’s I’ve Seen A Dying Eye Essay, Research Paper
The Nature of Death in Dickinson’s “I’ve Seen A Dying Eye”
One of the most fascinating things that I find about Emily Dickinson’s poetry is her overwhelming attention to detail, especially her intriguing insights on death. “I’ve Seen a Dying Eye,” by Dickinson, is a poem about the nature of death. A sense of uncertainty and uncontrollability about death seems to exist in her poem. For example, the observer’s (who is also the speaker) speech seems hesitant and unsure of what he or she is seeing, partly because of the dashes, but also because of the words used to describe the scene. As the eye is observed looking for something, then becoming cloudy and progressing through more obscurity until it finally comes to rest, the person observing the death cannot provide any definite proof that what the dying person saw was hopeful or disturbing. The dying person seems to have no control over the clouds covering his or her eye, which is frantically searching for something that it can only hope to find before the clouds totally consume it.
Death, as an uncontrollable force, seems to sweep over the dying. More importantly, as the poem is from the point of view of the observer, whether the dying person saw anything or not is not as significant as what the observer, and the reader, carry away from the poem. The suspicion of whether the dying person saw anything or had any control over his or her death is what is being played on in the poem. If the dying person has no control, what kind of power does that give death? Did the eye find what it was looking for before the clouds billowed across their vision, and was it hopeful? These questions represent the main idea the poem tries to convey. Death forces itself upon the dying leaving them no control, and if something hopeful exists to be seen and “lived” after death, it is a question left for the living (including Dickinson) to ponder.
The idea that something exists after death is uncertain in this poem. Therefore, it is important that the point of view is that of the observer. The observer sees in the first few lines, “I’ve seen a Dying Eye/Run round and round a Room–/In search of
Something–as it seemed–” (ll. 1-3). From the start, the reader assumes the eye is searching for evidence of an afterlife, but only the dying person knows for what the eye is searching. The reader gets a sense that the observer, who represents the living, knows what the dying eye is looking for, but because the observer is alive, the answer is hidden from his or her eyes. By using the word “seemed,” Dickinson, along with her ever-present dashes, injects an element of doubt in the speaker’s voice as to whether something does exist. As in her other poems concerning the nature death, there is a “journey,” however long or short, that the dying person embarks upon.
Even though Death stopped for the speaker in “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”, he or she realizes the carriage ride is not an end. It is important to note that unlike the speaker in “I’ve Seen A Dying Eye” who also acts as an observer upon the dying person’s “journey,” the speaker in this poem acts as the dying person. The speaker recalls the horses’ position as if they were to keep moving forward toward eternity; thus concluding death is merely a door one passes through to reach another realm of existence. “Since then-’tis Centuries-and yet/ Feels shorter than the Day/ I first surmised the Horses Heads/ Were toward Eternity–” (ll. 21-24). The speaker’s journey with Death shows scenes from the past, “We passed the School, where Children strove”, as well as the future, “The Cornice-in the Ground” (ll. 9, 18). Therefore, the use of Death’s carriage provides an example of Death being the vehicle to transport the body through the remaining elements of human experience, as it is in “I’ve Seen A Dying Eye”. Although it is not a life-long journey, as it was in “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” the dying person does travel through the obscurity of the clouds searching for something.
The eye’s journey through the clouds and the expanding obscurity represents the search for an existence after death. As the eye ran around the room the observer sees the eye’s journey, “Then Cloudier become–/And then–obscure with Fog–” (ll. 4-5). The observer, through his or her’s hesitant speech, has already proved that there is an uncertainty or wariness about what he or she is observing. Once again, because the observer has the central point of view, it is important that we realize it is his or her doubt and assumptions we are considering. As the clouds close in around the dying person’s eyes, the observer sees that the dying person has no control over them. It is as if the eye is still searching, while the clouds, representing death, close in around them. The eye is not only looking, but it seems to be frantically looking around for something beyond death.
With words like “run” used, a sense of urgency is added, and there seems to be a sense of panic in the dying person, which would indicate him or her having no control over the circumstances associated with death. If the clouds are to represent death, then the dying person having no control over the clouds, would, therefore, have no control over death. The impression that maybe the dying person in this poem is not ready to give herself to death comes through in the lines “Run round and round a Room–/In search of Something–as it seemed” (ll. 2-3). The eye’s “running” seems to denote some hurriedness, as if he or she is not prepared to die. This uncontrollability, or panic, that the observer sees the dying person struggling with is disturbing. Even more important for the observer is the question of whether the eye saw something before death closed in around it.
