Discussing the Poems - Essay Example

The first stanza describes autumn with specific, concrete, and vivid images of what happens during autumn. Keats describes autumn as a season of activity when, with the sun’s help, it bends apple trees with the abundance of their fruits, “fill all fruit with ripeness to the core,” “swell the gourd,” and “plump the hazel shells.” The second stanza depicts a different picture of autumn as a reaper or harvester who accomplished some of his activity but now stands still. In contrast to the active autumn described in the first stanza, the second denotes inactivity and near completion. The third stanza contrasts summer which is known as the season of rebirth to autumn which is the season of death. Here, the death of autumn is illustrated as a “soft-dying day” which is depicted favorably as this death also creates beauty.   

By Emily Dickinson

            This poem by Emily Dickinson talks about the death of a man in “the opposite house.” This documents the chronology after the death and the different reactions of individuals in the country town where it happens. The third line states the commotion in the house as neighbors rustle in and out perhaps doing what they think will help. The fourth line signifies hopelessness as the doctor drives away. The dead must have been sick for a long time as the window which has been closed is now abruptly opened. A mattress is flung raising the curiosity of the children who “wonder if It’d died on that.” The writer adds that she uses to feel the same way when she was a child implying that it is a natural human reaction. The minister then comes to bless the dead and “goes stiffly in as if the house were his.” Dickinson then states that the minister “owned all the mourners now, and the little boys besides, and then the milliner and the man of the appalling trade” which can signify the demand placed by the ministers which are completed straight away by all those who are in the house. The “dark parade” in the poem signifies the burial which will be attended by “tassels and coaches” thereby making all the town know of the death which occurred.