Abstract:DeathandeternityarethemajorthemesinmostofEmilyDickinson’s
poems.“BecauseIcouldnotstopfordeath”isoneofherclassicpoems.
Throughtheanalysis,thisessayclarifiesinfiniteconceptionsbythe
dialecticalrelationshipbetweenrealityandimagination,theknownand
ttellswhat’seternityinDickson’seyes.
Keywords:death,eternity,finite,infinite
Introduction
EmilyDickinson（1830-1886）,theAmericanbest-knownfemalepoet，was
yDickinson’s
poems,aswellasWaltWhitman’s,wereconsideredasapartof"American
renaissance";ofthemrejected
owever
nething,Whitmanseems
tokeephiseyeonsocietyatlarge;Dickinsonexplorestheinnerlife
easWhitmanis"national"inhisoutlook,Dickinson
is"regional"
EmilyDickinsonwasborninAmherst,Massachusetts,onDecember10,1830.
Shelivedalmostherentirelifeinthesametown(muchofitinthesame
house),traveledinfrequently,nevermarried,andinherlastyearsnever
ewascalled"vestalofAmherst".
Andyetdespitethisnarrow--somemightsay--pathologicallyconstricted-outward
experience,shewasanextremelyintelligent,highlysensitive,anddeeply
passionatepersonwhothroughoutheradultlifewrotepoems(addupto
around2000)thatwerestartlinglyoriginalinbothcontentandtechnique,
poemsthatwouldprofoundlyinfluenceseveralgenerationsofAmericanpoets
andthatwouldwinherasecurepositionasoneofthegreatestpoetsthat
Americahaseverproduced.
$False$
Dickinson’ssimplyconstructedyetintenselyfelt,acutelyintellectual
writingstakeastheirsubjectissuesvitaltohumanity:theagoniesand
ecstasiesoflove,sexuality,theunfathomablenatureofdeath,thehorrors
ofwar,Godandreligiousbelief,theimportanceofhumor,andmusings
onthesignificanceofliterature,music,andart.
EmilyDickinsonenjoystheKingJamesVersionoftheBible,aswell
asauthorssuchasEnglishWRTERSWilliamShakespeare,JohnMilton,Charles
Dickens,ElizabethBarrettBrowning,GeorgeEliot,andThomasCarlyle.
Dickinson’searlystyleshowsthestronginfluenceofWilliamShakespeare,
BarrettBrowning,ScottishpoetRobertBrowning,andEnglishpoetsJohn
ickinsonreadEmersonappreciatively,who
becameapervasiveand,inasense,orge
hernotes,"HersolefunctionwastotesttheTranscendentalist
ethicinitsapplicationtotheinnerlife".
1“death”inEmilyDickinson’spoets
Foraslongashistoryhasbeenrecordedandprobablyformuchlonger,
thoseofuswho
haveaccepteddeathgraciously,haveatleastinsomeway,---feared,
dreaded,vepersonifieddeath--
asanevildoerdressedinallblack,itspresenceswoopsdownuponusand
chokesthelifefromusasthoughitweresomestreetmurderwithmalicious
nreality,weknowthatdeathisnotthechaoticgrimreaper
erthanbeingacruelandunfairprankster
ofevil,deathisanunavoidableandnaturalpartoflifeitself.
DeathandimmoralityisthemajorthemeinthelargestportionofEmily
Dickinson’reoccupationwiththesesubjectsamountedtoan
inson’s
manyfriendsdiedbeforeher,andthefactthatdeathseemedtooccuroften
inson’s
isnotsheerdepictionofdeath,butanemphaticoneofrelationsbetween
lifeanddeath,deathandlove,hisamust-be-crossed
idnotfearit,becausethearrivalinanotherworldisonly
throughthegraveandtheforgivenessfromGodistheonlywaytoeternity
[1]