Critical Analysis of Emily Dickinson's There's been a death, in the opposite house - Research Paper Example

“There’s been a Death in the Opposite House” Emily Dickinson, a renowned poet, has dealt with one of the major matters that concern an individual: death. In her poem entitled “There’s been a death, in the opposite house”, she highlights several ethical and social issues when it comes to death that can still be seen up to the modern times. At the same time, she experimented with expression in her manner of writing poetry which is considered to be an attempt to free poetry from its conventional restraints as she has chosen to highlight death being a spectacle than a mournful situation (Poetry Foundation).  In an overall perspective, death has been the main theme of the poem. There are several implications on the part of the author wherein there are strong assertions about the wrong attitude of people whenever they deal with death in a general sense. There are several lines in the poem that denote death aside from the first line. The other lines that involve the presence of a minister, doctor and milliner strongly denoted the occurrence of death (The Literature Network). However, there is a deeper meaning with the presence of such figures. The presence of the minister connotes there is a need to perform the final rite for the dead since it conforms to the catholic tradition. There is also another connotation on the part of the doctor that there is inability on his part to save the life of the dead person since it opens up to an assumption that medical case of the individual is in extreme turmoil. The milliner also has a role to fulfill in this case. There is a connotation that the milliner will be the one in charge of the final outfit of the dead person in that case. Another action that must be denoted is the presence of the public which seems to aware of the situation. However, there is a very different connotation about the presence of the public. There are two possible situations that can be assessed: being scandalized or being sympathetic with the situation (AcaDemon). In the poem, there is a dominance of a highly scandalized imagery based on certain lines like “the neighbors rustle in or out” (The Literature Network). With this, there is a further implication people, in general, are disturbed whenever they hear about death. The poem somehow still points out to this weakness of people even now in the modern times. When it comes to imagery, it is clear that the poem has been concise and descriptive about depicting death. There is an increasing intensity with the imagery especially when the different participants of the situation presented their response to the mournful act (AcaDemon). The minister fulfilled his role as a religious authority. The people have been hysterical. All these events have been concisely packed into one. Another factor to consider in reading the text is the very different use of the language. There is simplicity when it comes to depicting the images that the text wants to emphasize (AcaDemon). The simple use of the language is somehow successful in rendering death. However, a critical eye is needed to further understand the meaning conveyed by these words because there are other pressing matters that involve the process of death. The tone of the poem is mournful since this encapsulates death. At the same time, the simple choice of words which are arranged in a poetic manner highlighted further the feeling of death. In return, there is a strong appeal to humanist sensibilities since death is regarded to be an inevitable condition that humans must face eventually. The concept of death is usually avoided by humans and is so trivial whenever human encounter such news. Also, this implicates the fear on the part of the people since most of them regards death to be something stressful that is why the usage of the term there’s been a death in the opposite house provides a neutral condition in dealing with death rather than facing it in its fullest scale (Direct Essays). The tone also contributes to the connotation that death is highly scandalous since people, even until now, are intrigued about the cause of death of someone. This is disrespectful and tiresome (AcaDemon). This gives an idea that death is just something to be vindicated rather being respected. This is a saddening situation because this somehow undermines the value of human life. At the same time, the tone of the poem highlights that the mourning act is more on the part of the close relatives. There is not much emotional involvement of the people around the ones who suffered from a loss. This is quite ironic since there people usually values community relations. Instead of being sympathetic, they have been judgmental about the person who died and subjects the dead one into extreme subjectivity through having rumors and misguided about stories. Instead of being comforting to the loss of a loved one, the people around us, in most cases, are insensitive of the situation which further aggravates the emotional instability and stress brought upon by an encounter with death. This act places our social relationships in turmoil. The idea of the poem is not just to highlight death as a depressing situation but also include the problems the problems oftentimes overlooked by people. Sensitivity is very vital and important when it comes to sustenance of relationships. However, the poem by Dickinson strongly expresses the grave concern on her part on pointing that people should correct their wrongdoings and notions about death as an inexplicable human condition. Her idea is basically highlighting the flaw of humans when it comes to social relations. There is always a constant search on the part of humans to feel secured and safe when it comes to emotions. Also, Dickinson wants to show the idea that people often