... Redemption; images of baptism and crucifixion; the theological and cultural ideals of Christian faith and sacrifice "all are recast to serve her revolutionary poetics. Richard Wilbur has said of Dickinson, "She inherited a great and overbearing [Calvinist] vocabulary which, had she used it submissively, would have forced her to express an established theology and psychology. But she would not let ... as signifiers lose their specificity. Meaning becomes condensed, yet pliant. Religious and erotic feeling flow into one another.(E. D.'s Readings of Men and Books, 139) In the poem below, f...

• Word Count: 992
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ;Czar" or, in other words, the woman becomes the ruler of herself, after she gets married. As we can see in this stanza, Dickinson quotation marks the femininely inflected words "wife", "woman". Furthermore, there is a dash connecting "Woman" to the masculinely ... manly", in a paradoxical way, than the girls in the poet's nonverbal statements. Those girls, in essence, are feminine. On the other hand Dickinson expresses the inferiority due to the social pressure of being a single woman and her unwillingness of becoming a wife also. She is fully understands the merits ... line 6, she uses ...

• Word Count: 1111
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... to remain still, by the serene beauty of the woods and his contrasting need to live, to return to his responsibilities. (DiYanni, Robert.1990) Dickinson shows that death does not need to be painful. Her poem maintains a peaceful tone by using words like "slowly" and "passed". Few lines in ... made us realised how much the speaker wants to linger at the woods, but he is constantly reminded that he has more obligations to fulfil. Dickinson is a free spirited writer, who expresses her thoughts through her own literary work. She uses inexact rhymes, dash to create pause and capital ... refe...

• Word Count: 1463
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... away. In the first stanza, the speaker is picked up in a carriage by death itself. The speaker describes death a gentleman who "kindly stopped for me-". Dickinson uses personification to make it appear as if death is a man. The tone is also, established as the speaker surprisingly seems tranquil as if she knew death ... her life. In the third stanza, death is passing places that are familiar to the speaker, this can give the speaker a chance to say goodbye. Dickinson uses anaphora in the last two lines of this stanza, "We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain We passed the Setting Sun" this...

• Word Count: 756
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... lines. The identical formation of each stanza makes the poem easy to read. However the easiness associated with this structure can be misleading as Dickinson speaks on death which is usually a hard subject. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" starts to gives the reader a feeling of ... progression towards eternity throughout the description in the second and third stanzas. In line 5 Dickinson begins death's journey with a slow, forward movement, which can be seen as she writes, "We slowly drove---He knew no haste." The third ... The woman's soul drifted off into nothingness because t...

• Word Count: 919
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... it is their turn to perhaps pass onto another world. In stanza three the speaker is preparing for her journey to pass into the great beyond. Dickinson writes, "I willed my keepsakes, signed away what portion of me be assignable and then it was, there interposed a fly" (888). ... the afterlife the reader is still left wondering if anything does await them after death because the speaker does not reach an afterlife in the poem. Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" serenely describes how the speaker is escorted by Death in his carriage. Death carries ... the speaker slowl...

• Word Count: 949
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... , this poem is short and sweet. But over the decades she has proven that a poem does not need any words to have a poverful impact on the reader. Emily Dickinson has been known to be a recluse, to hide away in the confortable space of er room. This poem is rebellious and revolutionary, fighting for the night of people to be ... syllable is in between two soft syllables. This provides a smoother flow within the poem. The meter of the peom depends on each line, so there is no unified meter. However, Dickinson uses the same number of feet for each stanza (7, 6, 8, 6), indicating a consisten...

• Word Count: 431
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... , "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" and "I Heard A Fly Buzz-When I Died," are both about one of life's uncertainties, death. However, that is where the similarities end. Although Dickinson wrote both poems, their ideas about what lies after death differ. The poem "I heard a Fly buzz-when I died," points to a disbelief in an afterlife. In this poem, a woman is lying ... off into nothingness because there was no afterlife for it to travel to. This is the complete opposite belief about afterlife in Dickinson's other poem, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." In the piece, "Because I Co...

• Word Count: 698
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... people at the funeral in the narrator's Brain. Instead, this poem is best understood by the sounds she describes it by. In the first stanza, Dickinson utilizes the metaphor of a "Funeral, in my Brain- (Ln. 1) and specifically uses capital letters to emphasize important nouns. I felt a Funeral, ... it seemed That Sense was breaking through - In normal sentence structure, one does not capitalize words in the middle of a sentence; however, when Dickinson utilizes this style technique, it highlights the actual weight of each word (usually a noun). She captures the essence that the narrator is...

• Word Count: 1027
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... leaving only six or seven times in twenty years (444). After reading her poem, "Because I could not stop for Death," it becomes evident that Dickinson personifies Death into a sensitive human being, along with the concept of time, to create an ironic theme of death. In the first two lines of ... comfortable with her decision to get into the carriage because the thought of being with Death alone makes her feel death's aura of terror and uneasiness. Dickinson further extends the kindliness of Death in stanza two, where she writes, "We slowly drove, he knew no haste/ and I had put away/ ...

• Word Count: 1277
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... figurative language and imagery (personification, metaphor, and symbol) to portray the idea that death is not a dreadful event, but actually a pleasant experience. Emily Dickinson uses personification, giving human like qualities to an object or idea. In this poem, death is seen as a gentleman caller. Death is coming to pick ... not go, but since he is a kind, polite man she will go. A metaphor "transfers the sense of one word to another" (Barton/Hudson 99). Dickinson relates a house to a grave: We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground- The Roof was scarcely visibl...

