Death
Death is one of the mysterious facts of life since the dawn of time. Death is inevitable, and all living things, both plants, and animals have to die at some point in time. Thus, Emily Dickinson and John Donne came up with poems to try to understand what death is and what happens after a person dies. Emily Dickinson writes a poem titled Because I could not stop for Death, which tries to narrate the story of how death visits her and takes her through a journey of time as she is being transferred to what seems to be the afterlife. John Donne, on the other hand, writes a poem titled, Death Be Not Proud, that seeks to understand the entity of death from a Christian viewpoint that death is only a means to carry people from their earthly life to the afterlife where they are expected to enjoy eternal life in paradise. Nonetheless, the two poets present contradicting personalities of death that show that symbolize their understanding of death and what is the purpose of death.
For starters, Emily Dickinson views death as a kind and patient gentleman who is waiting for her in a carriage to transport her to the afterlife. She writes, “He kindly stopped for me. The Carriage held but just Ourselves” (Dickinson, lines 2-3). She views death as a gentleman because death waits for a person to live out their life no matter how short or long, death waits for its victims. Throughout the poem, she views the poem as a kind person who is not rushing her but waiting for her to finish her duties and enter the carriage for her journey to the afterlife to start. On the other side of the coin, John Donne views death to be a prideful person. In the first line of his poem, he writes, “DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee,” (Donne, line 1). He views death to be arrogant because it represents itself as a person who should be feared and as the finality to man. He further shows that although death acknowledges having this kind of reputation, people should not fear because it is not the end of life, as shown later in the poem.
The two poems also contradict how powerful death is because Emily Dickinson, in her poem, views death to be powerful while John Donne does not share this idea. John Donne believes that death is powerless and should not make people afraid of death. He writes, “From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,” (Donne line 5). By likening death to sleep, he assumes that death should make people fearful of it since sleep is good. He also shows death to be vain and not important because death is meant to transport people to the afterlife for eternal life, and thus, the purpose of death seems to be in vain. He affirms this idea by stating, “One short sleep past, we wake eternally,” (Donne line 13). Therefore, showing death is not that powerful. Meanwhile, Emily Dickinson takes a different approach to this and believes that death is powerful. She writes, “Because I could not stop for Death. He kindly stopped for me,” (Dickinson, lines 1-2). This opening shows the power of death because she is unable to stop it, and thus, death, since death is a gentleman, waits for her, and she decides to enter the carriage. The differing representations of the power of death by two poets show their ideology and understanding towards death.
Another contradicting personality of death is how mysterious death is since Dickinson describes death to be ambiguous in her poem. At the same time, Donne understands that death is not mysterious, but a means to enter eternal life. Emily Dickinson’s poem shows that death is a mysterious character who is far from being understood. In her third line of the poem, she writes that in the carriage beside her and death is immortality. Immortality is not described like death and thus provides an abstract understanding of what happens when a person dies. She later writes, “Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet. Feels shorter than the Day,” (Dickinson lines 21-22). The lines show the mysterious power of death since she experiences time differently than normal. Donne, on the other hand, downplays the mystery surrounding death by showing that death is merely a bridge between earthly life and eternal life in paradise. He states that “One short sleep past, we wake eternally,” (Donne line 13). Throughout his poem, Donne shows that death is neither powerful nor mysterious that people should be afraid of it.
Lastly, the two poets share a similar view of death as a servant, but their view contradicts since Emily Dickinson views death as a courteous servant willing to help transport her to the afterlife, whereas Donne sees death as a slave whose master is the man. Emily Dickinson, in her poem, writes, “And I had put away. My labor and my leisure too. For his civility,” (Dickinson, lines 6-8). She views death as a courteous servant who is polite and well mannered. Death is shown even to slow down the carriage and let her put her luggage away instead of rushing. Nevertheless, this representation differs from Donne’s view of death as a servant since he views death as a slave. In his poem, he writes, “Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,” (Donne, line 9). He views that death is a slave of the man who is called upon by man when he wants to travel to the other side. However, his view further contradicts Dickinson’s view of the death being polite because he describes death as a grim reaper who reaps the bones and souls of men after they die (Donne, line 7). The task of death as a servant is not only to ferry people to their afterlife but also a collector of sorts who collect people’s souls and bones. Therefore, these two poets differ in the ideology of death as a servant.
Overall, the two poems are a great read and highlight the poets’ view and understanding of the poem. To further help their readers these views, death is personified to embody different character traits that show the poet’s understanding of death. However, the two poets, Emily Dickinson and John Donne, share contradicting personalities of death as represented in their poems. Emily Dickinson, in her poem, represents death to be a kind, polite, and gentle servant who is patient as well as mysterious yet powerful. Meanwhile, John Donne represents death to be a powerless slave whose power is vain since his power is to carry dead people to the afterlife where they are to enjoy eternal life. Donne shows his readers that death should not be feared but embraced while Dickinson shows death to be a mysterious figure whose power is ambiguous and should be feared.