The most important part of the poem comes toward the end when the eye closes and ceases to search the room. “And then–[the eye] be soldered down/Without disclosing what it be/’Twere blessed to have seen–” (ll. 6-8). The eye, as discussed earlier, seems to be agitated and searching desperately for an afterlife existence. The dying person’s eye is then “soldered down” and fails to let the observer know what it saw, or if it saw anything. The use of the word “solder” implies to the reader that whatever answer the eye found beyond the clouds is now permanently sealed away from the living world. Obviously, the most important question in the observer’s mind, is what the dying person saw or was “blessed to have seen.” As the dying person passes from the realm of the living, he or she carries the answer to the question asked by everyone left behind-what lies ahead after death?
The primary question that the poem is posing for us concerns the doubts and questions that the observer is left to consider after he or she witnesses the death. In this poem, it seems that Dickinson is more interested in how the observer, whether in her poem or in real life, deals with the fact that what waits for us after death will always be unknown right until the final moment when Death’s clouds envelope us or its carriage comes to take us to another realm of existence. The observer seems envious of the corpse, as implied in the lines, “And then–be soldered down/Without disclosing what it be/’Twere blessed to have seen” (ll. 6-8). The observer watched the dying person progress through the dark clouds looking for something or some meaning, and a familiar interest was sparked. The observer wants to know the answer and feels cheated when the eyes “solder down,” implying that the answer is lost forever, or until the speaker dies.
It seems that we sometimes, as in the case of this particular observer, envy a dead person because they have discovered the answer to a haunting question-what lies ahead after death? The reality of the situation is that because we-the observer, Dickinson, and the reader(s)-choose to ponder that question, we give death a certain power over our lives. In other words, by spending our whole life in uncertainty about death we constitute a kind of “journey” towards death without having to experience any of the physical pain. The realizations and guesses that we make pertaining to death make up the various stops along the way with the destination being that moment when the truth is revealed. The uncertainty about death and what remains after controls those who are still traveling in their journey, like Dickinson during the time she wrote this poem.
A glimmer of hope remains at the end of this journey, according to Dickinson. In the last line, “Twere blessed to have seen–,” a hope hangs on the word “blessed.” The word rings in our heads as a positive answer to the questions we ask. The other meaning which could be surmised from that line is that what awaits us is not necessarily “blessed” or good, but that the observer thinks the dying person is now blessed because he or she finally knows the answer to the life-long question. It seems that Dickinson purposefully leaves the poem open-ended to keep a sense of uncertainty alive in her poem. The only time the uncertainty of death is made certain is during occurs when our eyes begin their search through the engulfing clouds.
Другие работы по теме:
Emily Dickinson Love Themes Essay Research Paper
Love Theme’s in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry In evaluating Emily Dickinson’s biography and poems, I surmised that excluding the love of father, brother, and her deceased nephew, Emily’s knowledge of romantic love, by first-hand experience, is questionable. The pure-of-mind reader may believe that what familiarity she had about love matters might have been based mainly on her extensive reading of literature.
Dickinson 4 Essay Research Paper Emily DickinsonEmily
Dickinson 4 Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson is an important poet principally because of the distinctiveness of her writing. Though only 7 out of her 1,200 poems were published critics still classify her as one of the principle poets of her time. In Dickinson’s life the most important things to her were love, religion, individuality and nature.
I Felt A Funeral In My Brain
Essay, Research Paper In my opinion, Emily Dickinson as a transcendentalist used her poetry to describe the process of transcendental meditation, particularly the meditation of death. In this poem she tries to allow us to expierience our true nature by entering directly into our conscious. The poem is a deep seeking of the nature of death, the death that is a process of expansion and transformation from solidarity to a spaciousness.
DICKINSON Essay Research Paper An Analytical Essay
DICKINSON Essay, Research Paper An Analytical Essay on Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson was a woman who lived in times that are more traditional; her life experiences influence and help us to understand the dramatic and poetic lines in her writing. Although Dickinson?s poetry can often be defined as sad and moody, we can find the use of humor and irony in many of her poems.
