Emily Dickinson's Obsession with Death

Emily Dickinson's Obsession with Death

Death is a major theme in the works of Emily Dickinson. The poems of Emily Dickinson show an obsession with death. The poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death,"This is oneof the best of those poems in which Emily triumphs over death by acceptiong it,calmly,civilly, as befits a gentlewomen receiving the attentions of a gentleman" (Sewall 125).

In one of her poems "Because I Could not stop for Death," death is a portrayed as a gentleman who comes to give the speaker a ride to eternity. "The content of death in the poem eludes explicit definition" (sewall 22). Throughout the poem, Dickinson develops her unusual interpretation of death and, by doing so, composes a poem full of imagery that is both unique and thought provoking. Through Dickinson's precise style of writing, effective use of literay elements, and vivid imagery, she creates a poem that can be interpreted in many different ways. The precise form that Dickinson uses throughout "Because" help convey her message to the reader. Yvor Winters says, "The poem is a imminence of death-its is a poem of depature from life, and intensely conscuous leave-talking" (33). A way Dickinson makes death a more agreeable subject for the reader is in lines 13 and 14, she writes, "We paused before a house that seemed - / a swelling in the ground, which compares the grave to a house. Dickinson uses the final literary element of symbolism to help the reader to undestand the

meaning that she is trying to convey. Symbols give the poem a deeper outlook on death, eternity,