• Word Count: 541
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... idea. Many of her poems leave the reader lacking a definite answer to the issues of death brought up within the poems. As with most poetry, Dickinson often writes about subjects and activities that relate her thoughts in a roundabout way. For example, in her poem "I Heard a Fly Buzz- a dead ... decipher the deeper meanings. While she expresses the thought that death is simply a separation from loved ones, whittled in with doubts about Christian views, Dickinson's highly regarded poetry communicates to the readers that death is no big deal and almost welcomes bereavement, but, at times, o...

• Word Count: 776
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... of it. If you just look at the surface of the poem then it is going to be meaning less and confusing because of Dickinson's style of writing. Dickinson often uses dashes in her writing, as if she is not finished with the sentence. Her style of writing adds a uniqueness to ... poetry like no other. This poem by Dickinson is one big metaphor in itself. Dickinson is comparing death to a suitor who is calling on a Lady. In the first two lines, Death, is compared to a carriage driver ... another passenger, Immortality. Immortality, standing alone helps to emphasize the importance of the pres...

• Word Count: 692
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... death as a formal occasion that is the culmination of a sad and perhaps useless life. Throughout "After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes"; Dickinson employs many nuances, such as imagery, symbolism, and irony. Various parts of the body are personified as if they were their own entities. The ... the reader by portraying the burial Death is referenced as the Hour of Lead; as cold, hard, and unchangeable as metal. For example, Dickinson offers a dramatic image of the funeral service taking place. The mechanical movements of pallbearers are intensely represented by her use of stunning lang...

• Word Count: 615
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... speaker as a person rather than an occasion in a person's life. It is pictured as man who gives the speaker the ride of eternity. Dickinson dramatizes the conflict of life and the peaceful eternity of death. She develops an unusual interpretation of death, and while doing this, she creates images ... that provoke distinctive thoughts. Throughout the poem, Dickinson uses different types of figurative language, and imagery like metaphor, repetition and symbolism and others; these help her create a poem that people can understand ... surmise" (23) has an important job in this line, becaus...

• Word Count: 1192
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... broken up into stanzas expressing differing ideas in each one. By braking up such ideas, it is easier to analyze the varying aspects of death that Ms. Dickinson believes are imperative when expressing what she is feeling prior to her death. The first stanza starts off repeating the title, "I heard a Fly buzz " ... fly that takes on a meaning even greater than God, and begins to play a bigger role as the fly distracts, not only the readers, but Ms. Dickinson herself. The fly detracts ones concentration so that this mundane being (the fly) is the center of attention, rather than the afterm...

• Word Count: 908
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... brain in the line "I felt a funeral in my Brain,"" In the poem the speaker does not only discuss the physical aspects of dying but also the process of mourning. Emily Dickinson herself loved earth and was unsure about letting go of it to move on to heaven. This poem shows the speaker mourning the loss of her connection with earth rather ... "With those same Boots of Lead, again,"" is showing that once again she is feeling separated from life. Boots of Lead is a heavier phrase than the others describing the feeling. Dickinson did this because she wanted to show the feeling of solitude be...

• Word Count: 563
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The poem, "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died," by Emily Dickinson describes what one woman experiences right before death. The poem is written in ballad stanza, a form that's meant to be said aloud or sang like a song. "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I ... stanza introduced the accepted point of view of afterlife with 5 dashes. With 4 dashes the first stanza introduces death, and the third stanza serves to connect the poem. Through the poem Dickinson has brought up the controversies of death and afterlife. From the first line we know that this poem is about death, but death, the fly, doesn't show up a...

• Word Count: 874
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

"This is perhaps Emily Dickinson's best-known poem. She personifies the character of death and then dramatizes the experience: Death is portrayed as a genteel friend who "kindly" stops to take to her grave." Style : - 6 stanzas, 4- ... be feared Death is often portrayed as frightening and is someone who inflicts pain upon others. On the Contrary, Death is a gentleman that "kindly" waits for people. Unlike other poets, Dickinson doesn't want to portray him as all-powerful. She stresses that Death is not a thing to be feared. - Time passes at a different pace under different circumstances. The...

• Word Count: 763
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... simple, is very naturalistic. The reader can easily imagine a bird that "hopped sideways to the wall." There are no thoughts or feelings in this poem; only actions are described. Emily Dickinson celebrates trivial things, the simple but beautiful order of nature. She emphasizes this simplicity by the playful and guileless rhythm of the poem. After the character gives the bird a crumb ... reminiscent of romantic poems, help achieve the sense of flying. "And he rolled his feathers And rowed him softer home Than oars divide the ocean, Too silver for a seam." Emily Dickinson has a very acut...

• Word Count: 404
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Poe is one of the more famous poets known for his dark, mysterious poems. Poe had a different view on the world than most people, almost similar to that of Emily Dickinson. His poems often have a deeper meaning hidden behind the dark scenes. Poe's poem "A Dream within a Dream" contains two stanzas each describing a certain experience. Each is very different both ... ...

• Word Count: 1125
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Theme: The poem deals, among other things, with the relationship between nature and humanity. At the start the poet is just observing the bird ("He did not know I saw"). She does not interfere, but she is not passive, as her observations are quite detailed e.g. noticing the Beetle. She is a presence in the poem from line 2, but we don't find out much about her as the focus is on the bird. The human interference, finally, in line 14 ("I offered him a crumb") disturbs the scene - the bird flies away ("he unrolled his feathers"). Yet this is not necessarily or entirely seen as a bad thing - it is...

• Word Count: 605
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" Life, death, and reincarnation are portrayed in Emily Dickinson's poem "I felt a Funeral, in my brain". The use of words associated with death gives the poem an ominous and dark karma. At the beginning of this poem the feelings of ... ...

• Word Count: 1034
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School