Author’s forward
Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death” truly attracted me. Death is inevitable for all human beings. When we were given birth, we started to face death. How to face death is the most difficult lesson which we need to study in our life, and many people are not able to understand it. In Dickinson’s poem, she gives me a completely new idea about death: humans are doomed to die. However, humanity is able to exist eternally. I want to understand her opinions about death and immortality; this can help me have more comprehension about death and life. In this paper, I want to explain Dickinson’s ideas about death, such as how to face it and how to accept it. I will also compare her ideas with other philosophers. It …show more content…
The poem was written by Emily Dickinson in 1863. Emily Dickinson is an outstanding American poet who wrote more than 1800 poems. She focused on writing in her whole life, therefore, her writing ability achieves an extremely high level. Dickinson discusses the death in many poems, which is an important topic to her. In this poem, Dickinson also expresses that physical death does not mean the end of life, because the human spirit is able to have an eternal life. Therefore, people is no need to be afraid of death, because it is natural. The form of the poem is quatrain, as each stanza has four lines in this poem. The poem does not have a perfect rhyme; however, it still has some rhythms, making the poem connected. For instance, “Immortality” with “Civility”, “finally” and “Eternity”; they all make the poem has beautiful rhythms. Dickinson also uses many art techniques; for instance, personification and metaphors, to make the poem more poetic. In addition to that, there are many dashes which maker slow down, therefore readers can have more time to consider the meaning of the poem. The tempo of poem also influenced by use of capital letters. In the poem, the speaker is a woman who has an unusual trip with death and …show more content…
In the first three stanzas, the speaker feels comfortable and calm while staying with death, in the fourth stanza she seems a little bit nervous. The closer she gets to the destination, the more nervous she seems to be. The speaker complains that her clothes are unable to protect her from coldness and the dewdrop, and this indicates that she is not brave enough to face her destination of the trip. “A swelling of the Ground-/The roof was scarcely visible-/The cornice in the ground-” (line18-20 Dickinson). According to the description, it is easy to infer that the “House” they “paused before” is a cemetery, which is the speaker’s new house after she died. “Since then-’Centuries-and yet/Feels shorter than the day” (line21-22 Dickinson). To the speaker, it makes no difference, whether it is only one day or thousand years because her body is dead and lives in the cemetery forever. The speaker’s spirit and mind are immortal, therefore, time is meaningless to her. She gets rid of control of natural principles after t physical death. Although, her physical body is buried in the cemetery and is unable to leave the grave, her spirit still continues the trip. “I first surmised the Horses’ Heads/Were toward Eternity-” (line23-24 Dickinson). The direction of the horses’ head is
Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death” truly attracted me. Death is inevitable for all human beings. When we were given birth, we started to face death. How to face death is the most difficult lesson which we need to study in our life, and many people are not able to understand it. In Dickinson’s poem, she gives me a completely new idea about death: humans are doomed to die. However, humanity is able to exist eternally. I want to understand her opinions about death and immortality; this can help me have more comprehension about death and life. In this paper, I want to explain Dickinson’s ideas about death, such as how to face it and how to accept it. I will also compare her ideas with other philosophers. It …show more content…
The poem was written by Emily Dickinson in 1863. Emily Dickinson is an outstanding American poet who wrote more than 1800 poems. She focused on writing in her whole life, therefore, her writing ability achieves an extremely high level. Dickinson discusses the death in many poems, which is an important topic to her. In this poem, Dickinson also expresses that physical death does not mean the end of life, because the human spirit is able to have an eternal life. Therefore, people is no need to be afraid of death, because it is natural. The form of the poem is quatrain, as each stanza has four lines in this poem. The poem does not have a perfect rhyme; however, it still has some rhythms, making the poem connected. For instance, “Immortality” with “Civility”, “finally” and “Eternity”; they all make the poem has beautiful rhythms. Dickinson also uses many art techniques; for instance, personification and metaphors, to make the poem more poetic. In addition to that, there are many dashes which maker slow down, therefore readers can have more time to consider the meaning of the poem. The tempo of poem also influenced by use of capital letters. In the poem, the speaker is a woman who has an unusual trip with death and …show more content…
In the first three stanzas, the speaker feels comfortable and calm while staying with death, in the fourth stanza she seems a little bit nervous. The closer she gets to the destination, the more nervous she seems to be. The speaker complains that her clothes are unable to protect her from coldness and the dewdrop, and this indicates that she is not brave enough to face her destination of the trip. “A swelling of the Ground-/The roof was scarcely visible-/The cornice in the ground-” (line18-20 Dickinson). According to the description, it is easy to infer that the “House” they “paused before” is a cemetery, which is the speaker’s new house after she died. “Since then-’Centuries-and yet/Feels shorter than the day” (line21-22 Dickinson). To the speaker, it makes no difference, whether it is only one day or thousand years because her body is dead and lives in the cemetery forever. The speaker’s spirit and mind are immortal, therefore, time is meaningless to her. She gets rid of control of natural principles after t physical death. Although, her physical body is buried in the cemetery and is unable to leave the grave, her spirit still continues the trip. “I first surmised the Horses’ Heads/Were toward Eternity-” (line23-24 Dickinson). The direction of the horses’ head is