The Three Types of Death in Dickinson’s Poems
Boutros 1
Rachelle Boutros
Dr. Daizy Waked
ELL 221
27 October 2014 The Three Types of Death in Dickinson’s Poems
As human beings it’s in our nature to have thousands and thousands of wild thoughts, mysterious enquiries, and various points of views on all that the world contains, and, above all, emotions of any kind. Consequently, it’s in our nature, as well, the need and urge to express all of the above. Of all the forms of self expression, poetry had been and still is one way to successfully serve the case. It is quite noticeable that the subject of death is conveyed in numerous poems. Indeed, we find a considerably number of worldwide, ancient and modern poets communicating their thoughts and feeling towards this precise subject through poetry, yet each with a different treatment. Some expressed the death of their beloved or any dear person, some their fear of death and others the contrary, some their wonder about death’s mystery… etc. True, Emily Dickenson, was one to be highlighted upon. The main reasons behind her somehow obsession with death are the fact that she lived fifteen years of her youth next door to the town cemetery, had witnessed the death of her father at a young age as well as the death of many dear friends. Nesteruk stated that death was important to Emily Dickinson. Out of some one thousand and seven hundred poems, perhaps some "five to six hundred" are concerned with the theme of death; other estimates suggest that the figure may be nearer to a half. Thus, Dickinson was one poet to treat the subject of death in different perspectives; Thomas H. Johnson suggested that her poems concerning death should be divided into three categories (203-204): Poems describing the act of dying, poems in which death, the suitor, is personified, and the poems that are concerned with the physical demise of the body.
Mohit, Ray, and Kundu have mentioned that “The physical as well as the psychic process of death is one of the focal themes of Emily
Rachelle Boutros
Dr. Daizy Waked
ELL 221
27 October 2014 The Three Types of Death in Dickinson’s Poems
As human beings it’s in our nature to have thousands and thousands of wild thoughts, mysterious enquiries, and various points of views on all that the world contains, and, above all, emotions of any kind. Consequently, it’s in our nature, as well, the need and urge to express all of the above. Of all the forms of self expression, poetry had been and still is one way to successfully serve the case. It is quite noticeable that the subject of death is conveyed in numerous poems. Indeed, we find a considerably number of worldwide, ancient and modern poets communicating their thoughts and feeling towards this precise subject through poetry, yet each with a different treatment. Some expressed the death of their beloved or any dear person, some their fear of death and others the contrary, some their wonder about death’s mystery… etc. True, Emily Dickenson, was one to be highlighted upon. The main reasons behind her somehow obsession with death are the fact that she lived fifteen years of her youth next door to the town cemetery, had witnessed the death of her father at a young age as well as the death of many dear friends. Nesteruk stated that death was important to Emily Dickinson. Out of some one thousand and seven hundred poems, perhaps some "five to six hundred" are concerned with the theme of death; other estimates suggest that the figure may be nearer to a half. Thus, Dickinson was one poet to treat the subject of death in different perspectives; Thomas H. Johnson suggested that her poems concerning death should be divided into three categories (203-204): Poems describing the act of dying, poems in which death, the suitor, is personified, and the poems that are concerned with the physical demise of the body.
Mohit, Ray, and Kundu have mentioned that “The physical as well as the psychic process of death is one of the focal themes of Emily