Poetry of Emily Dickinson - Essay Example

Emily Dickinson's Poetry One of the wonderful aspects of poetry is its ability to appeal to the inner emotions of the reader despite having just a few lines. By employing a number of common literary devices, poets are able to present their readers with mental images which convey a depth of feeling far beyond the obvious meaning of the few words actually used. The reader is always aware of the fact that the writer likely intends something more in their lines. “The very making of a poem involves a transformation from perceived reality or experience into a verbal utterance shaped by the poet’s imagination and craft” (Pettit). The effectiveness of the poem will therefore depend to a great degree on the poet's ability to present her ideas, emotions and impressions through strong imagery capable of accurately defining the experience she wishes to convey. Imagery is the device that places the mental image in the mind of the reader without their explicit consent and begins to create a sense of sympathy between the reader and the poet through their emotional response to the subject. Emily Dickinson’s poetry such as “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and "Tell All the Truth but Tell it Slant" conveys her personal philosophy through a simple presentation and gentle rhyme but powerful personification, symbolism, imagery and word play. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" begins with the personification of Death as an individual. The speaker of the poem tells us, “He kindly stopped for me” (2). The genteel way in which she says this gives the reader the impression that Death is not the frightening man in the hooded black cloak with the sickle to be feared but instead appears in the form of a suitor. Like a proper gentleman, he picks her up at her door with a carriage, even providing the requisite chaperone in the form of Immortality. Together, they take her on a gentle ride through the country. This is made clear as she points out that “he knew no haste” (5). Carriage rides were a common leisure activity for the more well-to-do classes. The way in which Death’s character and trip through the country is described presents this ride as one of the most wished-for moments in a woman’s life – the ability to go driving with the man of one’s dreams. Death is so charming and ‘civil’ to her that the narrator voluntarily and without question puts away both the labor and leisure that had her too busy for anything else in order to go with him. This is in spite of the suggestion that, moments before, she didn't have time to acknowledge his calling cards. Some critics, such as B.N. Raina, feel that Dickinson’s insistence that she was too busy for death indicates an attempt to disavow the existence of death or the assertion that it is a nonreality that exists only “within the time-bound finite world” rather than the “imaginative infinity of consciousness” (Raina 11-12). However, by placing him into the figure of a gentleman, she is able to redefine him as simply a different state element of her conscious understanding. This removes the fear of Death, leaving her free to enjoy the peaceful and gentle ride to follow. By giving Death form and figure in this way, Dickinson personifies the idea of Death into a more gentle, more graceful, more loving figure than is commonly considered. Without being quite so obvious about it, Dickinson also works to create a sense of personification around the concept of Truth in her poem "Tell All the Truth but Tell it Slant." Unlike Death, which walks right up to her door and invites her out for a ride with so much charm that she finds him impossible to resist, Truth is a being that is too profound for human understanding. It is "Too bright for our infirm delight" (3). While Death is able to change his demeanor according to the individual he is visiting, Truth is always the same and unable to hide any element of itself in order to make it more palatable or acceptable to those it visits. Truth is also not something that stops by for long visits or takes one on leisurely drives through the country. Instead, it is something that flashes brilliantly, briefly and sometimes painfully or frighteningly: "As lightening to the children" (5). However, by approaching it gradually and obliquely, with care to protect the eyes and the mind, Truth may eventually be known. In this sense, Dickinson presents Truth as a being to be more feared by a great margin than even Death. Dickinson also employs a great deal of symbolism within her poems in order to reinforce her ideas. In "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," the travel from the physical world to the world of the spirits is symbolized in the gentle carriage ride with pleasant company. Rather than adopting the common idea of death as something that never changes, this presentation characterizes it as just another time of transition and change. There is symbolism of this in the lines as well as the poem is full of activity, motion and change. The narrator mentions many things that they drive by as well as the changing landscape. The children playing in the schoolyard symbolize the continuation of life even in the face of death. Yet she says the “children strove” (9), indicating that they were not finished with their toil and play as the speaker now is, thus presenting a strong contrast between the activity of life and the passive observation of death. This contrast between the activity of life and the inactivity of death is also seen in the “fields of gazing grain” (11) that symbolize growth and gain. “She sees children play in a schoolyard; she sees a field of ripe wheat or corn, and then she sees a sunset. No