Six Poems by Emily Dickinson - Literature review Example

Analysis of Six Poems by Emily Dickinson It is without much difficulty to notice and grasp thethematic sense of Emily Dickinson’s six featured poems which in a way or the other have striking semblance among themselves, being chiefly characteristic of death, immortality, and human relations. Through these six poems, the poet illustrates and brings across the vivid idea of each theme by her unique way with compacted style, capitalization, indirect juxtapositions, and trademark rhyming schemes besides the simple yet exquisite choice of words and means with typical literary devices by which she opts to be more emphatic and effective. Most of these creations convey the real flesh of her emotions and perspectives about life and death as reflected in her own experiences, though of reclusive existence. In the poem ‘Because I Could Not Stop for Death’, the capitalized subject ‘Death’ appears personified as a gentleman caller who takes the speaker as a genuine lover does to the ‘Carriage’ which symbolizes a matrimonial vehicle. ‘Immortality’ in the first stanza is likewise given the role of a passenger who seems to witness and affirm the bond between the two. ‘We slowly drove – He knew no haste’ would feel as if the poet’s notion of ‘Death’ is far from a single abrupt event but a journey that has a driver in the process. Dickinson uses an almost soothing tone along these lines to signify how well the speaker acknowledges the coming and the full presence of ‘Death’ which, in this case, is depicted as no longer an element of fright or disturbing apprehension. So instead of being terrified as of a sudden occurrence, she welcomes ‘Death’ to the point of admiration and respect through the last three lines of the second stanza. ‘Ring’, ‘Gazing Grain’, and ‘Setting Sun’ are terms used to indicate the inevitable stages of human life which the speaker encounters herself from early childhood until old age and the allegory of the ‘House’ described by the speaker as ‘A Swelling of the Ground’ is in figurative reference to the ‘grave’ implying however a sense of familiarity. By considering ‘House’ to mean ‘grave’, the poet likely shifts or radiates the positive significance of ‘home’ and its comfort and sign of life than a burial place. Other than ground swelling, she does not even make mention of decay or any term close to pertain to loss or deterioration which the literal ‘Death’ characterizes since the speaker plans to conclude her union with ‘Death’ as progressive with ‘Tis centuries’ and the phrase ‘toward Eternity’. Similarly, Dickinson necessitates having to capitalize in her brief composition of Tell all the Truth but tell it slant. One may readily recognize her intention of doing this to specifically lead the reader to the remarkable aspect of stressing paired terms that should register the key ideas to understanding the concept of Truth. According to the poet, if the Truth be ever told, it must be gradually carried out so as not to severely overwhelm the seeker or whoever obtains its disclosure by surprise. As elucidated in her application of simile on the second stanza, Truth telling is likened to informing Children of Lightning which strikes with enormous impact and such knowledge might come too much for the children to bear if unraveled all at once. A keener inspection of the line Or every man – would conjecture Emilys influence of the Holy Bible when Paul was blinded by the excessive brilliance of the bright light which the angel who appeared before him on the road radiated. In sense, the poet has created a spiritual foundation for her basic principle of Truth yet the briefness of the poem equivalently summons the reader to explore the interesting irony within its origin which takes to account Pauls life as a persecutor had kept him from seeing the Truth there is in Christian faith, implying that there already exists a layer of abstract blindness to be peeled off other than the literal one caused by the heavenly creature prior to his conversion. Dickinson perhaps wishes for the appreciative reader to personally discover these forms of blindness where one is taken away to bring about emergence of the other which apparently consists the Truth. On writing I heard a Fly buzz in 1863, Emily again lets herself loose on exploring the realms this time of transition between life and death. Noticeably, Fly is being made to evolve from its ordinary self as a symbol of waiting for life to be handed over to death in a scenario observed as a mere recollection of the dead. A silent room amplifies this situation via the narrators simile in The stillness in the Room – Was like the Stillness in the Air – Between the Heaves of Storm – as if to allude hoarse breathing with Heaves of Storm that occasionally interrupts the Stillness or quietness of the atmosphere. At this moment, everyone who surrounds the dying person including herself becomes consumed with pitch sadness and is seemingly caught between letting go for the ordeal in witnessing death to be over and a meager hope of miraculous recovery for the dying while Breaths were gathering firm. For that last Onset is further indicative of oxymoron when opposing terms last and Onset are put together for a purpose in association to the culminating presence of the King or God who is about to claim life after the final breath of the narrator. Fly interposed then marks the complete shift to the dimension next to the living which beyond pain or fear is Blue to characterize a calm ending governed by the belief of something meaningful and not dark once the speaker arrives in death itself, conceived far from negative attitude or horror like the treatment granted to Because I Could Not Stop for Death. By nature, craving or obsession for something can only be truly felt by someone who usually fails to achieve the desired ends especially those who have toiled exceedingly but could barely grasp success that is why Success is counted sweetest by them. To comprehend a nectar requires sorest need metaphorically utilizes nectar to concretize the sweetest and sorest for such dire need to succeed which, based on the poem, is hardly realized by the ones who gain victory so often that their fiery hearts for it and its essence soon die. So Not one of all the purple Host could actually tell the difference between a loss and an otherwise since the craving has been satisfied immediately to the extent of losing the burning passion, or let alone passion, in winning. Emily occurs to have rendered alliteration in the title to underscore the s sound to hint savory, succulent, or any term similar to sweet taste for the poem to drip on the readers presumably imagining tongue. This objective is even more sustained when she presents the title as a phrase which is missing a necessary detail thereby inviting the audience to fill in at justifying the poets argument sensed from an excruciating reality as in the case of defeated – dying in the third stanza, representing those who entirely and spontaneously understand the definition of success. On the other hand, Dickinson makes a most straightforward approach in claiming that starkest Madness is present in or is the Much Sense which is countered by her equal agreement of sensing divinest in madness as long as it is a discerning Eye that judges. The poem is particularly attributed to the societys conventional perception of Dickinsons life as a recluse and whose anti-social character is regarded as psychologically challenging to a disorderly extent. She had a unique world of her own indeed but Emily points out her awareness of the way with human thinking outside of her confines. By Assent – and you are sane – , the poet expresses her knowing that only the individuals who conform to the norms or standards of a society are acceptable and are not labeled mad. A subtler allusion, however, is served through A narrow Fellow in the Grass to establish a related point toward misconception which, if allowed to proceed as it is, may lead someone to a potential danger. Snake is the direct connotation of narrow Fellow and the speakers tone is one of descriptive scheme that appears more playful than threatening. To mistake the slithering creature for a shaft or a Whiplash suggests how first impressions are, in truth, unavoidable until one engages in the revealing circumstances that follow. Fellow to describe a snake may be fairly claimed to possess a form of euphemism in the personification of what would be commonly thought of as a deadly venomous being. Hence, the light mode of description throughout the poem featuring He likes a Boggy Acre – A floor too cool for Corn amounts to a comic relief so that the substantial theme is delivered not as a warning to be shivered about but as a statement of fact to be captured with some jest in the mood of the reader. Read More

