To what extent does the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Percy Shelleyon death reflect the societal views of death?
Extended Essay - English A1
Word Count: 3.888
Contents
I. Title Page 1
II. Contents Page 2
IV. Introduction 3
V. Family and Life 4
VI. Death and Dying According to Dickinson and Shelley 5
VII. Conclusion 12
VIII. Bibliography 14
Introduction
Human beings have been puzzled by many circumstances surrounding their existence. They always wish to understand the origin, causes and how they can manipulate some aspects regarding their lives for many years. The aspect of death is one of many issues that have puzzled people since the beginning of time. There exists a lot of uncertainty about it and this has created a lot of anxiety, fear and sorrow. Majority people avoid thinking and even talking about death with fear that it might strike them or their relatives. However, this is highly affected by the cultural, religious and the psychological beliefs about death. Additionally, the perception of death by individuals highly displays their societal beliefs on the same.
Most cultures outline three major stages of human life. The first stage is birth. Although held with a lot of respect and joy birth is well understood in most modern societies. There are celebrations in most cases when birth occurs. Since most people understand the circumstances that lead to birth they have less anxiety or fear for birth.
Marriage is the other major stage of human life. Since it include a choice for life partner joy and anxiety surround it. Unlike birth, where one has no choice on where they would prefer to born at, one determine who to marry. Death on the other hand , happens irrespective of their wish. Although some people may commit suicide, they would not be able to reverse the outcomes. In marriage one may divorce or separate with their patner hence revoking a earlier made decision. The occurrence of death is a natural event that is inevitable. Despite the many improvements in the medical sector, death remains irreversible. Many medical theories try to explain the process of death but none of them describe how the sorrowful occurrence can be stopped. When it occurs the relatives are left with responsibility to shed off their loved one. Sorrow and fear follows the bereaved families as they have no option of reversing death. All attempts in the existence of human beings to bring back to life a dead person have proved futile.
The specific question that inspired this research is to study to what extent the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Percy Shelly on the occurrence of death show the perception of the society about it? As contained herein, the views of death in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Percy Shelley differ dramatically from the societal views and that these distinctions derive from their approach to poetry, which was based on their personal day-to-day experiences. While Dickinson and Shelley wrote much about life’s end, as did other poets, the views of these two writers are starkly different from what many other poets hold about it, which will become clear after a close examination of their poetic verse. The dynamic perspectives brought out in their works will even suggest how we might more easily, perhaps comfortably, approach the end of life as people who seem to be averse to it. Since the distinctive views of Dickinson and Shelley stem from personal experience, this section begins by looking into the personal lives of both poets.
Family and Life
A throw back to the life of Emily Dickinson show that she was born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts as observed in (Biography (a) 1), where she lived most her life in isolation. She never married, and she spent her life as a private poet. Over the years, Emily wrote letters to her friends, in which she most commonly addressed the themes of mortality and death. It is imperative to note that Dickinson developed her desire for such uncommon topics during the periods when she had to nurse her mother, who later passed away leaving her to live the solitary lifestyle that she really dreaded as recorded in (Trivedi and Tandon 86). After the demise of her mother, Emilywasreported to have left the confines of her home. Her mother’ may have led to sorrow that inspired her to leave as an attempt to console herself.
Following her departure from home she started writing down her poems, which she surprisingly never wanted to publish. This was due to the fact that publishers who failed to take note of her writing techniques altered her poems significantly and thereby eradicated her poems of their intended meaning. According to Jakobi (3), almost all of her poems were published only after her death. Apart from her sick and dying mother, the other factor that prompted her obsession with death was the fact that her immediate environment was filled with a very high mortality rate, one largely inconceivable in the modern day. Since Dickinson alienated herself from the public, it can be argued that her poems are a reflection of her thoughts without the influence from other quarters as recorded (Dickinson 1). Most importantly, Dickinson became an introvert and lost the hopes for any achievements beyond the grave.
In contrast to Dickinson, Percy Shelley was a renowned American poet of his time (1792-1822). His poetry began when he joined Eton College, the prestigious boys’ school for secondary education in Windsor, England as shown in (Biography (b) 1). While in college, Percy was bullied, and this caused him mental and physical stress. This precipitated his decision to publish two novels and two volumes of poetry. In addition to this, Percy was expelled from Oxford University for authoring a pamphlet entitled The Necessity of Atheism. His parents’ efforts to plead with him to change from his divergent opinions about life fell on deaf ears, and he later compounded such rebellion by eloping with Harriet Westbrook according to (Biography (a) 1). Over the course of time, Shelley married his first wife, who later committed suicide. Like Dickinson, publishers declined to release most of his pieces. Instead of grounding their decision in the technical peculiarities of the poetry, they avoided criminal charges would they publish them. This was because the poems were deemed blasphemous.
