A Comparison of Poem's: Emily Dickinson's and Dylan Thomas' Distinctly Different Views of Death.

Emily Dickinson's "I Could Not Stop For Death" and "Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas are two literary pieces on the topic of death. While there are some comparisons between the two poets, when it comes to death as the theme, their writing styles are quite different. These distinct differences are evident in both the form, and the choice of words in these poems.

The poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" is one of Emily Dickinson's most intriguing pieces due to the relaxed and compelling portrayal of death. Death in this poem is identified as a woman's last trip, that is headed toward eternity. This poem allows the reader to bring death down to a more delicate level. The narrator characterizes death with abnormally jovial words. For example, the poem reads, "Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me"(1-2).

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English: Daguerreotype of the poet Emily Dickinson...

Welsh poet Dylan Thomas

Dickinson gives the reader the feeling that death is civil and compassionate. This is different from the more common views of death being vicious and cruel. Death is symbolized as a part of life's journey and allows the woman to reflect from childhood to the present. Dickinson uses imagery to paint a pleasant picture for the reader. In a poem that is about death the reader is visualizing

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children playing at recess from school. This is pleasant an enjoyable, something that death isn't. At the end of the poem Dickinson compares the woman's grave to a house again showing her relaxed and unusual view of death.

Unlike Dickinson's casual view of death, Dylan Thomas has a very formal view. Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night", is a poem that Dylan wrote to his father about giving up on life versus fighting for survival. Immediately the...