Emily Dickinson Essay Introduction Example For Students

Emily Dickinson Essay Introduction Emily Dickinsons world was her fathers home and garden in a small New Englandtown. She lived most of her life within this private world. Her romantic visionsand emotional intensity kept her from making all but a few friends. Because ofthis life of solitude, she was able to focus on her world more sharply thanother authors of her time were. Her poems, carefully tied in packets, werediscovered only after she had died. They reveal an unusual awareness of herselfand her world, a shy but determined mind. Every poem was like a tiny micro-chasmthat testified to Dickinsons life as a recluse. Dickinsons lack of rhyme andregular meter and her use of ellipsis and compression were unimportant as longas her poetry was encouraged by it. Although some find her poetry to beincomprehensible, illiterate, and uneducated, most find that her irregularpoetic form are her original attempts at liberating American poetry from a staleheritage. Her poetry was the precursor to the modern spirit with the influen ceof transcendentalism not puritanism. Her treatment of Death and profoundmetaphysical tendencies were part of the singular nature of her genius. Emilyssimple language draws rich meanings from common words. The imagery and metaphorsin her poetry are taken from her observations of nature and her imagination. Sheapproached her poetry inductively, combining words to arrive at a conclusion thepattern of words suggested, rather than starting with a specific theme ormessage. Her use of certain words resulted in one not being able to grasp herpoetry with only one reading. She paid minute attention to things that nobodyelse noticed in the universe. She was obsessed with death and itsconsequences especially the idea of eternity. She once said, Does notEternity appear dreadful to you I often get thinking of it and it seems sodark to me that I almost wish there was no Eternity. To think that we mustforever live and never cease to be. It seems as if death which all so dreadbecause it launches u s upon an unknown world would be a relief to so endless astate of existence. Dickinson heavily believed that it was important toretain the power of consciousness after life. The question of mental cessationat death was an overtone of many of her poems. The imminent contingency ofdeath, as the ultimate source of awe, wonder, and endless questions, was lifesmost fascinating feature to Dickinson. Dickinson challenges the mysteries ofdeath with evasion, despair, curiosity or hope in her poetry as means to clarifyher curiosity. From examining her poems of natural transitions of life anddeath, changing states of consciousness, as a speaker from beyond the grave,confronting death in a journey or dream and on the dividing line of life anddeath one can see that Dickinson points to death as the final inevitable change. The intensity of Dickinsons curiosity about dying and her enthusiasm to learnof the dying persons experience at the point of mortality is evident in herpoetry. She studies the effect of the deads disappearance, on the living world,in a hope to conjecture something about the new life they are experiencing afterdeath. Dickinson believes that a dying persons consciousness does not die withthe body at death but rather it lives on and intensifies. In To know just how Hesuffered-would be dear To know just how He suffered would be dear To knowif any Human eyes were near To whom He could entrust His wavering gaze Untilit settle broad on Paradise To know if He was patient part content Was Dying as He thought or different Was it a pleasant Day to die Anddid the Sunshine face his way What was His furthest mind Of Home or God Or what the Distant say At news that He ceased Human Nature Such a Day And Wishes Had He Any Just His Sigh Accented Had been legible toMe And was He Conf ident until Ill fluttered out in Everlasting Well Andif He spoke What name was Best What last What One broke off with At theDrowsiest Was He afraid or tranquil Might He know How ConsciousConsiousness could grow Till Love that was and Love too best to be Meet and the Junction be Eternity expresses her belief about the experienceof dying and her wonderment of what happens during death. Dickinson suggeststhat the dying persons final gaze will be on paradise as if at the point ofdeath it sees what is to come. Dickinson herself wants, to know just howhe suffered To know if any Human eyes were near To know if He waspatient many questions like these are raised as to the experiences ofthe dying. She probes at the implications of leaving the living, searching forthe strength of deaths appeal, and wondering abou the junction of love thatexisted during life and love that is to be, after life. Questions are raisedabout the persons attachments to the world already known rather than in sightsinto another world after death. The impossibility of Dickinson to fullypenetrate the mysteries of the afterlife does not allow for insight into thisother world. Since she could not follow the dead beyond her world Dickinsonfocused on their effect on the world they left behind. She searched for answersfrom the dead as they lay in their resting-places in Safe in their AlabasterChambers. Safe in their Alabaster Chambers Untouched my Morning And untouchedby Noon Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection Rafter of satin, AndRoof of stone. Light laughs the breeze In her Castle above them Babbles theBee in a stolid Ear, Pipe the Sweet Birds in ignorant cadence Ah, whatsagacity perished here! The Alabaster chamber, untouched by morning anduntouched by noon, represents the tomb of the dead and their separationfrom the world. Dickinson concludes that she finds no answers from the deadbecause she is unable to understand their world. However, she knows that theyare only sleeping an d will come back when they are resurrected. Spoken frombeyond the grave, Because I could not stop for Death Because I could not stopfor Death He kindly stopped for me The Carriage held but just Ourselvesand Immortality. We slowly droveHe knew no haste And I had put away My laborand my leisure too, For His Civility We passed the School, where Childrenstrove At Recessin the Ring We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain We passedthe Setting Sun Or ratherHe passed Us The Dews drew quivering and chillFor only Gossamer, my Gown My Tippet only Tulle We paused before a House thatseemed A Swelling of the Ground The Roof was scarcely visible TheCornicein the Ground Since thenTis Centuriesand yet Feels shorter thanthe Day I first surmised the Horses Heads Were toward Eternity has animaginary person, not Dickinson who would be looking beyond into death, butcontent with the routine of the life, looking back from death into the livingworld which she has disappeared from. She had been too busy to stop her workwhile she was living so death, kindly stopped, for her. As shepasses the children, the Gazing Grain and finally the setting sun, we see thestages of life, childhood, maturity, and old age, respectively. Not only Deathhas come for the woman, The Carriage held but just Ourselves andImmortality. Again Emily focuses on the previous world and on mortalityand can not see into death and immortality. Dickinson represents deathsfinality by stressing the continued presence of objects no longer valuable ormeaningless, and on the ceasing of activities that had characterized life. Hamlet Analyzed According To Aristotles Six Elements Of Tragedy EssayPoetry