Death and Dying According to Dickinson and Shelley
The two authors, Dickinson and Shelley, have written about death as shown in their poetry work. As depicted in their work, their perception about death has much to do with their own personal lives. Both Dickinson and Shelley present death as an ordinary event that should not worry the living. They use a variety of themes, such as love, marriage, nature, and the eternal realms, to bring about their points of death and these will be looked at in the following sections of this work.
Death is portrayed to greatly affect love and provoke lovely memories of the living when their loved one dies. Love refers to a strong affection that exists between individuals who share common interests as Brown and Yule comments in (Brown andYule 34).When people love each other, they dread anything that will cause their separation. If the divisionis planned and understandable, then the parties can bear it, at least most of the time. Death, however, is a cruel enemythatintrudes when least expected. It takes away the loved ones causing great pain because of the permanent separation it causes as noted in (Biography (a) 1). The two authors establish a connection between caring affiliation and death in their various poems, which are worth exploring. This relationship between the two cases tells us what death meant for them.
Dickinson draws a relationship between love and death, and according to her, one is the consequence of the other. She depicts life’s end as a slightly negative menace, which at the same time can produce care for other people. According to her, once a beloved one dies, the lover of that person might grow in their affection, having a deep connection even after the moment of death. She clearly shows that love is not only a feeling held when one is alive, but also a feeling that continues even after demise as provided in (Brown and Yule 43). Emily zeroed in on the issue of love after death, that moment when many people lose the love they had for an individual. In the poem entitled, “The Bustle in a House,” she describes how people who lose someone they care about, are usually left dejected afterwards (Dickinson 1). “The Bustle in a House The Morning after Death” Emily writes. However, Emily also writes about life after death where the beloved will still be able to express their affection towards the individual who had already passed on. This indicates that the end of life is a necessary evil (Bloom 207) and seems to be so unless people lose their loved ones, they will never experience love at eternity.
Shelley is known to be a significant romantic poet and, unsurprisingly, does not fail to talk about the subject of love amidst his poems on death. “This world is the mother of all we feel,
And the coming of death is a fearful blow” writes Emily. The writer uses poems about death to address the issue of romantic affection. This may imply that he does not take the cessation of life so seriously or to such an extent that he cannot express views on love while also addressing the darker topic in (Bloom 129). When Fanny Godwin, sister of Shelley’s second wife Mary, commits suicide, he writes the poem entitled “On Fanny Godwin” to articulate his emotions. While she lived, Fanny was in love with Shelley and did not find time to convey her feelings to him. According to the poem, she found the opportunity to express the affection at the point of her death, which demonstrates that for Shelley there is still the chance of making her tenderness known even at the moment of the end and after it.
In “The Cold Earth Slept Below,” Shelley talks romantically about nature. However, this poem talks about death as well, having written the poem after losing a loved one. “From caves of ice and fields of snow,The breath of night like death did flow”, Shelly writes. Being a romantic poet, he still manages to express romance in a few lines of the poem (Bloom 130), especially in the line that talks about how the eyes glow in the glare. In yet another piece, he depicts death as vanity. The “Death” poem puts it plainly that death is just but a bridge that people traverse in order to reach other levels of experience. According to him, we should never weep at the loss of loved ones but instead should have hope that they will meet one day again.
Besides, the poets believe that death is not all negative because it is a transition from the world of living to the dead. According to them, the deceased is even more peaceful than the living as presented in (Brown and Yule 78).In his piece entitled, “Adonais,” Shelley brings about this theme vividly. He moans the death of a friend, John Keats, and calls upon other poets to bemoan his sudden demise. Although the mood is somber right at the beginning of the poem, this is short-lived because the attitude turns dramatically into that of optimism. It would be understandable if one thought of Shelley as insane since he rejoices at the death of a friend according (Bloom 132). Indeed, he is happy because Keats is dead and cannot be attacked by critics any longer. His friend has become a portion of the eternal life, and thus awaits the second life afterward. Therefore, in Shelley’s view, post-life is an even better state because one is relieved of certain daunting challenges that those left behind have to face. The contrasts with the poet’s contemporary society again come to the fore: society does not view death as a transition state, they see it as the robber of life. This is because when one dies, he or she does not come back to life, though it depends upon one’s belief. Some believe that there will be life after death, while others do not believe in eternity. For instance, Christians are convinced that when one dies, he or she will only rise after the rapture. However, most societies do not talk about this issue, including the writing of the will, because it is viewed as a way of wishing one to die faster perhaps with the motivation of inheriting an estate.
