Personas Peaceful Attitude Toward Death example essay topic

Auer 1 Paul Auer English Final draft 10-30-00 Death is Good Emily Dickinson is a writer well known for her poems on death. Her poems Safe in their Alabaster Chambers and Because I could not stop for Death are two of her more famous poems. The personas attitude in both of these poems is very similar. In the poem Safe in their Alabaster Chambers the personas attitude toward death is peaceful. The peaceful attitude is evident in the first few lines, Safe in their Alabaster Chambers- / Untouched by Mourning- / And untouched by Noon (553).

This poem is about someone who has died and is in his tomb underground, which is untouchable by the sun. The word safe is used to describe the personas peaceful attitude toward death. Another way the peaceful persona attitude is portrayed in Safe in their Alabaster Chambers is with the personas look back on life. The lines, Untouched by Morning / And untouched by Noon / Lie the meek members of the Resurrection (553).

This is the person looking back on his life. The Morning symbolizes childhood, the Noon symbolizes growing up, and the Resurrection symbolizes the persons death. Most people think when a human dies, they get to look back on all their happy times in life. The personas attitude here is one of happiness because he got to look back on all the happy times of his life. Auer 2 In the poem Because I could not stop for Death the personas attitude is also peaceful. The peaceful attitude is evident in the first few lines, Because I could not stop for Death / He kindly stopped for me / We slowly drove-He knew no haste (554).

The words kindly and slowly are used to portray the personas peaceful attitude toward death. Another way the peaceful persona attitude is portrayed in Because I could not stop for Death is with the personas look back on life. The lines, We passed the School, where Children strove / at Recess in the Ring / We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain / We passed the Setting Sun- (555). The School symbolizes childhood, the Grazing Grain symbolizes growing up, and the Setting Sun symbolizes death. The personas attitude in both the poems Safe in their Alabaster Chambers and Because I could not stop for death is peaceful and happy.

In both poems the words safe and kindly are used to portray the personas peaceful attitude. Also, in both poems the persona looks back on the happy times in his life, which also portrays the personas happy attitude. In most poems the attitude toward death is negative, but the personas attitude in both of these Dickinson poems is one of peacefulness and happiness. Auer 3 Work Cited Dickinson, Emily. Safe in their Alabaster Chambers. Literature and the Writing Process.

Elizabeth McMahan, Susan Day, and Robert Funk. 5th ed. Upper saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 1999.553 Because I could not stop for death. 5th ed. Upper saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 1999.554-555.