Both poets present different attitudes towards death. Larkin has a more reflective view on death; death seems to be intimidating in his poems however he reflects on the ways in which it affects us all. In Ambulances he uses a vehicle as a subject matter in order to symbolise death metaphorically. Similarly to this Plath uses the subject matter of tulips in her poem ‘Tulips’ to represent the monotony of life and how they are disturbing her death. Plath’s ironic view on death helps her to explore how death has affected her personally, she does this by using a 3rd person point of view in her poem ‘Edge’ which describes her state and appearance after death.
In Emily Dickinson’s allegorical poem “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the narrator uses the extended metaphor of a funeral to describe the loss of a part of mind (most likely her sanity). By doing so, she seems to distance and isolate herself from the people and events that caused her loss, instead choosing to detail the progression of the funeral to parallel her descent into madness. This allegory is supported by different structural aspects of the poem, which include choices of words or groups of words to illustrate different aspects of the funeral and the emotional state of the narrator, as well as the overall form of the poem. While the words Dickinson uses are straightforward and easy enough to understand the first time around, on closer reading her word choices are very specific. In the first line, she writes, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” (1), which very clearly tells the reader that the funeral she is about to recount is internal and is being held for some part of her mind.
One of her poems in which romanticism stood out in was, I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died. The title may not seem very romantic to some, but what is between the lines shows that romanticism was at the center of Dickinson’s writing. She wrote this poem during the Civil War in 1862, but it was not published until 1896 in her third collection of poetry, Poems by Emily Dickinson (“I Heard a Fly Buzz—When I Died—”140). In line one; Dickinson makes it clear that the narrator of the poem is already dead and reflecting back on the experience of death. During the experience, their attention shifts from the thought of dying to the buzz of a common fly (“I Heard a Fly Buzz—When I Died—”140-141).
On that fateful night, Mrs. Peacock was witnessed leaving the scene of the crime, a short time before Mr. Body was found dead. While seemingly damning evidence, this has a simple explanation. Mrs. Peacock and Mrs. White both met with Mr. Body on the night of his death to discuss the future of their employment as maids in his household, as can be confirmed by the late Mr.
Eric Peuterbaugh English 19 September 2012 William Carlos Williams William’s “To Waken An Old Lady” In this poem the speaker is attempting to portray the life of a woman. More specifically, the poem is speaking of the later years and eventual death of an old lady. The title of this poem is a metaphor for the afterlife of an old lady. Her death leads to her awakening. The speaker uses, “a flight of small cheeping birds,” as a metaphor for old age (2-3).
Also mentioned in the story is the madness and death of Emily’s great- aunt, old lady Wyatt. The final death introduced in “A Rose for Emily” is the death of Homer Barron, a foreman and what was thought by everyone in the town to be Emily’s future husband (A Rose for Emily Themes 1). The numerous deaths in such a short story confirm that death is the main theme Faulkner wishes to convey to his readers. The death of Emily’s father and her inability to let him go foreshadows later events in Emily’s life. Faulkner shows us early on, without giving away the ending of this
Ellen Barker Dr. Kobeleva English 1102 October 20, 2010 Two Poems Concerning Death: Dickinson vs. Donne Death has been a popular topic discussed for many centuries because people want to know what happens to someone when they die. Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” and John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud” are two classic poems written in two different centuries that personifies death but take the readers on two different journeys to conclude to the same theme. Donne’s poem was written sometime between 1601 and 1610; whereas, Dickinson’s poem was written in 1863, which proves that the topic of death has been discussed, especially in literature, throughout many centuries. Both poems personify death to reveal the central meaning of their poem, but they personify death differently. The central meaning of both poems is death should not be feared for there is eternal life after this life.
Literature Comparison Paper – Faulkner vs. Poe The literary theme I chose for this paper is death. In this class, this particular theme stood out to me because the use of death usually corresponds with sadness and despair. It is a topic that is rarely used in conjunction with love, especially love of the dead, which in this case, is necrophilia. Using two different literary forms, I will demonstrate how the authors develop this theme in their respective works. The first piece of literature I will discuss is a short story by William Faulkner, entitled A Rose for Emily.
Just as she used time of day in The Violets, she uses seasons to symbolise a time in her life. Autumn symbolises her middle age. In this stanza she paints a grim picture of her innocence lost as she has become aware of age and death by saying “we stand, two friends of middle age by your parents’ grave in silence among the avenues of the dead.” The reason she has chosen to set this part of the poem at the grave of her friend’s parents because of her love for her own parents, and she deeply empathises with her friend’s loss. It is typical in her poetry that, when the present becomes too miserable, Harwood will transcend the current time and return to a happier memory. However in this poem she cannot find a happier memory and recalls a dream instead, “I dreamed once long ago, that we walked among day-bright flowers.” Her use of positive imagery such as the “day-bright flowers” lightens the mood and achieves the same effect of the memories in The Violets, as she stops thinking of death and causes the reader to forget the unhappy nature of the initial memory and be emotionally moved by the warmth of the following memory where she is “secure in my father’s arms.” In her poems The Violets, Father and Child and At Mornington Gwen Harwood demonstrates through her use of memories, her loss of innocence, the love for her parents and how quickly time moves.
The idea is communicated throughout the poem that not only people are beautiful, but also that nature possesses just as much beauty. The speaker uses metaphors to talk about death in his own perspective. The speaker discusses death from his own point of view, “Her hardest hue to hold” (2). By talking about her own death, the speaker shows the reality of death. The speaker shows the brutality of death.