EJ Krumholz
The first poem I would like to analyze is “because I could not stop for Death”. The first thing that stuck out to me while reading this poem was the words that she chose to capitalize. As you read the poem you may notice that words like Death, Civility, Immortality and Eternity are capitalized. I found this choice very interesting and began to focus my analysis immediately onto these words.
When reading the first line of this poem I felt the entire poem was going to be about death. Although within a minutes notice my mind began to change. It seems this poem is not about death, but about life. To me this poem feels as though it was someone cheating death, or an individual who feels that they should have passed away instead of a friend or family member that did. Dickenson personifies death and acts as though this individual is taking her on a tour to show her the wonderful reasons why she will remain in her life. It seems that this individual otherwise known as “death” slows down her life to make her notice things she once had not such as children at school or the setting sun.
I found her use of time to be quite interesting throughout this piece. The words “slowly” “paused”, “shorter”, and “eternity” were used throughout the piece. These words are not those that I would put together with death as death would speed up time but she is slowing it down. My first instinct was that death was in her life or those around her and made her reevaluate her life and slows down the precious time that she has.
The next poem I decided to analyze is “The Brain- is wider than the sky-”. I found this poem extremely interesting as I knew what she was trying to express but the way she expressed it was magnificent. The brain is a very complex thing, one that is hard to express in words. I found her comparisons of the brain to the sky and to the sea truly thought provoking. When stating “the one the other will contain” Dickenson is stating than the brain can think about the sky but the sky cannot think about the brain. She analyzes the idea that the brain has an imagination and can soar into thoughts that nothing else can. I found the line “with ease- and You- beside- to be confusing in itself. I understand that Dickenson is stating that the brain will think about the sky with ease but adding “and You- beside” confused me. I felt as though she was trying to make – and You- stand out to readers but I could not figure out why.
In the next stanza Dickenson goes on to state “the one the other will absorb” when speaking about the sea. She compares the brain to a sponge and a bucket, describing the amount of information it is able to take in and grasp that no other object or body part can do. One part of this stanza that I did not understand was her comparison of the sea and the brain as both being blue. I was unsure if Dickenson was speaking about the brain in an emotional sense or as an object which is not in fact blue.
Lastly, and the stanza I found the most interesting, was when Dickenson compared the brain to God. I was unsure of where she was going with this stanza but did get the feeling that she was both comparing and contrasting the brain and her idea of god. When stating they are “as syllable from sound” she is contrasting the two and showing that there is a difference in her views. Although, when reading the stanza I also got the feeling that Dickenson found a similarity between the two. She stated, “the brain is just the weight of god”. I was unsure of what this meant when reading it but after further evaluating it I wonder if she compares the way peoples choices are made. For those who are extremely religious, god and their views make their decisions for them. Therefore, a person’s brain and god decide what is their destiny.
I agree with the parts of your analysis of the first poem as in stating the interesting words pieced with death who you also stated was personified, but do believe that the poem is more about death then it is about life. The first two lines indicate this as she states “I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me,” which I believe means she is coming to terms with death. Furthermore, I think it’s important to mention the second paragraph which helps to solidify this belief as she states “And I had put away My labor and my leisure too,” which I believe means she has actually come to terms with death. I also believe the second poem to be much more interesting and concur with the segments of your second analysis in that it was very thought provoking and well expressed, however, I interpreted the majority of the poem differently. When Dickinson stated “the one the other will contain” I believe she simply meant that the brain is more potent than the sky and would engulf it in comparison, as the previous line stated that “The Brain-is wider than the Sky-For put them side by side.” The line “With ease-and You-beside-” came right after “The one the other will contain,” which I interpreted as meaning that the brain would have no problem with the sky and is right beside you as it is literally a part of you. I disagree with your interpretation of the next stanza where the brain and Sea are compared as I believe she is simply restating that the Brain is more potent than the sky and would engulf it in comparison. This is evident as she uses a similar pattern with only slightly different wording, such as instead of stating that “The Brain-is wider than the Sky,” she states “The Brain is deeper than the sea.” And instead of “For-put them side by side-,” she states “For-hold them-blue-to blue,” with the third lines being identical with contain being replaced with absorb. I agree with your analysis of the third stanza in the brain differing from god, and believe the stanza means the brain has all the capabilities of god, but in comparison they differ substantially.
I agree with Michael that the poem which begins, “Because I could not stop for Death,” is indeed about death. But to me it seemed that the narrator is already dead. The last two lines of the first stanza read “The Carriage held but just Ourselves/ And Immortality. Notice there is a period at the end of this line. This is not the immortality described as eternal life on earth- which doesn’t exist- but the immortality that exists after life is over. I believe this is demonstrated by Dickinson’s use of punctuation. The third stanza is represents all of the worldly things they are leaving behind. And when Dickinson writes, “We passed the Setting Sun-/ Or rather- He passed us-” she is emphasizing that he/she is no longer a part of the living world. The sun, in astrology, is considered the giver of life. It marks our days on earth by its rotation and our years by its revolution. The sun passes them because they are disconnected from life. In the penultimate stanza, Dickinson writes about a house that seems like a swelling of the ground, which sounds like a grave. The last stanza he/she says centuries (because he/she is dead) have gone by since the day he/she realized the horse’s head (from death’s carriage) were headed towards eternity. The poem ends with the word eternity followed by a dash. This signifies something ongoing. The basis of some religions is to do as Jesus would in order to have eternal life after death.
There is definitely enough evidence in this poem to assume the narrator is already dead. The question I would like to have answered is, what is Dickinson trying to accomplish by writing this poem? What was or is its purpose?
Cindy Matos.
EJ, I enjoyed the thorough analysis of these two poems. The poem “Because I could not stop for Death” makes it seem as though death is her tour guide. He chauffeurs here to all of these different places even showing her, what it seems to be, her own grave. It is very interesting too that death is so nice, as he waits for her. I did not think of Death as pointing out different things she would miss in her life, but your insight made me read it a little differently. The second poem you analyzed, about the mind, I really enjoyed. It is a powerful image to try to compare the mind to all of the scientifically measurable objects, but it never measures up. The brains capacity and imaginative qualities are immeasurable, something that I think Dickinson is trying to point out and I found that as a very powerful image.