Poetry As A Way Out Essay Research
Paper People who write poetry do so for various reasons. They write to express such things as anger, fear, happiness, and the unknown. Whether it is to have a hobby, do something for leisure time, or to express one?s feelings, everyone has their own motive.
Dickinson Vs Blake Essay Research Paper For
Dickinson Vs. Blake Essay, Research Paper For my analysis, I chose to compare the poems of Emily Dickinson and William Blake. Dickinson s poem is entitled My Life had stood-a Loaded Gun and Blake s poem is entitled The Tyger. In both poems, nature plays an important part and it is obvious to the reader that both Dickinson and Blake feel a fondness, yet a slight fear towards nature.
Emily Dicksinson Essay Research Paper A Unique
Emily Dicksinson Essay, Research Paper A Unique Personification – Emily Dickinson, Poem #712 For generations children have been taught to see Death as the Grim Reaper. A figure clothed in dark robes holding a gleaming scythe in one hand and beckoning with the alabaster bone of another, Death has become something to be universally feared.
New Historicism Criticism Of Poem 1732 By
Emily Dickinson Essay, Research Paper Literature can be used to explain a period of time, and give insights as to how the general public felt, conveying true emotions and ideals instead of just textbook descriptions. Poem 1732 by Emily Dickinson is an excellent example of such. Dickinson was a female writer who lived in America and wrote during the mid to late 1800s, and her poem reflects the impact that both the Civil War and the War of 1812 had on people living through that era.
Comparing Emily Dickenson
’s Death Poems Essay, Research Paper Mandy Kruvand “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” v.s. “Because I could not stop for Death” “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death”, two poems by Emily Dickinson, are both about dying and what happens in death, but present two different views on those topics.
Theme On Emily Dickinson Essay Research Paper
Anthony J. Buchanan English 203 1:00 MWF, Theme #3 Oct. 25, 2000 Poems of Emily Dickinson Thesis of my paper that I am trying to prove to the reader is that Emily Dickinson is a brilliant extraordinary writer. She talks about mortality and death within her life and on paper in her poem works.
On 1705
("Volcanoes Be In Sicily") Essay, Research Paper Sandra Gilbert Dickinson felt that although "Volcanoes be in Sicily…I may contemplate / Vesuvius at Home." For as a mistress of the mysteries
Death Essay Research Paper Many poems are
Death Essay, Research Paper Many poems are written about death. The two poets William Cullen Bryant and Emily Dickinson were very influential trancendental writers. Bryant writing Thanatopsis
Death To Emily Dickinson Essay Research Paper
DeathEmily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. For her entire life she lived there, in her father’s home. Though her world was quite simple, it was also complex in its beauties and terrors. She found irony and ambiguity lurking in the simplest and commonest experiences. The material in her poetry ranged from what she experienced in and around her father’s home.
Emily Dickinson Essay Research Paper Emily Dickinsons
Emily Dickinson Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickinson?s Views on Death Emily Dickinson?s views on death, as conveyed through her poetry, changed from poem to poem depending on her mood. Her writings also span over many years and one can see a progression in her thoughts on the subject of death as she matures as a person.
American Sign Language Essay Research Paper Emily
American Sign Language Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickinson and Uncle Walt Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are two of literature’s greatest innovators, they each changed the face of American literature. they are also considered one of literature’s greatest pair of opposites. Dickinson is a timid wreck loose.
The Goal Essay Research Paper Emily Dickinson
The Goal Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickinson’s “The Goal” discusses her theory that each human being lives each day striving to obtain one specific goal. She theorizes that each individual longs to fulfill one specific achievement whether “expressed” to others or is “still” (l. 2) and locked into the individual’s heart.
Emily Dickinson 2 Essay Research Paper Emily
Emily Dickinson 2 Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickinson was ahead of her time in the way she wrote her poems. The poems she wrote had much more intelligence and background that the common person could comprehend and understand. People of all ages and critics loved her writings and their meanings, but disliked her original, bold style.
Two Poems By Emily Dickinson Essay Research
Paper Emily Dickinson wrote many poems in her lifetime. She writes two of my favorite poems. They are: “I heard a Fly buzz when I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death”. They both have similarities and differences from each other.
