Emily Dickinson

emily dickinson (1830-1886)

• She received college education.
• She lived a leisure and simple life and kept single all her life. She enjoyed gardening and writing and tried to avoid visitors.
• She wrote 1775 poems, but only seven of them published in her life time
• Before her death, she asked her sister to burn all her poems. Instead, her sister published them. .
• Before her death, she asked her sister to burn all her poems. However, her sister published those beautiful poems.
• Before her death, she asked her sister to burn all her poems. However, her sister published those beautiful poems.
• Before her death, she asked her sister to burn all her poems. Instead, her sister published them.
• Before her death, she asked her sister to burn all her poems. However, her sister published those beautiful poems.
• Before her death, she asked her sister to burn all her poems. However, her sister published those beautiful poems.

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 –

poem analysis

• The angel of death, in the image of a kind person, comes in a carriage for the sake of Immortality and the poet. while the setting sun, for old age.
• To show my politeness to god of death, I gave up my work and my enjoyment of life as well; I give up my life.

3: The journey of our carriage implied the experience of human life; school implies time of childhood; the fields of gazing grain, for youth and adulthood; while the setting sun, for old age.


4: Probably we may say the sun sets before we reach the destination---the night falls, death arrives. I felt a fear and chilly after death, for my shroud is thin and my scarf too light. Despite the description of “death”, the usual gloomy and horrifying atmosphere is lightened by the poetess with the elegantly fluttering clothing she describes.

5: Several centuries had passed since the arrival of death upon me. However, I felt it is shorter than a day. On that day I suddenly realized that death is the starting point for eternity, and the carriage is heading towards it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxsWI1J45OM

Untitled Slide