Emily Dickinson and Death: First of three....

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –
Or rather – He passed us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –
Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the
Day I first surmised the
Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity –

Sunday, November 20, 2011

First of three....

"Because I could not stop for Death.
He kindly stopped for me....."

Emily Dickinson gives death a whole new persona in this poem. She personifies death and gives it a more gentle and kind nature. Death is seen as a polite and pleasant carriage ride through eternity. Emily does not speak of a heaven or a hell, which is something unheard of in her time. She uses the symbol of a old and buried house, which is really her grave, to show that when a person dies, they have a completely different concept of time, “Since then – ‘tis centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day.” I feel that her poem really has a nicer concept than that of heaven and hell, it is neither a paradise, nor a, well, hell, for eternity, but something that we neither have to look forward to or dread, it is just a path to take after life.

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Behind Me --Dips Eternity

Behind Me—dips Eternity—
Before Me—Immortality—
Myself—the Term between—
Death but the Drift of Eastern Gray,
Dissolving into Dawn away,
Before the West begin—
'Tis Kingdoms—afterward—they say—
In perfect—pauseless Monarchy—
Whose Prince—is Son of None—
Himself—His Dateless Dynasty—
Himself—Himself diversify—
In Duplicate divine—
'Tis Miracle before Me—then—
'Tis Miracle behind—between—
A Crescent in the Sea—
With Midnight to the North of Her—
And Midnight to the South of Her—
And Maelstrom—in the Sky—

I Heard a Fly Buzz -- when I died

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –
The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the
King Be witnessed – in the Room –
I willed my Keepsakes –
Signed away What portions of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly –
With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz –
Between the light – and me –
And then the Windows failed – and then
I could not see to see

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Sunday, November 20, 2011

First of three....

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