RUNNING HEADER: THEMES OF DEATH
Themes of Death
Themes of Death and Immortality in Emily Dickinson's Poetry
Joylyn Case
Rasmussen College- Am. Lit. section 01
Themes of Death and Immortality in Emily Dickinson's Poetry
Throughout Emily Dickinson's poetry, there is a reoccurring theme of death and immortality. The theme of death is further separated into two major categories including the curiosity Dickinson held of the process of dying and the feelings accompanied with it and the reaction to the death of a loved one. Two of Dickinson's many poems that contain the theme of death include: "Because I Could Not Stop For Death," and "After great pain, a formal feeling comes."
In Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," Dickinson portrays what it is like to go through the process of dying. According to Mark Spencer of the Explicator, the speaker portrays death as a two-step process.
Dickinson's handwritten manuscript of her poem "Wi...
Angie Dickinson
Brown, Colton, Dickinson, Lindabury (LOC)It is said that this particular poem makes more sense if read from the perspective that reconciliation with God is a delayed process. In this poem, the speaker has ended their existence on earth but have yet to reach the last step. The horses are pulling the carriage "toward Eternity" which suggests that the final step has yet to be reached. The speaker says that "Centuries" feel "Shorter than the day" implying that although an end will come, it will not come quickly. Although the end is said not to come soon, it will seem like nothing to those who have passed. A grave site is compared to a house when the carriage passes a "Swelling in the ground," because indeed the speaker will stay in this home until her last day comes. The speaker then becomes "quivering and chill" wearing her thin flimsy clothing but then realizes that...