Emily Dickinson's Essay: Lies, Death, And Mask

Bashiri 1

Sara Bashiri
Professor Steven Axelrod
English 127A
10 December 2015 Lies, Death & Beauty In Emily Dickinson?s ?I died for beauty but was scarce?, Edwin Arlington Robinson?s ?Richard Cory?, and Paul Dunbar?s ?We Wear the Mask? share common themes of lies, beauty, and death. All authors attain a different form and style of writing; however they all mutually share the idea that physical appearance masks the internal. That despite your astonishing looks you can still be suffering internally. Physical appearance is temporary for death is inevitable. Appearances can be deceiving. Dickinson, Robinson, and Dunbar employ a recurring theme of the inevitability of death, lies, and the value of beauty. Emily Dickinson?s ?I died for
by Edwin Arlington Robinson is an interesting poem that reveals the lies that beauty can entail. Richard Cory was a ?gentlemen from sole to crown, clean favored, and imperially slim.? Despite all his good looks he was also extremely wealth, all dreamed to be him. He was an object of desire and affection garnering attention everywhere he went. Someone who had so much going for them took their own life. One should be judged by the value and strength of their character not based on material objects they possess or by their looks. He associated power and strength together. Richard was not ostentatious and spoke with partially elevated diction, ?and yes- he was rich, richer than a king? he was the perfect man with high wealth. There is great irony in the line, ?In fine, we thought he was everything, To make us wish that we were in his place.? He was such a matter of envy that people were willingly to trade places with him to live is life. How can a man so charming and successful be compelled to commit suicide? There must have been something pitiful and miserable about him. His suicide reveals to people what should be valuable to some people. Others have the support of one another, underestimating the power of connection which is denied. If it weren?t for his money or looks maybe he could have saved himself of fate if he made acquaintances with the town people and gained support. However, his loneliness followed him to his death. A man who was worshipped by the town
there is the same idea of false happiness as expressed in ?Richard Cory?. Physical appearance is always deceiving. Happiness and lies are correlated together. In this poem there is a generated justification of two images that develop a double consciousness. ?We wear the mask that grins and lies It hides our cheeks and shade our eyes? just like Richard Cory, the speaker in this poem is faking a smile through his pain. ?This debt we pay to human gile-? there is a sacrifice to pay for pain. He is undergoing a system of oppression. Deception and lies are ingrained in how humans interact. As an African American living through a time of oppression he can?t freely express how he feels. He is intact by his own emotions. Despite wearing the mask his pain is internally real. Like the prior speakers in the other poems he feels suffering that can?t be verbally expressed. His mask hides everything, there is a harsh reality behind it. The speaker?s pain and suffering is authentic. Lies and deceit can not be alleviated because it is a part of human nature. I believe that the speaker is suffering in expressing himself during a time of harsh