Different Approaches to Death in Poetry - Essay Example

The different ways that Emily Dickinson and Jorge Luis Borges approach death in their poetry. Name Course Instructor Date Introduction The topic of death is discussed by Emily Dickinson and Jorge Luis Borges in longevity in their poetry however they choose different methods to discuss death and as one reads on each Dickinson is seen to more and more personify death while Borges prefers to see death as a place. Emily was born in the early 1830s while his counterpart was born in the late 1890s. Though both wrote on death they are both seen to have been particularly influenced by their different environments with Borges who lived through the First World War confining his ideas on death to a location where one goes to. As a woman however Emily must have come from a more conservative time and this caused her to see death a transporter perhaps away from her confines as a woman. In Because I could not stop for Death poem death is presented to us as a person, Dickinson in her own way represents death as less frightening but more as a guide or a driver to the afterlife. According to Haley et al (2005) this outlook on death tells us more about her perhaps even more than death. The fact that she imagines death to be gentle opens a door to Dickinson thoughts that clearly shows obsession on the thought of death in hope to understand it. This however is not as clear to her as it may seem as she forms her reasoning by use of imagination only having not experienced death herself or saw it(Dickinson, 2001). Dickinson lack shows no fear when the speaker is picked up by the carriage which come along mot only with death but immortality. According to Haley et al (2005) this second passenger presence, can be said or seen to be the cause of her realignment, with the thought of a kinder death .after all death brings more life than the one before when he brings along immortality. To align this new belief in death, Dickinson can be seen to portray an expression of a more quitter life, when the carriage rides by, she contrasts this with what she is seen to relate to as her former life. Even though she uses the words “the children are playing at recess,” she further introduces strove to signify the difficulty of life (Priddy et al 2008). As the horses ride on we see the speaker further description of death. Death is presented as cold and chilly and there is nothing to protect her from this. She uses her gossamer gown and tippet to express that even though they are present they are not enough. According to Christensen et al (2008) this is seen as going too far; her moral stand on the matter is still at question, this is so because, Dickinson herself never experienced death by the time she was using this description. However what everyone seems to warm to is her final words the “the horses heads were toward eternity,” opening a door to eternity (Hylen, et al 2008). In the second poem I heard a Fly buzz - when I died this poem focuses more on the rites of death is instead of eternity as is amplified in “Because I could not stop for Death”. Lee et al (2013) argues perhaps that the fact she believed she could speak beyond the grave, signified more about her beliefs in her after life, because without life it would be impossible to speak. Her reference to death shows that this particular poem considers death as important. However it should be noted that in this poem she is not moving but she is in a room this Dickinson confirms when she repeats “in the room” twice in the poem with the aim of confining the readers thoughts to her thoughts (white et al, 2008). Dickinson further proves she is alive by the introduction of the fly. The speaker can feel see hear challenging what we know of death and the grave. This however again is not logical at all, considering that all this is confined in the thoughts of a woman who grew up at a time when women were second to man in many ways (leiter et al, (2007). The presence of an earthly bug buzzing all around her and standing between her and life is a kind of escape to her and the hope of companionship in this confined space which she is seen to be trapped in to. According to mackintosh et al, (2004) this bug represents her spiritual beliefs which by discussing death with ease she seems to challenge. This makes the fly more important considering the fly is the second and the only character in the room thus the only witness of light which in this case can be seen as hope of the afterlife. According to White et al, (2008) this thought is seen to be thinner in comparison with the first one because I could not stop for death. Here death is seen in a way to overcome, but before he fully takes over death is also overcome by light which proves further life by revealing a fly (Leiter et al, 2007). Borges is seen to see death more like a house. He talks about going there at night when people sleep perhaps one of his limitations. The idea that death is a place that we go to