A further commonality between Dickinson and Shelley arises in the fact that the two poets write about the issue of death intrepidly. They do not fear to inscribe death in a stark manner. Dickinson addresses the painful truth of death without fear as other poets do as recorded in (Bloom 208). In her poem,“I Felt a Funeral in my Brain,” by Emily Dickson she presides over her own funeral ceremony.
“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading – treading” The poem reads
Attributes the traits of being conscious to the dead. The approach that she uses in this poem occurs elsewhere in her work and makes her writings quite interesting, as she utilizes the first-person point of view in most of her poems such as in (Dickinson 1). The move is quite daring of her because it was not usual for poets to write about death, especially from the first-person viewpoint during her day.
“And I, and Silence, some strange Race,
Wrecked, solitary, here –“ Writes Emily
The fact that she can dream about her death and write about it goes against the beliefs of the rational being and society may have a negative perception about a person who contemplates her end or uses an analogy to talk about his or her demise.
Moreover, in her other poem, “Behind Me – dips Eternity,” she brings forth the state of the dead as a normal condition and the state of being alive as the abnormal one. According to this juxtaposition, it could be interpreted that her readers should embrace the state of being dead instead of being alive as shown in (Trivedi and Tandon 94).The society, in contrast, views life’s end not as a topic of study, but a state that one only talks about during the burial ceremony. The other poem in which she addresses life as the extraordinary state is “My life has stood – a Loaded Gun.” She depicts four things: the states of life and death coexist; we cannot have one state without the other; in order to have life, there must be an end to life; and death is an inevitable condition. Dickinson moves further away from the standard thinking and expectations of society on death by writing about the topic with herself as the main character. In many societies or at least societal subgroups, the topic of death is not discussed at all. Therefore, Dickinson goes against social norms when she talks passionately about death. As a matter of fact, in some communities, elders would have even organized a ritual to ward off the evil spirit that they thought resided within her and caused her to talk about dying in this way.
Percy Shelley talks about the end of life and urges the living not to fear it. In his poem, “On Death,” he compares life with a flickering light of a meteor shown in (Bloom 135). “Sheds on a lonely and sea-girt isle, Ere the dawning of morn's undoubted light,” Persy writes.
“This poem brings out life, the opposite of death, as a very short span of time, likening it to a meteor that passes by in a matter of seconds. His advice to the audience is to make maximum use of time as life is not guaranteed. Human beings are not sure of when they will die. To this end, individuals should live each day to the fullest. If that is done, there will be less to worry about when one dies because he or she shall have achieved his or her goals in life and will be entitled to the rest. In contrast to death comes the concept of never dying, which is immortality.
Immortality is the state of not dying completely. In their poems, the duo has exhibited the immortality of the soul at death. To them, only the body dies by decaying and is buried, but the soul is ever alive, representing the individual (Dietrich 4). This leads to the belief in an afterlife, which is a dominant theme in these poems. In her piece, “After great pain, a formal feeling comes,” Dickinson talks about the effects of those who die upon the living. It leads to sorrow amongst the living because they have lost someone thus causing mental torture according to (Dickinson 1). This torture may persist for extended periods, and yet she talks of the life that will be experienced by the dead after it all. Thus, according to this poem, we should not weep so much when someone dies. Death is not a pleasant experience for any person. People cry and moan for a long time when they lose one of their own. However, in the eyes of these poets, people do not die completely, because their soul continues to live. Except for Christians, society has a different view. Most people know that when a person dies, he or she has gone for good, as no one can see or feel the soul of another person; we can only see the body.
There exists a possibility of immortality in human life according to Shelly. In work “Epipsychidion,” Shelley talks about the immortality of the human soul. The title of the poem is a Greek word, which can be broken down into the following parts: “Epi”denotes“around”while “psychidion” means “a little soul.”So, in full, this title can be translated into English to mean “concerning a little soul.” In another poem, “To William Shelley,”he recounts the memories of his lost son, but to him as a father all is not lost. He still believes that he will be able to see his son William once again. The poem indicates that only William’s robes are decaying and that he is not dead, that the spirit continues to live. This continuation of life prompts the issue of how people die.
