Poems Of Emily Dickinson EMILY DICKINSON’S POEMS Poems Of Emily Dickinson

Emily was indulged in her "eccentricity" by her family. She was a profound and intelligent poet, and her preoccupation with her writing seemed a harmless enough outlet for her peculiarities. Dickinson neither completed many poems nor prepared them for publication. She wrote her drafts on scraps of paper, grocery lists, and the backs of recipes and used envelopes.

Benjamin Newton was one of the first people to recognise the poetic capacities of Emily, and encouraged her to write poetry. The works of other poets, in particular Emerson, were important for Emily Dickinson in opening up spiritual ideas beyond the strict Calvinism. Emily had innovative views and unorthodox beliefs, but she often doubted her own convictions; thus influences of Emerson and other poets were of great importance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson… He was an American essayist, philosopher, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century. Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. Emerson discounted Biblical miracles and proclaimed that, while Jesus was a great man, he was not God. His comments outraged the establishment and the general Protestant community.

Emily’s Style of Writing… Writers contemporary to her had little effect upon the style of her writing. In her own work she was original and innovative, but she did draw upon her knowledge of the Bible, classical myths, and Shakespeare for allusions and references in her poetry. She also used contemporary popular church hymns, transforming their standard rhythms into free-form hymn meters.

Dickinson's poems were written using unusual meter and rhyme schemes that went against the established norms, but she continued to write her poems her way throughout her life time. She had an uncanny sense of expression when it came to the subjects of mortality, love and hope. Dickinson found irony, ambiguity, and paradox lurking in the simplest and commonest experiences. The materials and subject matter of her poetry are quite conventional.

Her poems are filled with robins, bees, winter light, household items, and domestic duties. These materials represent the range of what she experienced in and around her father's house. She used them because they constituted so much of her life and, more importantly, because she found meanings latent in them. Though her world was simple, it was also complex in its beauties and its terrors.

Her lyric poems captures impressions of particular moments, scenes, or moods, and she characteristically focuses upon topics such as nature, love, immorality, death, faith, doubt, pain, and the self. However; the poetry of Emily Dickinson was often deliberately vague. The object of her devotion may have no person in particular, but unknown aspect of the divine.

Emily Dickinson wrote more than 1700 poems in her lifetime, Only seven of Dickinson's poems were published during her lifetime, Early editors of her poems took the liberty of making them more accessible to nineteenth-century readers when several volumes of selected poems were published in the 1890s. The poems were made to appear like traditional nineteenth-century verse by assigning them titles, rearranging their syntax, normalizing their grammar, and regularizing their capitalizations.

Not until 1955, when Thomas Johnson published Dickinson's complete works in a form that attempted to be true to her manuscript versions, did readers have an opportunity to see the full range of her style and themes. Her work received critical acclaim and popular success.

SELECTED WORKS: POEMS BY EMILY DICKINSON, 1890 (ed. by T.W. Higgins and Mabel Loomis Todd) POEMS: SECOND SERIES, 1891 POEMS: THIRD SERIES, 1896 POEMS OF A LIFETIME, 1914 SELECTED POEMS, 1924 (ed. by Conrad Aiken) THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1955 (ed. by Thomas H. Johnson) THE LETTERS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1958 THE COMPLETE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1960 (ed. by Thomas H. Johnson) THE MANUSCRIPT BOOKS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1981 (2 vols., ed. by Ralph W. Franklin) NEW POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1993 (ed. by William H. Shurr) OPEN ME CAREFULLY: EMILY DICKINSON'S INTIMATE LETTERS TO SUSAN HUNTINGTON DICKINSON, 1998

Because I Could Not Stop For Death

THE ORIGINAL POEM THE EDITED FORM OF THE POEM 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— BY EMILY DICKINSON 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 played At wrestling in a ring; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. We paused before a house that seemed A swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice but a mound. Since then 'tis centuries; but each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity. EDITED BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON and MABEL LOOMIS TODD—Dickinson’s friends and her first editors.

The speaker of the poem: the poet herself who calmly accepts the death The adressee: general audience The tone of the poem: the overall tone of this poem seems mixed; In the first 3 stanzas the tone: joyous and happy In the 4th stanza the tone: contemplative; the speaker is confused about her existence in the world In the last 2 stanzas, the tone: sad; the speaker perceives the reality and becomes calm when she realizes her destiny

The Theme of The Poem Death and life after death. Death is not to be feared since it’s a natural part of the endless cycle of nature. Thus, she welcomes death.

Paraphrase of The Poem Stanza 1: Because I could not stop for Death— “Because” helps convey the speaker’s message to the reader. Not ready to die He kindly stopped for me— Death arrived in its own good time

The Carriage held but just Ourselves— And Immortality. The journey to the grave begins in Stanza 1, when Death comes calling in a carriage in which Immortality is also a passenger.

Stanza 2: We slowly drove—He knew no haste The carriage drove along at an easy, unhurried pace, perhaps suggesting that death has arrived. Death is taking her calmly and slowly away. And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility— She stopped all her daily works for death’s politeness. In this way, she rewarded him by putting away her struggle and her freedom.

Stanza 3: We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess—in the Ring— On the way of her journey, the speaker viewed children playing in a ring on break time in School. We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain— She saw the fields of grain looking at her with great interest. We passed the Setting Sun— She percieved with her eyes that the sun is setting on the way of her journey. So, the day ended. DEATH seduces her into leaving behind everything that is familiar.

Stanza 4: Or rather—He passed Us— The speaker is uncertain about her existence in the world. Now, she feels that her life symbolised by the sun is passing by. Also death has no concept of time or earthly concerns and it’s the sun that is moving. The Dews drew quivering and chill— As night appeared to be falling, cold dew is settling in. Now, she feels the coldness on her dead body in the grave.

