Every poet has its own main theme that he or she carries along their whole literary life. Some of them focus on positive aspects of our life, such as love, family, friendships etc. However, there are those who see this world in not so bright colors. For example, such poets talk about grief, sorrow, loss etc. Emily Dickinson is one of such poets. She was a lady who focused on the negativity and quite upsetting things that happen in our life. The metaphor of death is common for both of her poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain”.
A poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is an example of a very great metaphor about death. Death seems to be a main character in this poem. The author is talking about the meeting with the death. It is a very mystic poem because she says that she did not want to meet him. However, he was insisting on the meeting:
“Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me” (Dickinson Web).
The personification of death is very significant in the poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. The author gives her death a male gender. She depicts it as a man. One may assume that she is doing so, because she may not trust man that much. Maybe she refers to a man that she met as a death for her because her feelings are not reciprocal. So this relationship is like death for her. Every encounter with him makes a little piece of her die inside. Sometimes feelings for men can be very tricky and they may cause a woman feel like she is dying because a woman is being overwhelmed with all the events that are going on in their relationship. However, when a reader moves on in the poem, he or she can see that death is probably a death:
“We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –“ (Dickinson Web).
Therefore, this excerpt shows that death is probably an image that we are used to see. It is a process when people are taken away. The author says that they have passed children and it is obvious that children rarely become the victims of the death. Therefore, they passed the playground and moved on. It is a poem that describes a person way out of the world. One is tired of being here and decides to leave. People always leave and it is necessary to understand that different things can happen. No one is responsible for anyone else’s choices in life. Therefore, Emily Dickinson is touching upon the metaphor of life and death in this poem. She really wants her reader to think about the world around and the actions that he or she is making and the consequences that they may cause.
Another poem by Emily Dickinson is “I Felt A Funeral in my Brain”. This poem carries the same theme as the poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. The topic of death is not leaving the author. She is putting a reader through the process of the funeral in her head. It is quite an interesting approach to the choice of topics.
The whole poem has a sound to it. She creates this image in the imagination of the reader. She states:
“Kept treading - treading - till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through –“ (Dickinson Web).
“A Service, like a Drum -
Kept beating - beating - till I thought” (Dickinson Web).
Now the author is referring to the drum and makes the image of the funeral in her reader’s mind even brighter. This poem describes all the events that can take place on the funeral. It really makes a reader’s mind very gloomy and unhappy. This poem does not have any positive emotions in it. The reader is likely to be depressed and unhappy after reading it. The metaphor of death is present in the poem and it is hard to get rid of the idea of death after you read the poem by Emily Dickinson.
The poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” by Emily Dickinson have many common features. First of all, both of the poems present the idea of death. This negative emotion which is present in the mind of the reader takes place while reading both of these pieces of poetry. Death is a common theme for the poems. The author seems to be very fond of this particular metaphor. It may be caused by different events that took place in her life or she just saw the world in a different color and with a very gruesome mood. Secondly, the structure of the poems is quite similar. We can see four lines in each stanza and she sticks to it in both poems.
In conclusion, it is necessary to state that Emily Dickinson uses the theme of death quite often in her poems. Her poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” are great examples to notice this theme in her poetry. She is a poet that knows how to demonstrate her emotions and feelings with the help of words. Death is a common metaphor for both of the poems and it makes both of the poems a little bit sad and causing negative emotions in the reader. Emily Dickinson is an author who definitely knows how to explain her thinking and connect her ideas to one topic of death. While reading her poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” it is important to understand that they may cause a wave of negative emotions and memories may come up when a reader goes through the poem. Therefore, such poetry may be not enjoyable for everyone. It is definitely aimed for a specific audience who has a special seeing and understanding of the world. Both of the poems represent her special mindset and seeing of the world around us. Therefore, a metaphor of death is one commonality between both of the poems.
Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. Web. Poetry Foundation. 8 July 2016.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47652
Dickinson, Emily. “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain”. Web. Poetry Foundation. 8 July 2016.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45706.
