because i c ould not stop death Essay -- essays research papers fc

Dickinsons Because I Could Not Stop For Death Collamer M Abbott. The Explicator. Washington Spring 2000.Vol. 58, Iss. 3 pg. 140, 4 pgs People Dickinson, Emily (1830-86) Author(s) Collamer M Abbott Document types receive Publication title The Explicator. Washington Spring 2000. Vol. 58, Iss. 3 pg. 140, 4 pgs Source type Periodical ISSN/ISBN 00144940 Text Word Count 1077 Document URL http//proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=000000056709394& ampereFmt=3&cli entId=43168&RQT=309&VName=PQD Abstract (Document Summary) Once one realizes that Emily Dickinson is talking about a stone burial vault in "Because I could non stop for Death," an image that expands the metaphoric power of the poem, one can appreciate more fully related imagery in her poems. The trope of the "House" in "Because I could not stop for Death" and "I died for Beauty" expands the symbolism immeasurably beyond the frowsty receptacle of an underground grave, to a hospitable dwelling. Ful l Text (1077 words) Copyright HELDREF PUBLICATIONS Spring 2000Because I could not stop for DeathHe kindly stopped for meThe Carriage held but just OurselvesAnd Immortality. We late drove-He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His CivilityWe passed the School, where Children strove At Recess-in the RingWe passed the Fields of Gazing GrainWe passed the Setting SunOr rather-He passed UsThe Dews drew quivering and chillFor only Gossamer, my GownMy Tippet-only TulleWe paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the GroundThe Roof was scarcely megascopicThe Cornice-in the GroundSince then--tis Centuries-and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses Heads were toward Eternity--* -Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinsons "Because I could not stop for Death" (no. 712) has aroused conflicting interpretations. For example, Clark Griffith in The extensive Shadow sees death as a "courtly lover," and "kindness" and "civilit y" he go fors "at face value" as describing "Death" as a "gentleman" (127-31). We can accept little at face value in Dickinson, and this is why she is so difficult to interpret. Griffith has a point, however. "Death," in this poem, may represent the funeral director, because in... ...ion of preservation for which these structures are used, not only of vegetables in a root cellar, but of roses, and of the "Immortality" of Dickinsons speaker for "Centuries" that "feel shorter than the day"-for "Eternity." The figure of the "House" in these poems expands the symbolism immeasurably beyond the moldy receptacle of an underground grave, to a hospitable dwelling. -COLLAMER M. ABBOTT, White River Junction, Vermont Footnote *Reprinted by permission of the publisher and the Trustees of Amherst College from The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Thomas H. Johnson, ed. Cambridge, Mass. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Pr ess, copyright 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983 by the President and fellows of Harvard College. Reference WORKS CITED Farr, Judith. The Passion of Entity Dickinson. Cambridge Harvard UP, 1992. Griffith, Clark. The Long Shadow Entity Dickinsons Tragic Poetry. Princeton Princeton UP, 1964. Johnson, Thomas H. The Complete Poems of Entity Dickinson. Boston, Little, 1955. All references to Dickinsons poems are to this edition. Miller, Ruth. The Poetry of Entity Dickinson Middletown Wesleyan UP, 1968.