stigmatizes death because of fear and unpreparedness on their part (AcaDemon). This extremely highlights the fact people are not just insensitive to the feelings of others but they are also ignorant of their own emotions. Emily, in her poem, has successfully expressed her concern and frustrations at some extent to the people who have done this deplorable insensitivity. Also, the poem tries to relate to the conscience of an individual to change their perception towards death. It is clear that the poem tries to attempt to tap the humanist sensibilities to make humans reflect and think critically about their acts. As seen in the poem, people just love to get the fact that surrounds the sorrowful act which will gives them the capacity to make stories and stipulate rumors. This kind of action done by people somehow shows that this becomes their escape mechanism towards death because their fear towards the matter is indeed unconditional. There is abhorrence on the fact that they have seen death with their own eyes because they cannot fully understand and incorporate it amongst themselves that death is indeed a part of life and is an absence of it. The rhythm and the meter is more of a free-verse though there are some lines that do make a rhyme to further implicate the creativity and the expertise of Dickinson (AcaDemon). Even the choice of words like away, mechanically, trade and parade, when read together with the rest of the poem strongly emphasizes the vulnerabilities of humans when it comes to death and their manner of treatment with it (The Literature Network). At the same time, the short meter of poem tries to highlight the short span of living of humans and the shortness of understanding when it comes to these matters. These are conditions that humans are not fully successful in dealing with. However, despite of the shortness of the poem, its totality sums up to the very message Dickinson tries to impart: that the feeling of death is something humane no matter how inhumane the circumstances that befall the occurrence of such and sensitivity on the part of other humans should be there to help the people who unwillingly went through the situation to move on. The pattern of poetry by Dickinson cannot be identified despite of it being free verse. One thing to consider is that the poem has focused more on highlighting the deathly theme rather than giving it a pattern. There are inconsistencies with syllable count which further implicates the difficulty in arriving at a common pattern for the acclaimed poetry. One thing is dominant in the pattern: the use of the language to arrive at a heightened emphasis on the freedom of an individual to express their perception towards death. The language may be complicated on the first glance and discovering the deeper meaning highlighted might be difficult to determine. However, these intricacies of the poem contributed to the need, on the part of the reader, to fully determine the complexities that society posits on death and the individual values that beset it as well. In overall perspective, Emily Dickinson has provided a very critical and realistic approach about death that people, despite their attempt to be sensitive, turns out to be doing their other way around which is detrimental and aggravating. This aggravation is not just reflected on the situation of the people who have to move on because of the loss but also on the part of those people who have made fun though rumors, lies and harsh judgments that incurs damage on their reputation, resulting to an insensitive perception towards them. At the same time, the poem manifests a harsh reality that besets any society in its fullest and general sense. Death is oftentimes a taboo. It is a matter that is not always dealt with and usually avoided on a full blown scale. People stigmatize death and show a disturbing compassion towards those who are having difficulty dealing with it. This cannot be considered real at any rate and can defer the process of recovery. The poem calls for a more humane approach towards. Death is something that should not be feared but rather welcomed and appreciate because it teaches several lessons in life and people should extract all the lessons that can be acquired. These lessons impart great knowledge and provide a reasonable course of action to take as regards to daily human life experiences. Ultimately, death teaches to humans that we should live our lives to the fullest. It also teaches humans not to tolerate their mistakes but rather correct it to improve social relation and other experiences that go alongside with it. Death is the final form of life. It is a matter that should be considered sanctified. It is not a matter to be laughed at or made fun of. It is an important matter that highlights the significance of the individual who passed away no matter how problematic the circumstances are. Death justifies the relevance of the person to the people close to him and should not be desecrated by those who are insensitive who commit such desecration only just to feel good about themselves. Death may render the hearts of those it affected numb and it also renders fear to those who are just carefree and judgmental to it. Emily Dickinson has been successful in her poem showing that death is an important stage in someone’s life. It should be honored and respected. WORKS CITED Dickinson, Emily. “There’s been a Death in the Opposite House.” The Literature Network. 2011. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. “There’s been a Death in the Opposite House.” AcaDemon. October 2011. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. “Emily Dickinson 1830- 1886.” Poetry Foundation. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. "There's Been a Death in the Opposite House.” Direct Essays. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. Read More