According to the poet, if the Truth be ever told, it must be gradually carried out so as not to severely overwhelm the seeker or whoever obtains its disclosure by surprise. As elucidated in her application of simile on the second stanza, Truth telling is likened to informing Children of Lightning which strikes with enormous impact and such knowledge might come too much for the children to bear if unraveled all at once. A keener inspection of the line Or every man – would conjecture Emilys influence of the Holy Bible when Paul was blinded by the excessive brilliance of the bright light which the angel who appeared before him on the road radiated.

In sense, the poet has created a spiritual foundation for her basic principle of Truth yet the briefness of the poem equivalently summons the reader to explore the interesting irony within its origin which takes to account Pauls life as a persecutor had kept him from seeing the Truth there is in Christian faith, implying that there already exists a layer of abstract blindness to be peeled off other than the literal one caused by the heavenly creature prior to his conversion. Dickinson perhaps wishes for the appreciative reader to personally discover these forms of blindness where one is taken away to bring about emergence of the other which apparently consists the Truth.

On writing I heard a Fly buzz in 1863, Emily again lets herself loose on exploring the realms this time of transition between life and death. Noticeably, Fly is being made to evolve from its ordinary self as a symbol of waiting for life to be handed over to death in a scenario observed as a mere recollection of the dead. A silent room amplifies this situation via the narrators simile in The stillness in the Room – Was like the Stillness in the Air – Between the Heaves of Storm – as if to allude hoarse breathing with Heaves of Storm that occasionally interrupts the Stillness or quietness of the atmosphere.

At this moment, everyone who surrounds the dying person including herself becomes consumed with pitch sadness and is seemingly caught between letting go for the ordeal in witnessing death to be over and a meager hope of miraculous recovery for the dying while Breaths were gathering firm. For that last Onset is further indicative of oxymoron when opposing terms last and Onset are put together for a purpose in association to the culminating presence of the King or God who is about to claim life after the final breath of the narrator.

Fly interposed then marks the complete shift to the dimension next to the living which beyond pain or fear is Blue to characterize a calm ending governed by the belief of something meaningful and not dark once the speaker arrives in death itself, conceived far from negative attitude or horror like the treatment granted to Because I Could Not Stop for Death. By nature, craving or obsession for something can only be truly felt by someone who usually fails to achieve the desired ends especially those who have toiled exceedingly but could barely grasp success that is why Success is counted sweetest by them.

To comprehend a nectar requires sorest need metaphorically utilizes nectar to concretize the sweetest and sorest for such dire need to succeed which, based on the poem, is hardly realized by the ones who gain victory so often that their fiery hearts for it and its essence soon die. So Not one of all the purple Host could actually tell the difference between a loss and an otherwise since the craving has been satisfied immediately to the extent of losing the burning passion, or let alone passion, in winning.

Emily occurs to have rendered alliteration in the title to underscore the s sound to hint savory, succulent, or any term similar to sweet taste for the poem to drip on the readers presumably imagining tongue. This objective is even more sustained when she presents the title as a phrase which is missing a necessary detail thereby inviting the audience to fill in at justifying the poets argument sensed from an excruciating reality as in the case of defeated – dying in the third stanza, representing those who entirely and spontaneously understand the definition of success.

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