How Does Love And Death Affect Emily Dickinson's Poetry
As the poem progresses, we continue to ironically see death as patient. According to Vasanthi, one thing that influenced her poetry was love. Newton, for example, was one of Dickinson’s first male friends that eventually led to her lover. However, when things did not work out between the two, she secluded herself. Next, she met editor, Samuel Bowles. Nevertheless, when he got sick, she wrote him a letter nicely stating that she wanted something else. Analogous to the mystery and cruelty of death, Dickinson was also a piece of work.
Nevertheless, we continue to see Dickinson become infatuated with Death. Like any of us who remotely become interested in someone, we start wanting to spend more time with him or her. In this stanza, we see a yearning for this gentleman’s civility, companionship, and respect; she’s yearning for this polite …show more content…
Dickinson’s poem illustrates that death is inevitable. In line 5, for example, she switches from the pronoun “we” to “he,” showing that death is not something collectively agreed upon. She proposes that one make the best out of life, because when Death comes knocking at our front door, then we may as well be ready. Her poem suggests that we should go willingly, and maybe even admire the scenery as we travel to our new “houses.” As the reader, we can tell she’s on board with Death, because she refers to the grave as a house and the tombstone as a roof. Instead of using images of finality to represent the gravesite, she uses the images of one’s comfort zone to describe permanence and tranquility. Analogous to how love shaped Dickinson’s poetry, learning this historical context strengthened my understanding of the literature. Dickinson drew from her experiences to create a poem that all readers could relate to; in doing so, she took negative experiences and turned them into something beautiful, simultaneously using poetry as an outlet for her
Nevertheless, we continue to see Dickinson become infatuated with Death. Like any of us who remotely become interested in someone, we start wanting to spend more time with him or her. In this stanza, we see a yearning for this gentleman’s civility, companionship, and respect; she’s yearning for this polite …show more content…
Dickinson’s poem illustrates that death is inevitable. In line 5, for example, she switches from the pronoun “we” to “he,” showing that death is not something collectively agreed upon. She proposes that one make the best out of life, because when Death comes knocking at our front door, then we may as well be ready. Her poem suggests that we should go willingly, and maybe even admire the scenery as we travel to our new “houses.” As the reader, we can tell she’s on board with Death, because she refers to the grave as a house and the tombstone as a roof. Instead of using images of finality to represent the gravesite, she uses the images of one’s comfort zone to describe permanence and tranquility. Analogous to how love shaped Dickinson’s poetry, learning this historical context strengthened my understanding of the literature. Dickinson drew from her experiences to create a poem that all readers could relate to; in doing so, she took negative experiences and turned them into something beautiful, simultaneously using poetry as an outlet for her