Emily Dickenson Essay Research Paper Emily DickensonEmily
Emily Dickenson Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickenson Emily Dickinson’s unusual character and style has made her become one of the world’s most famous poets. In her poems, she expresses her feelings about religion, nature, death and love. Her poems tell a great deal about her lifestyle, which was very secluded and withdrawn from society.
The Life Of Emily Dickinson Essay Research
Paper The Life of Emily Dickinson Although she lived a seemingly secluded life, Emily Dickinson’s many encounters with death influenced many of her poems and letters. Perhaps one of
Historical Analysis Of One Of Emily Dickinson
’s Works Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickinson was a reclusive person, with an emotional, passionate, intense life filled with her genius for writing poetry. Although criticized for her unconventional style of writing, including her rough rhythm and imperfect grammar and rhymes, she continued to write in her own unique way.
Emily Dickinson Analysis Of Works Essay Research
Paper Literary Criticisms of Emily Dickinson’s PoetryThroughout Emily Dickinson’s poetry there are three main themes that she addresses: death, love, and nature; as well as the impact of “the word”. When discussing these themes she followed her lifestyle and broke away from traditional forms of writing and wrote with an intense energy and complexity never seen before and rarely seen today.
Emily Dickinson 4 Essay Research Paper
“Emily Dickinson” Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet of the nineteenth century. She was one of the greatest masters of the short lyric poem. Not much is known about her life, but what is known is unusual and interesting.
Emily Elizabeth Essay Research Paper Emily Elizabeth
Emily Elizabeth Essay, Research Paper Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Mass. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was a lawyer and leading citizen of Amherst. Her mother was Emily Norcross Dickinson. Emily had an older brother, William Austin, and a younger sister, Lavinia.
Poetic Analysis Of There
’s Been A Death In The Houseby Emily Dickenson Essay, Research Paper There s been a death in the opposite house , by Emily Dickinson. On the mechanical side, it is of iambic triameter to pentameter, including feminines. There is no significant assonance, consonance, or alliteration.
Influences On EMily Dickinson
’s Life Essay, Research Paper The influences on Emily Dickinson?s writings were friendship, nature, religion, and mostly her own life and experiences. Dickinson is known for being one of
Is Emily Dickinson On Drugs Essay Research
Paper 4/26/98Is Emily Dickinson on Drugs? Emily Dickinson’s poems often make me ponder her mental stability. Sometimes I wonder if she was psychotic or on some kind of mind-altering drugs. In Dickinson’s poems “I felt a funeral in my brain,” “My life closed twice before its close,” and “Because I could not stop for Death,” we shall see whether or not Mr.
Emily Dickinson Essay Research Paper Emily DickinsonMany
Emily Dickinson Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickinson Many poets often have themes or topics for which most of their poetry falls under. One of the topics that frequent the writhing of Emily Dickinson is death. This is the case with I Felt a Funeral in my Brain, and I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died.
The Life And Works Of Emily Dickinson
Essay, Research Paper The Life and Works of Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson was a very important person in the world of writing. She has much to do with the way that Americans write and the way that millions of others write today. Emily Dickinson lived a hard life; it is believed that she suffered from various psychological illnesses.
Emily Dickinson
’s Reflection Of God Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickinson had a view of God and His power that was very strange for a person of her time. Dickinson questioned God, His power, and the people in the society around her. She did not believe in going to church because she felt as though she couldn’t find any answers there.
It Was Not Death For I Stood
Up Essay, Research Paper In the poem by Emily Dickinson “It Was Not Death, for I Stood Up,” the main character has just lost a loved one and feels such devastation that cannot be put into words, but could only be described as “not” something. She feels such loss at her loved one’s burial, that his “burial reminded [her] of [hers]“.
An Aanalysis Of Emily Dickinson
’s What Soft Cherubic Creatures Essay, Research Paper Emily Dickinson’s “What Soft- Cherubic Creatures-” Emily Dickinson’s poem “What Soft- Cherubic Creatures-” is a poem that deals with the universal concept of hypocrisy; that is to say, one tends to show one face to the world which is merely a fa ade to hide the inner passions one has towards the outer world.
Compare And Contrast Of Emily Essay Research
Paper Emily Dickinson s A Bird Came Down the Walk– and I Dreaded that First Robin So, compare and contrast in a number of significant ways. Both works incorporate the theme of nature, juxtaposed with pain imagery. A strong tone in both poems helps to carry out the speaker s message. The figurative language helps support the theme of nature.