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Analysis Of Emily Dickinson's Poem 'I Read My Sentence Likely'

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“I read my sentence steadily”, by Emily Dickinson, is a poem clearly divided into two parts. The first part depicts the sentencing of the author to death for a crime she apparently committed, while the second speaks on her reaction to the sentence. In this second portion of the poem, Dickinson personifies the soul and death, creating a cordial relationship between the two. This strategic decision allows Dickinson to oppose the common understanding that death is something to be feared, and instead argue that it can be peacefully accepted. As part of the reaction to the death sentence, Dickinson personifies the soul and death, giving them the capacity to form sociable relationships. “But she and Death, aquatinted— / Meet tranquilly, as friends—” …show more content…

Dickinson acknowledges that death is frequently a difficult occurrence to deal with, but she attempts to negate this fear and pain through the relationship she constructs between death and the soul. “That at last, it should not be a novel agony —” (10). Here, Dickinson is recognizing that experiencing agony prior to one’s death is a normal occurrence. However, through her use of personification, she makes clear her belief that such agony is unnecessary. Describing the interaction between death and the soul she writes, “Salute, and pass, without a hint— / And there, the Matter ends —” (13-14). By illustrating a scenario in which the soul and death engage in a casual greeting before quickly moving on, Dickinson creates a new vision of death for her audience, one that is far less ominous and threatening. The simplicity and inconsequential nature of the interaction depicted by Dickinson aids her in her attempt to convince readers that death is not the ordeal they likely fear it to be. Additionally, the transformation of something that is greatly unknown, death, into something highly relatable, a friendly relationship, is an achievement of Dickinson’s personification that cannot be ignored. Fear is often a direct result of a void created by a gap in knowledge, and Dickinson’s creation of a human-like relationship between death and

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The writer is pained by this and is begging his father to not give in and instead fight death. Also, Dickinson states, “Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me.” (Dickinson, ll. 1-2) This quote is another example of both of the themes relating since the writer is talking about how death comes and goes. The author states that death visits her into the

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Dickinson personifies death giving him an identity. Dickinson capitalizes the word “Death” when it is used throughout her poem, “Because I could not stop for Death-”(1), she also refers the the two of them as two people together, “The Carriage held but just Ourselves”(3), combining these two writing strategies effectively allows Dickinson to give Death an identity in her poem. This identity gives Death more human-like characteristics. Thus creating a more broad spectrum of the occurrence of death and that it happens to everyone at some point and leads readers to become more accepting of the idea of death in her idea of Death. Opposing ideas are shown in jones’ writing.

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As death, does not discriminate between young or old, healthy or sick, it simply takes its tribute, the “offerings” of the war. The topic of Dickinson’s poem is possibly

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So, Dickinson’s usage of allusions in the poem adds complexity to the idea of the afterlife after death. At the start of “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”, the author uses personification to give death human qualities when the speaker did not want to pause for Death, so “He kindly stopped for me” (Dickinson 712). Since death cannot literally stop for someone, Dickinson personifies death to make it seem like death is a person as well waiting for the speaker to join him, which adds to the complexity of the poem. As the speaker is reviewing

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Near her birthplace in New England, juvenile death was rampant, meaning that Dickinson was forced to endure the deaths of many of her acquaintances. As a result of these life experiences, the poetic voice she creates is very comfortable with death, seeing it as simply another threshold one must pass through during the course of one’s

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Death can be a difficult topic to talk about due to the uncomfortable or ominous feeling that it gives people. This difficulty can also result from inherent fear that humans have of the unknown. We are clueless on what it feels like when your life is slipping away knowing that death is upon you. In Emily Dickinson’s poem, “ I heard a Fly- Buzz when I died”(1862), these unknown emotions are explored through a dying speaker. Dickinson acknowledges different emotional steps someone goes through and summarizes them as grief, acceptance, appreciation, and death using the stanzas.

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Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” was unconventional and unlike other 19th century poems, especially one’s written by women; this particular poem exemplifies her Christian background, while the issues surrounding the war, society, and medical stagnation influenced her writing. Dickinson’s poem is formatted in the traditional Elizabethan sonnet of love and creates a graceful flow (Winters 288). The complexity of Dickinson’s poem is formed by an ironic theme,

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When Dickinson was young she thought of death as a kind, peaceful gentleman. She elaborates on this idea in her poem “Because I could not Stop for Death”, “Because I could not stop for Death/ He kindly stopped for me/ We slowly drove - He knew no haste,” Emily Dickinson uses the personification of Death in a way that bears resemblance to a classy, peaceful gentleman who is willing to slowly guide and patiently wait for a lady. Her wording also gives the connotation that she is young and in love with this gentle Death. This idea abruptly turns into hatred when she loses her parents.

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When I was a little girl, I received a book of poems for my tenth birthday. In this book of utterly random poems, I discovered the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, Robert Frost, and many eloquent others for the first time. Among these magnificent poets was none other than the solitary, articulate Emily Dickinson. Because I was so young, I can remember thinking of her lifestyle with disdain and confusion as I couldn’t understand why she would simply not want to be around people. I especially wondered how her pretty words made sense with, what I saw as, such a miserable life.

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When Dickinson personifies death, she explores with diction such as “Civility” and “kindly” that he is not a tall, ominous, dark figure with a hood and scythe, but that he instead is a welcoming person, who gently takes the character onto the carriage ride of death. As the character contemplates on her scenery around her, such as the children at recess or the setting sun, she gets so overwhelmed and caught up in her thoughts that she doesn’t realize that she has already arrived at Eternity. While the poem expands on the meaningful idea of death, it somehow portrays the comforting mood of the setting around her. For example, the children at recess are exemplifying a playful attitude, perhaps a childlike and innocent vibe. She also uses the word “strove”, which gives off the

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It is impossible to fool or fabricate, so she finds out the truth through the misery of the person dying. Dickinson turns the misery of death into a positive thing, because since it is one of the small things that a reader can observe and trust; to

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Roy argues that Emily Dickinson has a big contribution to the death for her poems. She represses her own feeling and creates great poetry as the manifestation of loss especially losing beloved people like mother, cousin, brother or even husband. Sources: Leiter, S.

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“This World is not conclusion.” [501] (p.1204) this poem talk about the afterlife and Dickinson idea of. She says “Invisible, as Music / But positive, as Sound”. She resembles death like positive music which I think it is a nice way to think of. Dickinson shows that she is confidant in death and after the end she is not afraid.

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In the poem “Because I could not stop for death” by Emily Dickinson, death is described as a person, and the narrator is communicating her journey with death in the afterlife. During the journey the speaker describes death as a person to accompany her during this journey. Using symbolism to show three locations that are important part of our lives. The speaker also uses imagery to show why death isn 't’ so scary.

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