Research paper

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DONNE AND DICKINSON 2

Donne and Dickinson ‘Because I could not stop for Death’

Student’s Name: Camila Negrin

Course: 1102

Instructor’s Name: Rocio Guillen

Date: 03/15/2021

Although death has been commonly known as terrifying, John Donne and Emily Dickinson have come up with varying views of how natural and soft death is in their poems, ‘Death be not Proud’ and ‘Because I could not stop for Death’ respectively. The poets have used different rhetoric techniques such as imagery and symbolism to explain the nature of death. Imagery is a figurative speech style where the writer uses vivid images to explain different phenomena. Symbolism on the other hand is using symbolic images to explain ideas or emotions. Theme in a poem refers to the main point being portrayed. In our case the theme is death and its inevitable nature. Both Donne and Dickinson have used imagery and symbolism to represent death as a natural, inevitable stage insisting that we should not fear death because it connects us to another new life.

Following the first line of Donne’s poem, through personification, he warns death against being proud for it is powerless. Donne attributes death the character of pride; a human feature (Donne, line 1, 2004). Although he portrays death as being inescapable, he insists that it has no power over man and is just a transitional stage to an eternal life. Dickinson also talks of death as being unescapable in her first and second lines; ‘because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me’ (Dickinson, line 1 & 2, 1960). She shows how unstoppable death is and even when we fail to go for it, it still comes for us. Here she has used personification; attributing death the human character of riding a carriage. Like Donne, Dickinson clearly shows how inevitable death is and that it is a stage that everyone will have to go through as we all went through birth and growth. The carriage represents the whole journey of life from birth to death.

In addition to expressing death as a natural occurrence, both authors have portrayed it as something that should not be feared. Dickinson portrays death as a kind gentleman (Dickinson line 2, 1960) who takes her off her life to a house whose roof is on the ground. By this she uses symbolism to express her grave as a house whose roof is on the ground representing an end to the life above the ground. Through expressing death as a kind gentleman on a carriage, the poem convinces the audience to stop fearing death or viewing it as being cruel. She has also personified immortality (Dickinson, line 3, 1960) and expressed familiarity with the idea of death therefore causing the audience to feel more at ease with this topic. Donne on the other hand defies the thought that death should feel boastful and strong but uses symbolism to portray its ease by expressing death in terms of sleep or a good rest (Donne, 13, 2004). Comparing it to a good rest or sleep helps reduce the tension and fear of death from the audience. He adds that one time death will stop being the most feared experience and it will die itself; in eternity (Donne, 14, 2004).

Death is a transitional stage to the next life. Both poems have managed to portray death as a pathway to eternal life. In her 3rd and 4th line, Dickinson talks of the carriage having just her and eternity (Dickinson, line 3 & 4, 1960). Although it is never clear and the poem has not made it any clearer about where people go after death, at least Dickinson and Donna have both mentioned the idea eternity in their poems. In her last stanza, Dickinson explains of how it has been centuries since the day she realized that the horses were headed towards the direction of eternity (Dickinson, line 24, 1960). This means as much as she died, she still recognizes there is eternity and the fact that she can remember and count years, represents hope for life after death. Donne also brings out the idea of death being a transition towards eternity. ‘One short sleep past, we wake eternally’ (Donne, line 13, 2004). This represents eternity as being just a sleep away from this life. He adds that in eternity, death will die; meaning the idea of death and the fear it brings about will disappear at eternity having completed its intended purpose. Eternity here symbolizes the end of death and a beginning of another life.

In conclusion, both Donne and Dickinson, through the help of rhetoric techniques have managed to portray death as a natural, inevitable stage of life at the same time insisting that there is no need to fear it and that it should be appreciated as a pathway to eternity. Normally, death is seen as a taboo and less likely will people talk of it. However, Donne and Dickinson have decided to change this mentality and represent the ease of death by expressing it as a pathway to eternity and a natural, inevitable stage in life. In addition, Donne does not only reduce the fear of death to the audience but also gives death reasons as to why it should not be proud. He concludes by saying that one day death will come to an end too: in eternity. Dickinson concludes by explaining how it feels in eternity; she talks of centuries which feel like a day.

References

Dickinson, E. (1960). Because I could not stop for death. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, 223-24.

Donne, J., & Adcock, F. (2004). 'Death be Not Proud'. ProQuest LLC.