Comparing Because I Have A Rendezvous With Death

Emily Dickinson is one of the most important American poets of the 1800s. Dickinson, who was known to be quite the recluse, lived and died in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, spending the majority of her days alone in her room writing poetry. What few friends she did have would testify that Dickinson was a rather introverted and melancholy person, which shows in a number of her poems where regular themes include death and mortality. One such poem that exemplifies her “dark side” is, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. In this piece, Dickinson tells the story of a soul’s transition into the afterlife showing that time and death have outright power over our lives and can make what was once significant become meaningless.

Despite being these poems being written nearly thirty years apart, there are many similarities in the two works. Each poem makes use of a tone in which the narrator ponders death in a way that does not seem afraid or bitter. In "I Have a Rendezvous With Death," the narrator considers life in a peaceful manner. He does not worry about his rendezvous with death; he welcomes it. Similarly, in "Night Funeral in Harlem," the narrator does not fear death.

In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.

In Patricia Engle’s review of Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”, Engle argues that Dickinson’s poem employs Death as a lover who takes whomever is reading the poem to “heaven”, if you will. She also posits the idea that our eventual death is just a state of mind and we do not all follow the same path to reach Death. The poem, at its core, is about the visceral fear of Death and not wanting to die. I disagree with Engle’s assessment. Engle’s take on Dickinson’s poem is an inaccurate one because it explains that Dickinson does not seem to be afraid of death, that Dickinson is very spiritually aware and even accepting of her eventual fate, and that Dickinson, or the speaker of the poem, has accepted death so he has “stopped” for her.

"Because I could not stop for Death" is one of the most puzzling poems Emily Dickinson wrote. “Scholars who stress these subversive qualities note that this poet appropriated conventional language, images, and themes and twisted them, disrupting their usual meaning.” (Dunlap, 2) In this poem, she describes death in hindsight. She commentates the experience play by play, chronicling her actions and vision from the time he arrived to pick her up in his carriage to her final resting place. In the poem, the impression of death is not portrayed as scary or daunting, but rather more as tranquil and peaceful. In the poem, death took on the image of a person. Through personification, he was portrayed more like a male suitor picking up his companion for a date. Dickinson guided us to believe that the speaker in the poem is talking and describing her journey with death to us from beyond the grave. She leads us to believe that the speaker is ghost-like or a spirit who has accepted her death and content with her boundless eternity. It is not surprising that “Because I could not stop for Death” incites so much controversy in that it presents complex and multi-dimensional concepts of both life and death, both of which are too mysterious to be fully expressed. In “Because I could not stop for Death”, Dickinson does personify both death and Immortality as people, and presents the process of dying as eternal life. However in a bizarre twist, she also personifies life. She brings

First, Emily Dickinson’s poetry1 continuously rejected society’s perception of death. As death approaches, the one entering eternity and those nearby are often scared

Two literary pieces, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by, Dylan Thomas and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by, Emily Dickinson are both poems that discuss the topic of death. While there are some similarities and comparisons between the two poems, when it comes to the themes, both poets writing styles are quite different from one another which makes each poem unique. Thomas and Dickinson both use identical figurative language devices and other literature symbolisms as they explain their main themes which contrasts the differences to the concept of death. These distinct variations between poems are apparent in both the form, and how the choice of words is used in the poems. Both of the authors have presented two very different ideas on death. The poems are well distinguished literature devices, they share minor similarities and differences between each other and how they present the meaning of death to a toll.

Death is the concern in of both Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Goodnight,” and Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. Moreover, while these two poets use similar themes in their works, the execution and tone of their respective pieces could not be more antithetical. More to the point, Thomas’ poem paints death and oblivion as something deserving of fear and dread, and even though dying is an immutable fact in our world, man will always feel the need to have, “Rage, Rage against the dying of the light”. However, Dickinson does not let the fear of death consume her, so much so, that in her poem she embraces death as nothing less than a gentleman, who in her own words “kindly stopped for me”. At the end of it all, Dylan Thomas’ poem is a loud boisterous proclamation about the desperation of man to hold on to life and to leave something behind but ultimately realizing they cannot, while Dickinson’s is a quiet reflection about the cyclical nature of life and death and the peace the end brings.

Emily Dickinson stands out from her contemporaries by discussing one of man's inevitable fears in an unconventional way: death. In two of her poems, "I heard a Fly buzz-when I died" and "Because I could not stop for Death," Dickinson expresses death in an unforeseen way. Although Dickinson portrays death in both of these poems, the way that she conveys the experience is quite different in each poem. Dickinson reveals death as a grim experience, with no glimpse of happiness once one's life is over in "I heard a Fly buzz-when I died." In contrast to this, Dickinson consoles the reader by characterizing death as a tranquil journey in "Because I could not stop for Death." However, despite this difference, Dickinson seduces and catches

Her family was well known in Massachusetts since her father was a lawyer and her grandfather was one of the college’s founders. However, Emily was quite the opposite since she was reclusive and withdrew from almost all social life in Amherst. She was not known during her time, but she wrote uplifting verses that touch the heart that are now famous (Michael Mayer, 754). In the poem “Because I could not stop for Death” the speaker dies many years ago, which is reflecting back to her life and the day she died. Thus the theme is that although death is a scary thing, its a soothing process to enter the afterlife. The literary elements that contribute to the theme are personification, imagery, and extended metaphor.

Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is a remarkable masterpiece that exercises thought between the known and the unknown. Critics call Emily Dickinson’s poem a masterpiece with strange “haunting power.”

Two of Emily Dickinson’s poems, “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death” are both written about life’s stopping point, death. Although the poems are written by the same poet, both poems view death in a different manner. Between the two poems, one views death as having an everlasting life while the other anticipates everlasting life, only to realize it does not exist. While both poems are about death, both poems also illustrate that the outcome of death is a mysterious experience that can only be speculated upon with the anticipation of everlasting life.

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” death is approached as a an easy topic to talk about.

Emily Dickinson was an American poet born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst Massachusetts. It was only upon her death on May 15, 1886 that her family discovered thousands of her poems. One of her most prolific piece of work is “Because I could not stop for death” published in 1860 the poem uses personification, symbols and metaphors to highlight her concern and point of view on death as well as life. In the poem, Dickinson speaks about death in a blithe way setting the overall tone in a calm manner. The poem uses imagery and her ironic tone to give the message that death should not be feared, but instead one should make the best out of life.

Both the “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson contain age-old themes. These themes focus on inevitable feelings and events of life; love and death. Although both “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” contain the two themes, they differ greatly in how they are presented and what they represent. In “Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” a husband traveling away from his wife is consoling her.