Comparing The Theme Of Death In Emily Dickinson's Mid-Term Break
The poets Heaney and Dickinson both present an image of death through the use of a first-person perspective in the poems “Mid-Term Break”, and “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”. Although both use a narrative style, they create a contrasting impression of death, with one portraying cruelty and suddenness, while the other is calming, polite and an inevitable part of life. In “Mid-Term Break”, a range of techniques such as strong symbolic images, the feeling of isolation, and a detached manner is used to convey death and grief, evoking sympathy from the reader. Contrastingly, death is presented as gentlemanly through the use of various techniques, including a retrospective and narrative style.
Through the use of contrasts between expectations and reality, “Mid-Term Break” portrays death as cruel and sudden.
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The iambic meter used through out the poem sets a slow, unhurried pace, which reflects the journey that the persona takes, and creates a calming sense around the character of death. Dickinson’s use of hyphens also results in a sense that the lines are being carried on, with no definite pauses or stops. Combined with the uniform quatrains, the slow pace of the poem, and no sudden or quick changes within the poem, death is given a calming persona. The use of the adverb “kindly” and the noun “Civility” give the impression that death is gentlemanly and polite. Capital letters are used for all the nouns as well, giving them the importance of places or people, which is what capital letters are often used for. In turn, this makes it seem as though each of the nouns have their own personalities and are all guiding the persona to death, making death itself seem soothing, compassionate, and comforting. Dickinson implies that death should be welcomed and accepted, instead of being feared or dreaded. The journey to death itself is also relieving rather than
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1372 Words | 6 PagesTheodore Roethke’s “Elegy for Jane” (1953) and Richard Willbur’s “The Pardon” (1950) accurately present the theme of death. In particular, on the one hand, Theodore Roethke’s “Elegy for Jane” offers an insight into the speaker’s memories for one of his students, who died, through the use of a melancholic tone, vivid imagery and figures of speech. On the other hand, Richard Willbur’s “Τhe Pardon” draws our attention to a young boy, who is traumatized by the death of his dog and his inability to confront death later in his life, through the creation of a frightening tone and the use of poetic imagery and figures of speech, as my analysis aims to show. The tone that prevails in “Elegy for Jane” by Theodore Roethke is melancholic.
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846 Words | 4 PagesHer different way of thinking when it comes to mortality and the afterlife, really adds to this poem when realising Dickinson did not live in a time or culture which allowed for much open-mindedness. Expressing these thoughts through this poem shows her courageous and unique character. It also makes the reader think about their own perspective on death and the afterlife. It is way too easy to just accept the common ideas without giving it any proper thought. The reader is urged to be as brave as Dickinson and dared to think individually, however scary the subject
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