Poems Of Emily Dickinson

1. Poems Of Emily Dickinson

2. Emily was indulged in her "eccentricity" by her family. • She was a profound and intelligent poet, and her preoccupation with her writing seemed a harmless enough outlet for her peculiarities. • Dickinson neither completed many poems nor prepared them for publication. • She wrote her drafts on scraps of paper, grocery lists, and the backs of recipes and used envelopes.

3. Benjamin Newton was one of the first people to recognise the poetic capacities of Emily, and encouraged her to write poetry. • The works of other poets, in particular Emerson, were important for Emily Dickinson in opening up spiritual ideas beyond the strict Calvinism. • Emily had innovative views and unorthodox beliefs, but she often doubted her own convictions; thus influences of Emerson and other poets were of great importance.

4. Writers contemporary to her had little or no effect upon the style of her writing. • In her own work she was original and innovative, but she did draw upon her knowledge of the Bible, classical myths, and Shakespeare for allusions and references in her poetry. • She also used contemporary popular church hymns, transforming their standard rhythms into free-form hymn meters.

5. Dickinson'spoemswerewrittenusingunusualmeterandrhymeschemesthatwentagainsttheestablishednorms, but shecontinuedtowrite her poems her waythroughout her life time. • She had an uncanny sense of expressionwhen it cametothesubjects of mortality, loveandhope. • Dickinsonfoundirony, ambiguity, andparadoxlurking in thesimplestandcommonestexperiences. • Thematerialsandsubjectmatter of her poetryarequiteconventional.

6. Her poems are filled with robins, bees, winter light, household items, and domestic duties. • These materials represent the range of what she experienced in and around her father's house. • She used them because they constituted so much of her life and, more importantly, because she found meanings latent in them. • Though her world was simple, it was also complex in its beauties and its terrors.

7. Her lyricpoemscapturesimpressions of particularmoments, scenes, ormoods, andshecharacteristicallyfocusesupontopicssuch as • nature, • love, • immorality, • death, • faith, • doubt, • pain, • andthe self.

8. EmilyDickinsonwrotemorethan 1700 poems in her lifetime, • Only seven of Dickinson'spoemswerepublishedduring her lifetime, • Earlyeditors of her poemstooktheliberty of makingthemmoreaccessibletonineteenth-centuryreaderswhenseveralvolumes of selectedpoemswerepublished in the 1890s. • Thepoemsweremadetoappearliketraditionalnineteenth-century verse byassigningthemtitles, rearrangingtheirsyntax, normalizingtheirgrammar, andregularizingtheircapitalizations.

9. Not until 1955, when Thomas Johnson published Dickinson's complete works in a form that attempted to be true to her manuscript versions, did readers have an opportunity to see the full range of her style and themes. • Her work received critical acclaim and popular success.

10. SELECTED WORKS: • POEMS BY EMILY DICKINSON, 1890 (ed. by T.W. HigginsandMabelLoomisTodd) • POEMS: SECOND SERIES, 1891 • POEMS: THIRD SERIES, 1896 • POEMS OF A LIFETIME, 1914 • SELECTED POEMS, 1924 (ed. byConradAiken) • THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1955 (ed. by Thomas H. Johnson) • THE LETTERS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1958 • THE COMPLETE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1960 (ed. by Thomas H. Johnson) • THE MANUSCRIPT BOOKS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1981 (2 vols., ed. byRalph W. Franklin) • NEW POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, 1993 (ed. by William H. Shurr) • OPEN ME CAREFULLY: EMILY DICKINSON'S INTIMATE LETTERS TO SUSAN HUNTINGTON DICKINSON, 1998

