Jasmine Cannon Prof. McDade American Lit II June 27, 2011 Emily Dickinson: American Poet I chose to do my essay over Emily Dickinson who is known as the American Poet. Emily’s poems were often recognized by many different poets and also by several readers due to the fact that she was easy to relate to. Also Dickinson wrote poems that created a significant sign of imagery that created a unique lyrically style of writing. Although half of her work was written during the Civil war, there was no influence in her poetry.
Emily’s work makes or shows nothing so much as that she had the themes, the insight, the observation, and the capacity for honesty, which If she only known how or only known why these particular areas would have made the major instead of the minor fraction of her genuine poetry. In this essay I am going to be talking about a few of Dickinson poems which are: “There is another sky”, “Because I could not stop for death”, and “Nobody knows this little Rose”. The major themes of these three poems are going to be talking about optimistic, immortality, and honesty of her work.
In the first poem, “There is another sky” by Emily Dickinson is a poem for her brother Austin. She uses nature as means to express the message she has for him; A poem like this is a typical ABCB rhyme scheme poem by Emily Dickinson. The poet’s usual status is depression, and writing poems often cheered her up. In the first half of the poem, the speaker is referring to a boy named Austin, telling him to forget about the negative events of life because there are so many happy ones already waiting for him. Life can be a paradise if one accepts to try new adventures or start a new one.
In the second stanza, Emily is talking to Prithee, which is her younger brother. Emily talks about this garden, which represents paradise or the perfect life where pain, suffering, or any other negative aspects of life, so, he is invited to restart a new life. This part of the poem could be an allusion to the Garden of Eden or Paradise, the garden God created; perfect in all aspects. This poem is written for people who have the same problem as the Emily does: depression. Emily Dickinson comforts herself and those who are not enjoying their life by introducing new ideas and ways of adding spice to our existence by writing.
Entering a new world can help us realize that life is not bad after all, and we should always get the best out of everything. In the second poem “Because I could not stop for death” death appears personified in this poem as a courtly beau who gently insists that the speaker put aside both “labor” and “leisure. ” In regard to Emily Dickinson’s poem, her poem, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” is Critiqued “In the first two lines Death, personified as a carriage driver, stops for one who could not stop for him.
The word ‘kindly’ is particularly meaningful, for it instantly characterizes Death. This comes with surprise, too, since death is more often considered grim and terrible”. Critic Charles R. Anderson says, “Death, usually rude, sudden, and impersonal, has been transformed into a kindly and leisurely gentleman”. Both critics seem to agree on the significance of the word “kindly” in the first two lines of the poem. “Because I could not stop for Death; He kindly stopped for me”. They take the word “kindly” for its most common definitions: agreeable, pleasant, benevolent, etc.
With further research, however, alternative, as well as more enlightening, definitions become available. The English Dictionary defines kindly as: “In accordance with nature; naturally; by natural disposition; characteristically” and “In the way suitable or appropriate to the nature of the thing; properly, fittingly”. These definitions add new insight to the poem. In the superficial sense, Death seemingly performed a charitable act by stopping for the speaker; in application of these less common definitions, however, Death stopping for Dickinson was necessary and proper.
It was following after the natural course of things. Rather than merely suggesting the Death was a charming, courteous carriage driver, the speaker implies that Death was obligated to stop for her; she is unable to stop for him. The poem fuses elements of the secular seduction motif, with elements of the medieval bride-of-Christ tradition, arguable through inclusion of details such as the tippet of a nun’s habit. Last, “Nobody knows this little Rose” is a great comparison towards life and death.
The rose represents the human life. In life, you go through many obstacles and journeys. You give your all to the world but yet you don’t receive much back. When you are alive those who needs you will notice, care, and appreciate you. The bee and the butterfly needs the rose, this is a symbol of your friends and family. They need you so they love and cherish you. The bird and the breeze represent those who do not know you. They sometimes wonder about you but they just pass on by, like a breeze.
You hasten from a far journey, means that you have been through many things in life. On its breast to lie means that after all you put up through life living in this world you have to lay down and give up on life. When you are dead, your death will only affect those who care for you. It will not affect those who don’t notice you in the world. So basically it is not that much of a big deal if you are dead and alive. It is easy for you to die because those who care will still be there and those who don’t care will remain not caring.
The rose, you, give your all, your life, to the world yet not the whole world notices you. My three poems that I talked about written by Emily Dickinson talked about the major Themes of her life and also focused on the optimistic, immortality, and honesty of her work. One area that Emily did focus on the most was honesty; she did not want to fail any of her readers wrong because most of her poems were written from a true life experience or something that she could more than likely relate to! Also she wanted her reader’s to be able to relate to her as well.
In my opinion I could relate to “There is another sky” for the simple fact it reminded me of my brother and I. Honestly, I enjoyed writing about this particular poet Emily Dickinson for the simple fact of her honesty. Works Cited Famous Poets and Poems. “Because I could not stop for death”. Emily Dickinson. Famous Poets and Poems. “Nobody knows this little Rose”. Emily Dickinson. Famous Poets and Poems. “There is another sky”. Emily Dickinson. Anderson, Charles R. Modern American Poetry. 1 Jan 2002. University of Illinois. 13 Sept. 2005
