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Thanatopsis By Bryant And Because I Could Not Stop For Death By Emily Dickinson

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Thanatopsis By Bryant And Because I Could Not Stop For Death By Emily Dickinson
I have read much of Bryant's poems and life, and now, as a reader of Bryant's work, I'm finding it interesting to compare his style to that of other authors of the same time period such as; Emerson, Thoreau, and Dickinson. In this first comparison of Thanatopsis by Bryant and Because I Could Not Stop For Death by Emily Dickinson, I will contrast the different outlooks on death each author has.

Because I Could Not Stop For Death
1. Poem lyrics of Because I Could Not Stop For Death by Emily Dickinson.
Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality.
We slowly drove—He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility—
We passed …show more content…
It shows the reader Bryant's views on death. He tells us through this poem to accept death as part of life. That death cannot be stopped so trust when you die, and be content with your life you have lived. "Thou go no, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." (Lines 76-80) Emily Dickinson takes a slightly different view on the topic of death in her poem, Because I Could Not Stop For Death. First of all I noticed her capturing use of personification, relating death to a gentleman, who " kindly stopped" for her and sat with her through the trip of memories to her final destination, death. She makes death seem like an adventure, she tells us she couldn't stop her life for "him", but she didn't have to, "he" came and stopped her. It wasn't extremely hard and she really had no say, she went with him and didn't seem to show any signs of sadness or remorse. It seemed in the last quote, "Were toward Eternity," as though she was ending her past life and just at the very beginning of a renewed one. As her life is going past her on her trip the quote, "We passed the Setting Sun," symbolizes, as the sun setting, so is her life, but also like the sun, it will again rise
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