For only Gossamer, my Gown— My Tippet—only Tulle— Gossamer: very light thin cloth, Tulle : a thin, fine netting used for veils, scarfs, etcç Tippet :covering for the shoulders. The speaker dressed in a light gown and tippet made of tulle. She is not properly dressed for her journey. In the 19th century, when people died, they usually wore these kind of dresses and with this she figures out that she is dead.

Stanza 5: We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground— The speaker and death reached a house which was her own grave. She is now dead. The Roof was scarcely visible— The Cornice—in the Ground— She could hardly see the roof and the cornice because she is now buried in the earth. They are only visible above the pile. Here the roof is the flat tombstone and cornice is the casket. The top of this house is a casket 6 feet under.

Stanza 6: Since then—‘tis Centuries—and yet Feels shorter than the Day Centuries have passed since her death and naturally, centuries are longer than a single day. However, the poet feels centuries are shorter than the day realizing that she is dead. The speaker changes from past tense to present tense with the verb “feels”.

I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity— The word “surmised” means that the woman guessed, through intuition, the answer to the mystery of human existence. She is in shocking situation at the end of her journey. She looks at the heads of the horses and sees that they are pointed “toward Eternity,” and suddenly she remembers that Immortality has been sitting beside her all along.

The Physical Features of the Poem… Six stanza , each having four lines. This gives the poem unity and makes it easy to read. In each stanza, the first line has 8 syllabus, the second line has 6 syllabus, the third line has 8 syllabus, the fourth line has 6 syllabus.

Thus, the first and third lines of each stanza are in iambic tetrameter, The second and fourth lines are in iambic trimeter. The tenses used in the poem are, firstly, simple past and then simple present tense.

Letters of some words are in capital Letters of some words are in capital. She uses capitalized letters, such as; Or rather—He passed Us— The Dews drew quivering and chill— For only Gossamer, my Gown— My Tippet—only Tulle— Why does she capitalize so many words? German, a language Dickinson knew, typically capitalizes nouns. Capitalizing words gives additional emphasis.

Dickinson uses several dashes in this poem. We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess—in the Ring— We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain— We passed the Setting Sun— Why does Emily Dickinson use the dash? To indicate interruption or abrupt shift in thought. As a parenthetical device for emphasis. To keep a note of uncertainty or undecidability.

Stanza 1… Because I could not stop for Death— He kindly stopped for me— The Carriage held but just Ourselves— And Immortality. cckc: alliteration e,y: end ryhme el and el: internal rhyme Immortality :ryhmes with civility in Stanza 2, line 4

Stanza 2… We slowly drove—He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility— e: internal rhyme kn, n: alliteration hhhh: alliteration lll: alliteration

Stanza 3… ssss : alliteration rr : alliteration gg : alliteration We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess—in the Ring— We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain— We passed the Setting Sun— ssss : alliteration rr : alliteration gg : alliteration The repetition of “we passed” constitutes anaphora.

The Figures of Speech… Stanza 1… Because I could not stop for Death— Death : personified as a young gentleman and also the driver of the carriage. He kindly stopped for me— He politely comes to give the speaker a ride to eternity. These lines offer a more positive view of death than most people normally hold. Figuratively speaking, this poem is about one woman’s “date with death”.

The Carriage held but just Ourselves— Carriage: is the metaphor for three possible things; hearse : a long vehicle used for carrying the coffin at a funeral. life course chariot to heaven And Immortality. Immortality: metaphor for Destination= heaven Destination = eternal life A passenger in the carriage Immortality is also personified as a chaperon= an older woman who, on social occasions, took care of a young woman who was not married.

Stanza 2… We slowly drove—He knew no haste The drive symbolizes her leaving life. slow course of a funeral procession, slow ascent to heaven, And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, These lines create a visual image. The speaker gave up working. The dead body has no earthly work or play ahead. For His Civility—

Stanza 3… We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess—in the Ring— Children: symbolizes childhood stage of life, the innocence and leisure of childhood. Ring: an image and also symbol of eternity Death, Immortality, and the speaker leisurely traveling across the countryside is an image that presents the illusion of a woman who is sure about her decision to leave.

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain— We passed the Setting Sun— The fields of gazing grain: symbolizes maturity, productiveness and labour of adulthood. Nature is personified here using the verb “gaze”. The setting sun: symbolizes the end of life, an old one’s awareness of mortality. Sun is also a universal clock for the human being. The images of children and the field of gazing grain suggest futurity, that’s, they have a future while the setting sun is the messenger of death.

Stanza 4… Or rather—He passed Us— The Dews drew quivering and chill— Chill: symbolizes for the cold atmosphere of the grave. For only Gossamer, my Gown— My Tippet—only Tulle— These lines illustrates the reason for her coldness. Gossamer my gown : is a thin fabric of burial shroud and there is an allusion to spider and gown reminds us marriage.

Stanza 5… We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground— House: metaphor for grave. The speaker uses euphemism to describe grave. This is where her body will be housed while her soul journeys onward. The speaker describes the house as a “Swelling of the Ground”, an image of a fresh burial place.

The Roof was scarcely visible— The Cornice—in the Ground— Roof : symbolizes a flat tomstone or grave Cornice : metaphor for the casket : a box in which a dead body is buried.

Since then—‘tis Centuries—and yet Feels shorter than the Day Centuries shorter than the day : hyberbole I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity— In Myths and Motifs in Literature, the image of a person riding a horse is synonymous with power to control circumstances. The speaker doesn't have control over the situation, though. She rides inside the carriage unaware of where the horses are taking her. Death is the driver of the carriage, and she is the naïve passenger.

THE END 