Emily Dickinson 712 Summary

Emily Dickinson Life and death are typically perceived as being on opposite ends of the spectrum of power over someone’s life—each trying to gain dominance. In “712”, Dickinson describes a woman’s encounter with death and, how her soul’s immortality surpasses the mortality of her body. Dickinson illustrates the complex relationship between mortality and immortality and how it transcends life and death because the physical mortality is consumed by immortality of the soul. In the first stanza, the speaker establishes the relationship between the speaker and Death. The speaker personifies Death as being a kind fellow who is picking up the speaker for a carriage ride. Death “kindly stopped” (Dickinson line 2) for her which suggests that the

The speaker emphasizes the struggles of life by referring to children who “strove at recess” (9-10). The reader deduces that the children represent people in general who are in a constant battle with each other and the tribulations of everyday life. According to Charles R. Anderson, this refers to the “vivid re-enactment of the moral experience”. Dickinson is referring to how once someone dies than they are wiser than those who are living because the dead understand that the things that people are fighting for in the living world are trivial. The speaker then transitions to the “Fields of Gazing Grain” (11). One could deduct that fall is being referenced to in which everything that is alive becomes dead. To extend the point further, Eunice Glenn says grain symbolizes life and mortality while gazing symbolizes death and immortality. This paradox represents how life and death are attached to one another and how one ultimately leads to the other. Additionally, the calm imagery parallels the speaker and Death’s carriage ride. Ironically, the speaker represents mortality while the speaker represents immortality. The “setting sun” (12) marks the end of life. A setting sun is typically viewed as a beautiful sight to witness and, Dickinson is referencing to the fact that death is a beautiful part of life and shouldn’t be viewed with dread. By Death and the speaker passing all of these scenes, Dickinson underlines the soul’s experience toward