Death in American Literature
Essay 2
05/07/2012
Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe (writing a few decades prior to Dickinson) ask us to explore a consciousness that doubts and questions its own reflections. They employ death as the focal point of self-consciousness, the unknowable center around which our thoughts inevitably swirl (whether we are aware of it or not). Compare Dickinson’s poem #315 and Poe’s “Ligeia” on the topic.
Philosophy of the death
The theme of death has always been a presence in American writings – from early colonial diaries and through the nineteen century – because death was perceived to be ever present in people’s lives. Descended from the tradition of Puritan religion and also influenced by sentimentalism and Romantic views of death, Emily Dickinson presented a highly individualistic treatment of death in her poems. Emily Dickinson and Edgar Alan Poe are often compared and analyzed together because of their “death” moods in their works. Poe and Dickinson had many similarities in their lives: both had early losses that haunted throughout their lifetimes, and both dealt with their tragedies in destructive ways. Poe used alcohol and drugs; Dickinson used emotional and physical isolation. They were non-typical persons of their times, and both Poe and Dickinson created beauty with their poetry, putting images and pictures in the reader’s mind with pictures of nature and romance, capturing these emotions. But their “darker” side that makes them most similar attracts readers and encourages finding answers. When reading Dickinson and Poe, a reader deals with sorrow, loss, terror, and the final step – death. They conveyed a Gothic writing style that can pull the reader into their nightmares.
Dickinson and Poe introduce death as the focal point of self-consciousness, the unknowable center around which our thoughts inevitably swirl. They both used this concept and it was significant in their works. If we associate these writers with music, Emily Dickinson would be music of grief
05/07/2012
Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe (writing a few decades prior to Dickinson) ask us to explore a consciousness that doubts and questions its own reflections. They employ death as the focal point of self-consciousness, the unknowable center around which our thoughts inevitably swirl (whether we are aware of it or not). Compare Dickinson’s poem #315 and Poe’s “Ligeia” on the topic.
Philosophy of the death
The theme of death has always been a presence in American writings – from early colonial diaries and through the nineteen century – because death was perceived to be ever present in people’s lives. Descended from the tradition of Puritan religion and also influenced by sentimentalism and Romantic views of death, Emily Dickinson presented a highly individualistic treatment of death in her poems. Emily Dickinson and Edgar Alan Poe are often compared and analyzed together because of their “death” moods in their works. Poe and Dickinson had many similarities in their lives: both had early losses that haunted throughout their lifetimes, and both dealt with their tragedies in destructive ways. Poe used alcohol and drugs; Dickinson used emotional and physical isolation. They were non-typical persons of their times, and both Poe and Dickinson created beauty with their poetry, putting images and pictures in the reader’s mind with pictures of nature and romance, capturing these emotions. But their “darker” side that makes them most similar attracts readers and encourages finding answers. When reading Dickinson and Poe, a reader deals with sorrow, loss, terror, and the final step – death. They conveyed a Gothic writing style that can pull the reader into their nightmares.
Dickinson and Poe introduce death as the focal point of self-consciousness, the unknowable center around which our thoughts inevitably swirl. They both used this concept and it was significant in their works. If we associate these writers with music, Emily Dickinson would be music of grief