cut his heart open far out at sea.” (Lorca) The terms sleep and cut his heart open actually mean the same thing, Death. This important example is often over looked for nonnative Spanish speakers. (Martin) Another interesting presentation of Death is the line “I want to live with that dark child” (Lorca) this is a personification of Death. Instead of recreating a more traditional impression of Death, Lorca compares dying to rearing a child. This could be a representation of how dying is such a big commitment, and built on …show more content…
The speaker in the piece describes Death’s carriage as traveling thought time very slowly, almost a crawl. Dickinson uses this to draw a contrast on how time feels in the living world vs. Eternity. Dickinson’s religious beliefs, which include an immortal life, may contribute to this expression on how time is distorted in the afterlife. (Juhasz) Dickinson strategically placed Immortality in the carriage to show that Death and Immortality go hand in hand. Dickinson does this to imply that it is not until one dies that they have a solid understanding of Immortality. Another interesting play on time Dickinson uses is the relationship with Death. Death, who is courting the speaker is following the proper etiquette of courtship. Instead of quickly taking the speaker to her final destination, Death takes his time and slowly progresses. While in the carriage the speaker is slowly traveling through a town, this can be taken as the common belief that life flashes before a person’s eyes the moment of Death. This too is an example of the distortion of time caused by
In “Because I could not stop for Death” Death is a very obvious theme to notice, even the name implies Death’s presence as a main component in the piece. Unlike traditional representations of Death which …show more content…
Lorca uses very structured imagery to develop the theme of Death in his piece. Lorca opens his piece with the line “I want to sleep the sleep of the apples” (Lorca) this line indicates Lorca’s exploration of the natural world, he goes as far as giving the apples a human quality. Sleep in the context of this piece is a parallel to Death. They do not refer to the same concept, but share very similar qualities. Death, the colder more concise term in Lorca’s piece alludes to a form of rest where the soul and physical body are trapped inside of a coffin, while sleep is a peaceful and rejuvenating state in which the soul transforms. Due to language barriers the translation of the poem shows reversals in these themes, a clear example of this would be the line “I want to sleep that sleep of that child, who longed to cut his heart open far out at sea.” (Lorca) The terms sleep and cut his heart open actually mean the same thing, Death. This important example is often over looked for nonnative Spanish speakers. (Martin) Another interesting presentation of Death is the line “I want to live with that dark child” (Lorca) this is a personification of Death. Instead of recreating a more traditional impression of Death, Lorca compares dying to rearing a child. This could be a representation of how dying is such a big commitment, and built on …show more content…
The speaker in the piece describes Death’s carriage as traveling thought time very slowly, almost a crawl. Dickinson uses this to draw a contrast on how time feels in the living world vs. Eternity. Dickinson’s religious beliefs, which include an immortal life, may contribute to this expression on how time is distorted in the afterlife. (Juhasz) Dickinson strategically placed Immortality in the carriage to show that Death and Immortality go hand in hand. Dickinson does this to imply that it is not until one dies that they have a solid understanding of Immortality. Another interesting play on time Dickinson uses is the relationship with Death. Death, who is courting the speaker is following the proper etiquette of courtship. Instead of quickly taking the speaker to her final destination, Death takes his time and slowly progresses. While in the carriage the speaker is slowly traveling through a town, this can be taken as the common belief that life flashes before a person’s eyes the moment of Death. This too is an example of the distortion of time caused by