doubt, Dickinson deliberately chose these particular images to represent three stages of life—childhood, adulthood, and old age. The reader is also reminded of the claim that during the process of the soul leaving the body, one sees one’s ‘life pass before one’s eyes’” (Grimes). Again, the narrator’s experience is not the frightening realization of an ending, but a peaceful savoring of experiences had. Symbolism in "Tell All the Truth" is built into the creation of Truth as a single personified entity in the form of the lightning. Throughout her description of Truth, Dickinson gives it all the same properties of lightning: "Too bright for our infirm delight" (3) and ensures the connection is made by mentioning lightning by name as something that often frightens children until they are able to understand what it is - reinforcing its standing as a symbol for Truth. Language use also plays a large role in the meaning of Dickinson's poems. The language in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" conveys the sense of a relaxing, peaceful country ride with nothing alarming or upsetting happening. Her companions are kindly gentlemen concerned for her welfare only and her duties require her to do nothing but sit and relax, having “put away / My labor, and my leisure too” (6-7). Through the language she uses, the scenes that Dickinson describes out her window are able to transcend time and space to retain meaning even today. Word choice plays an important role in the poem to reflect Dickinson's meaning, such as when she chooses to discuss the children as they “strove, / At recess, in the ring” (9-10). The word 'strove' indicates the children were struggling against one another, perhaps fighting as in a boxing or wrestling match - an activity they would have to continue to engage in until their own turn with death came. While this word is easy to pass over, Dickinson’s use of the word ‘strove’ reflects on the fact that the narrator had still been striving until Death came calling. Patricia Engle suggests that the children’s activity in this scence symbolizes not the innocent diversions of childhood but “the thrashings of professional competition that occur in the ladder-climbing stages of one's career” (Engle 73) highlighting the importance of this word to the meaning of the poem. Language use also plays a significant role in creating the meaning in "Tell All the Truth." The poem is very short, containing only 8 lines, so every word has to pull its own meaning through the stanzas to achieve the kind of big picture idea Dickinson is attempting to convey. Her advice to "Tell all the truth but tell it slant" (1) shapes the meaning of the second line, "Success in circuit lies" (2). In this second line, shaped by the first, the word 'circuit' is instantly interpreted to mean round-about, as in to come at a problem from a different or oblique angle. To come at the truth head-on is more than the human mind can comprehend, so it must be approached carefully, from the side, and with slow caution. However, as she moves into the second stanza, Dickinson builds on a new meaning for the term 'circuit' as she creates the metaphor between lightning and Truth. "Too bright in our infirm delight / The truth's superb surprise / As lightning to the children" (3-5). The words she chooses are words easily applied to the concept of lightning in the sky, including 'circuit', 'too bright' and 'superb surprise.' With her mention of lightning, circuit suddenly takes on a second meaning, that referring to electrical current, a mysterious entity that constantly moves and passes through. This consistent referral to the symbol she has established for the concept of Truth within almost every line creates the connection between the reality of lightning and the concept of Truth Dickinson is attempting to convey, thus creating yet a third meaning for the word 'circuit' as being a circle of understanding that is being forged between the poet, the poem and the reader. Through her intelligent use of language, strong ability to employ symbolism and personification, Dickinson presents concepts of Death and Truth as relatively simple entities only made complicated by man's inherent weaknesses and blindness. Her comparison of the experience of death to the activities seen of the living consistently illustrate why death may be the more preferred state. Similarly, her expression of the concept of Truth makes it clear that Truth is more terrible and frightening even than something as universally feared as Death. She accomplishes her messages by wrapping the large abstract concept - Death or Truth - within a simple to understand personified image. For Death, this image is the form of a gentleman while Truth relies more on symbolism as a bolt of lightning yet not as ethereal. She makes these images stand through her use of symbolism, constantly creating images that convey much greater meaning than their surface seems to imply. These symbols are themselves created through the careful use of language, ensuring that each word contributes to the overall sense of meaning she intends with each poem. Works Cited Dickinson, Emily. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” (1924). Web. May 29, 2011. Dickinson, Emily. "Tell All the Truth but Tell it Slant." (1924). Web. May 29, 2011. Engle, Patricia. “Dickinson’s ‘Because I Could Not Stop For Death.’” The Explicator. 60: (2002): 72-75. Print. Grimes, Linda Sue. “Looking Back from Eternity.” American Poetry. March 9, 2007. Web. May 29, 2011. Pettit, Rhonda. “Biography of Adrienne Rich.” Encyclopedia of American Poetry. 2001. Web. May 29, 2011. Raina, B.N. “Dickinson’s Because I could not stop for Death.” Explicator. 43.3: (Spring 1985). Print. Read More