Emily Dickinsons Because I could not stop for death :: essays research papers

Emily Dickinsons "Because I could not stop for death" and " I heard a strike down buzz when I died", are remarkable masterpieces that exercises mentation between the known and the unknown. Critics call Emily Dickinson"s poems masterpieces with strange " haunting powers". In Dickinsons poems " Because I could not stop for death" and " I heard a fly buzz when I died" are created less than a year apart by the same poet. Both poems talk about death and the impression in the shadowiness and symbols that exudes creativity. One might undoubtedly agree to eerie, haunting, if not frightening, tone in Dickinsons poem. Dickinson uses controlling adjectives-" late and "passed"-to create a tone that seems rather placid. For example, "We slowly drove- He knew no haste/ ...We passed the school.../ We passed the setting sun," sets a slow quiet, calm, and dreamy atmosphere (5, 9, 11, 12). "One thing that impresses us," one au thor wrote, " is the remarkable placidity, or composure, of its tone" (Greenberg 128). The tone in Dickinson"s poems will put its readers ideas on a unifying track heading towards a buggling atmosphere. Dickinsons masterpieces lives on complex ideas that are evoked through symbols, which carry her readers through her poems. Besides the literal significance of the "school," Gazing Grain," "Setting Sun," and the "Ring" much is gathered to complete the poems central idea. Emily brought to light the mysteriousness of the lifescycle. Ungraspable to many, the cycle of oneslife, as symbolized by Dickinson, has three stages and then a final stage of eternity. These three stages are recognized by Mary N. Shawn as follows "School, where children strove" (9). Because it deals with an important symbol, the "Ring" this start-off scene is perhaps the most important . One author noted that "the children, at recess, do not play as one wou ld expect them to precisely strive" (Monteiro 20). In addition, at recess the children performed a venerable ritual, perhaps known to all, in a ring. This ritual is called "Ring-a-ring-a-roses," and is recited Ring-a ring-a-roses, A pocket full of posies sleek over hush hush hush Were all tumble down. (qtd. In Greenaway 365) Monteiro made the discovery and concluded that "For indeed, imbedded in their ritualistic game is a reminder of the somebody stakes that the poet talks about elsewhere" (21). On this invited journey, one vividly sees the "Children" playing, laughing, and singing.