seems to go over the bridge to the unknown as it is not clear who goes to whom. Keeping with Alazraki et al, (2001) adds that Perhaps it can be argued this is Borges idea of challenging the notion that we all seem to hold that death comes to us instead. He is observed to use the night as the end of one life this however can be said to be narrow in a way since life is well measured in time. In the second stanza Borges is seen to show how hard it is to go the Southside in this case depicting deaths location, he is seen to convey loneliness of a kind when he say "someone whistling alone in the world" by doing this he overreaches beyond life. It’s at this stage that the moral authority in the conversation gets beyond acceptable by the society considering in any possible case his thoughts are just thoughts developed in his mind and not with the use of facts (Wilson et al, 2006). For others like Alazraki et al, (2001) Borges is seen more to have been speaking about what he expected to find in the south in real sense however this thought is contravened by the speakers word "habilitated room " and the mention of the grabe as his final location. The speaker’s words are more and more seen to be mournful in favor of the argentine society as a whole. According to Wilson et al, (2006) he observes that while this was seen as regret to him in the sense of his expression that was nothing but his opinion. Nobody in his own pavilion of thoughts can speak of a nation’s thoughts and regrets as a nation is too vast for its thoughts to be summarized in such a manner. Borges is seen to believe all is lost after death when he says that "thin wisdom is lost" according to Alazraki et al, (2001) the speaker falls deep into hopelessness as he describes those around him in his death bed. He likens his hopes to Jesus a contradiction since Jesus had the hope of a better life which in his case he seems to loose on the way to the house of death he however finally sees death as a savior when he completes this poem making his thoughts on the subject more ambiguous left to the interpretation of the reader. St Johns eve presents death as the night and life as the day which ends with the setting sun. According to Wilson et al, (2006) his simplification of life and death while it seems to hold much similarity, is narrow in that it considers life in equality to a day. Wilson et al (2006) observes that a day is constant in the number of hours it goes through, while death in reality shows up anytime. Meaning the sun which we all know sets at specific time, in this case its seen to have a variance which is not so. Wilson et al, (2006) further argues that the description of darkness as gentle is an ironic considering the feelings that are thrown to us in the presence of darkness. The speaker is presented to show regret, this is seen when Borges writes “today the streets remember,” here the streets may mean, him remembering his former state or his location in its former state. The aim of this memory though ambiguous brings forth a form of regret, built in a nostalgic remembrance. He presents this as an end when he looks back in his life; this by itself brings out the genius behind Borges in his ability to say so much in so little. (Wilson et al, 2006). This however can be seen as place of retire one would say when one rests in solitude. However his introduction of holiness is seen to bias his writings towards his beliefs a factor furthered by his mention of the rosary (Alazraki et al, (2001). Conclusion Dickinson and Emily can be seen to be similar in that they both choose to engage death. However as noted in the beginning there approach is different. Emily prefers to challenge the beliefs on one hand, preferring to start off after death, while Borges prefers to start off before death and tread towards. Borges is seen to prefer to refer to his beliefs in his journey destroying his personal hopes and recreating them with his beliefs. References: Alazraki, J. (2001) Critical essays on Jorge Luis Borges. Boston: G.K. Hall. Christensen, L. (2008) Editing Emily Dickinson: the production of an author. New York: Routledge. Dickinson, E. (2001). Favorite poems. Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications. Hylen, S. (2005). Allusion and meaning in John 6. Berlin New York: W. de Gruyter, 2005. Lee, K (2013). Reading Descartes otherwise: blind, mad, dreamy, and bad. New York: Fordham University Press. Leiter, S. (2007). Critical companion to Emily Dickinson a literary reference to her life and work. New York, NY: Facts on File. McIntosh, J (2004). Nimble believing: Dickinson and the unknown. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Priddy, A. & Bloom, H. (2008). Bloom's how to write about Emily Dickinson. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism. White, D. (2001) Approaching Emily Dickinson: critical currents and crosscurrents since 1960. Rochester, N.Y: Camden House. Wilson, J. (2006). Jorge Luis Borges. London: Reaktion. Read More