Death

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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 —

This poem may be short, but it is very complex. I really enjoy Emily Dickinson's poetry very much- I have read some of her poetry before and really liked it. I like how she views the world differently than everybody else, especially in her time. But as I said before, you almost have to read the poem a few times through to really understand some of the things that she is talking about. For example, I didn't understand who 'he' was the first time through but after I read the poem a second time, I realized that 'he' was death. Things like that can be very confusing to many people. I actually just realized that the big building that they stopped at when she was in the carrige buggy thing acting like the "gateway" into heaven. Dickinson really has a way of making things more understandable by using every day things to describe hard-to-understand things, or things with deeper meanings that people in her time or still today might not understand. That's mainly the reason why I like Dickinson's poetry so much! 1202869305

I also think that the way that Emily Dickinson wrote was short but very complex. As Br. Tom said she lived by herself and far away from anything and maybe that would have made other people think that she was crazy or has problems. One of my favorite things about her poetry is the way that she can make people experience different thoughts on what she writes. The thing is that maybe she put so much thought into these poems which is why they are so amazing and are recognized by everyone. She uses a very complex way of making people see a big picture in their heads and imagining what they are reading. She is also very bad at detailing what she means when she says something random which is why maybe so many things pop up into our heads when we read something that she wrote. 1202954422hre

I think that the experience people have come through in their writing. Emily Dickinson is a very good poet, but she is also original. Like EWE said her poems are short but they have a lot of detail and a big message. We brought up today in class that Emily Dickinson writes about death a lot. And so far that seems to be true, but Br. Tom said not all of her poems are about death. I have a few ideas of why she would write about this... My first idea is that death is one of her biggest fears. Maybe that is the reason she adds it into her poems. But then I thought of another idea, Maybe she is trying to tell us and teach us that death is natural and that we shouldn't be afraid of it. This kind of makes since becuase in the poem " Because I could not stop for Death" she talks about death in a clam way. She doesnt make him seem mean, he is like a friend. If Emily Dickinson really was scared to death I dont think she would be talking about it in such a nice way. So I think i agree more with my second idea. I really like Emily Dickinson's poems because they are different. I cant wait until we get to read more by her 1202968125

I think it's very interesting how Dickinson choose's to write her poetry. It gives readers a chance to actually look into what she might've meant when it came the symbolic little things she held within her writings. I think there was so much behind what Dickinson was writing, and sadly we'll never know. All we have to go by is the poems, themselves. And, I've noticed how death is such a huge factor in her writing. I'm assuming that perhaps death was something she might've been fond of or interested in. Maybe, she was even scared about it and took all of her fear out on it by writing so intently about it. She portrayed death as such a mysterious thing. I've noticed in her poems, she'd either portray it is a positive escape, or a dark depressing occasion. So, I can't really say why or what Dickinson was exactly trying to overcome, but death was obviously a huge factor in her life. 1203097548

I think that there has to be some history behind why she writes about death. Something in her life must have affected her so greatly that she feels the need to talk about death in a great number of her poems. When she talks about death, i agree with hla when they say that she talks about it in a calm way. It is not like she is afraid of death but almost preparing her self for it. If so many close people to her have past away, it's almost a way for them to reconnect through death. Maybe because of the fact that she lived away from everyone was a way for people to point the finger and say that she was crazy or mad but i think that she was brave! 1203650114ape2

I agree wiht ape 2 becuase nobody on the planet just wakes up on day and decideds i am going to write about deatha nd despair. i feel there had to be a trigger at some point in history that made her like this. I am not trying to be mean or malicious here, but sometimes i feel that something was wrong with dickinson in the head because these poems to me are super weird. i also wonder how she had so much time to write thousands of poems especially in that time preiod where everyone had to work. It seemed weird for people to talk about death at the time because life was so short, and it seemed that if they did write and did have fretime they should have used it wisely and had fun not tlak and write about death. I am serious though something seems wrong with dickinson because these poems don't really make sense. Though sometimes the writing is good and makes very good points. I can understand these poems and they make sense and i like them but a thousand poems with alot of them being about death it seems weird for the time period.

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I also agree with ape2 that there has to be some history behind why Emily Dickinson's poems about death. I think that she must have had someone close to her die because no one just writes about death its not a fun thing to write about. If you look at other people who write about darkness, evil, and death like Edgar Allen Poe tragic things happend in his life, and thats why he writes about them. She does talk about death in a calm way and its not always that dark when she talks about death. In some of her poems she talks about how dieing is kind of like being freed. What do you guys think about this. 1203991079

This poem was my favorite poem that we read by Dickenson. I liked this poem because her idea of what it is like before death may be a significant way of showing the great things and events that took place in your lifetime. With the carriage of death on its way to pick her up, she will relive all her memories, favorite times and all the good things that once made her happy. It may be that all this is taking place in her head, but it may make the realization of death a little easier for her. Thougth the thought of death is never a good thought, having the thoughts of all the good things in your life may help. But when the carrage ride gets cold, she realizes that death to her is like a friend, and a home to where the ride is taking her. 1204847778