Exposed And Anticipative In Emily Dickinson's Death

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The narrator in the poem is depicted as exposed and anticipative. Dickinson declares, “I willed my keepsakes, signed away What portion of me I Could make assignable” (10-11). She is anticipating death, by cutting her attachment to the physical world. She is waiting for the revelation of death and what it will bring as she lies on her deathbed. Some part of her life will stay behind when she leaves the world, and transitions into death. As anyone in his or her final moment before death, the narrator is exposed and vulnerable. Dickinson writes, “The Eyes around- had wrung them dry- And Breaths were gathering firm” (5-6). This implies that people are around her crying for her death, and preparing for what is soon to come. Their breath has evened

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