11. Because I Could Not Stop For Death

12. Because I could not stop forDeath—He kindlystoppedforme—TheCarriageheld but justOurselves—AndImmortality.Weslowlydrove—He knew no hasteAnd I had put awayMylaborandmyleisuretoo,For His Civility—WepassedtheSchool, whereChildrenstroveAt Recess—in the Ring—WepassedtheFields of GazingGrain—WepassedtheSetting Sun—Orrather—He passed Us—TheDewsdrewquiveringandchill—ForonlyGossamer, myGown—MyTippet—only Tulle—Wepausedbefore a HousethatseemedA Swelling of theGround—TheRoofwasscarcelyvisible—TheCornice—in theGround—Since then—‘tisCenturies—and yetFeelsshorterthantheDayI firstsurmisedtheHorses' HeadsWeretowardEternity—

13. Thespeaker of thepoem: thepoetherselfwhocalmlyacceptsthedeath Theadressee: general audience Thetone of thepoem: theoveralltone of thispoemseemsmixed • Inthefirst 3 stanzasthetone: joyousandhappy • Inthe 4th stanzathetone: contemplative; thespeaker is confusedabout her existence in theworld • Inthelast 2 stanzas, thetone: sad; thespeakerperceivestherealityandbecomescalmwhensherealizes her destiny

14. The Theme of The Poem • Death and life after death. • Death does not come at a suitable time therefore the speaker wants to reveal experiences throughout different periods in life, which happened many centuries ago, going through the different stages in her life, now she is capable to resolve her past and prolong onto death peacefully.

15. Paraphrase of The Poem Stanza 1: Because I could not stop forDeath— • Not readytodie He kindlystoppedforme— • Deatharrived in itsowngood time TheCarriageheld but justOurselves— AndImmortality. • Thejourneytothegravebegins in Stanza 1, whenDeathcomescalling in a carriage in whichImmortality is also a passenger.

16. Stanza 2: Weslowlydrove—He knew no haste • Thecarriagedrovealong at an easy, unhurriedpace, perhapssuggestingthatdeath has arrived. Death is taking her calmlyandslowlyaway. And I had put away Mylaborandmyleisuretoo, For His Civility— • Shestoppedall her dailyworksfordeath’spoliteness. Inthisway, sherewardedhimbyputtingaway her struggleand her freedom.

17. Stanza 3: WepassedtheSchool, whereChildrenstrove At Recess—in the Ring— • On theway of her journey, thespeakerviewedchildrenplaying in a ring on break time in School. WepassedtheFields of GazingGrain— • Shesawthefields of grainlooking at her withgreatinterest. WepassedtheSetting Sun— • Shepercievedwith her eyesthatthe sun is setting on theway of her journey. So, thedayended.

18. Stanza 4: Orrather—He passed Us— • Thespeaker is uncertainabout her existence in theworld. Now, shefeelsthat her life symbolisedbythe sun is passingby. TheDewsdrewquiveringandchill— • As nightappearedto be falling, colddew is settling in. ForonlyGossamer, myGown— MyTippet—only Tulle— • Thespeakerdressed in a lightgownandcapeortippetmade of tulle which is a kind of thin, transparent, openmaterial. Inthe 19th century, whenpeopledied, theyusuallyworethesekind of dressesandwiththisshefiguresoutthatshe is dead.

19. Stanza 5: We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground— • The speaker and death reached a house which was her own grave. She is now dead. The Roof was scarcely visible— The Cornice—in the Ground— • She could hardly see the roof and the cornice because she is now buried in the earth. They are only visible above the pile.

20. Stanza 6: Since then—‘tisCenturies—and yet Feels s horterthantheDay • Centurieshavepassed since her deathandnaturally, centuriesarelongerthan a singleday. However, thepoetfeelscenturiesareshorterthanthedayrealizingthatshe is dead I firstsurmisedtheHorses' Heads WeretowardEternity— • Theword “surmised” meansthatthewomanguessed, throughintuition, theanswertothemystery of humanexistence. She is in shockingsituation at theend of her journey. • Shelooks at theheads of thehorsesandseesthattheyarepointed “towardEternity,” andsuddenlysheremembersthatImmortality has beensitting beside her allalong.