Monday, August 5, 2019

What words in the poem are related to death?

Dickinson's poem lends a lighter and more refined quality to death than is typical in much of literature and poetry. Describing death as the driver of a "Carriage" evokes the idea of dying as a pleasant journey rather than something to be feared. Death "kindly" stops for the narrator, who then rides along with him at a pace that "knows no haste."
Dickinson also endows death with the quality of "Civility," suggesting that death is a courteous and upstanding fellow instead of a mysterious and possibly frightening spectre.
The only suggestion of death as something to be feared or avoided comes towards the end of the poem. As the carriage drives past schoolchildren playing and the sun sets, the narrator notices "the Dews drew quivering and chill," noting that the clothes she is wearing will not protect her from the growing cold.


Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I could not stop for Death—" personifies Death as a gentleman in a carriage, who invites the poet along for a ride. Death is a courteous and genteel companion, and the carriage ride is leisurely and pleasant. Dickinson describes Death as "kindly" and "Civil," and says that "he [knows] no haste."As the carriage wends through the landscape, they pass children playing in a schoolyard, and fields ready for harvest. The carriage approaches its destination as the sun sets, "a House that seemed / A Swelling of the Ground"— that is, a grave.Dickinson presents Death not as some kind of Grim Reaper, but as a friendly companion on life's journey, from childhood in the schoolyard to adulthood (signified by ripe grain), and onward past the setting sun to a quiet "House" where the journey ends.Within the poem, the words that relate specifically to death are those about "stopping," "passing," "pausing," "the Ground," and "Eternity." Death is the end of life, and where the travelers stop traveling. When a person dies, they are said to have "passed away." Death itself—the moment of death—is a kind of "pause" between mortal life and "Eternity," and the poet's burial place is in the ground.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Summarize the major research findings of "Toward an experimental ecology of human development."

Based on findings of prior research, the author, Bronfenbrenner proposes that methods for natural observation research have been applied in ...