As presented in Dickinson work death is presented as an action similar to aging and decay as presented in (Ruston 27).He describes the process and its gradually unfolding nature, during and after the event of life’s cessation. This theme is vividly brought out by the poem, “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died.” She begins the narration from the deathbed when a fly comes in and interferes with the prevalent silence (Dickinson 1). Emily then describes the people who are present at the time that she is dying and how they are preparing for the death to occur. She is also getting ready to donate her possessions to those who will be left behind after she dies. Thus, Dickinson is trying to say that the end should not confront people unawares, as they should be ready to receive it at any moment. It can be understood in the sense that living people should set and achieve goals while they live because without goals, life is lived in vain as shown in (Nesteruk 35). However, this insight may be untrue since some people die from accidents, heart attacks or unforeseen circumstances. Society does not see death as processes and events; instead, they consider it cruel. Along with these contradictions in thought comes a contrast in the method, as poetry offers a distinct format for exploring specific subjects.
The use of imagery and figures of speech
The two poets have extensively used figures of speech to bring home their points in quite an effective manner such as recorded in (Swarnakar 38). Hyperbole and personification are applied to figuratively to portray the message. The use of imagery contributes to the subject in some cases with language that requires the audience to read beyond the lines. This is the real beauty of poetry. It is imperative to note that both poets had a strong attachment to their loved ones, and thus that their emotions and feelings were profoundly affected when they died. However, in the contemporary society, people’s emotions about the dead are released through crying, honoring the dead with what they wanted to be done, or holding ceremonies in their remembrance.
Personification is one figure of speech used in this poetry works. In the poem, “In the Garden,” Dickinson beautifully uses a bird to talk about death. She watches the bird feed on a worm and drinks water from the dew of the grass. However, when she tries to offer the bird food, it flies away according to (Bloom125).The line about giving the bird sustenance and flying away implies that it does not matter how good we are, one day we will have to die. Besides, death is personified as a polite gentleman in the poem, “Because I could not stop for Death” It is ambiguous because the society views the topic as a cruel reality; however, in this poem, it is depicted softly. She describes the event as a courteous gentleman who stops over to lead her to eternity as shown in (Engle 73). Death, portrayed as a gentleman, drives the carriage, as he transports the individual to the next world. In this poem, she seems not to fear death and is instead happy that the gentleman is driving the carriage to the grave with care as recorded in (Engle 75).
The use of hyperbole is also evidence in this poetic work. The ability to provide an in-depth analysis has worked flawlessly for Shelley, as he talks about his dead wife in “The Cold Earth Slept Below.” He uses the words “the breath of night like death did flow” which refer to the emotions that he went through in the night. He has been left alone and uses a bit of nature to express how he feels at that moment according to (Shelley 43). Additionally, in Shelley’s, “On a Faded Violet,” the poet likens the odor that arises from the flower to the kisses breathed on him. This statement is used to compare a flower’s odor to the kisses of her departed fiancé. The direct comparison here achieves the effect of perfectly correlating two aspects that seem to be related. This can only be written in a poem. In today’s society, people will prefer to give a shallow explanation about the death of a loved one without breaking it down into its distressing yet real components. Most people believe that it is good to let the dead rest in peace without having to discuss such a person more.
Dickinson and Shelly differ strongly in their beliefs in the immortality of the soul. She does not worry much even when she loses loved ones because she feels they will meet once again as presented in (Nesteruk 40). However, when expressing the immortality of the soul, Shelley, in some instances, feels dejected and forlorn, showing that these two poets, despite their similar interpretations of death, do differ in substantial ways. In “On a faded violet,” Shelley laments over the topic and is not happy that he has lost a loved one. It takes him time to heal from the shock as he feels responsible for the person’s end because of the poor connection that they had in the final days of their relationship. There is a sense of self-pity that he has for himself, and furthermore, he does not even think of life after the death as opposed to Dickinson who holds the belief with fervor.
Conclusion
From the above analysis, Emily Dickinson and Percy Shelley are two fabulous poets who have provided an in-depth discussion about death. They went against the odds to address this topic in quite an unprecedented way. They identified with the end of life, showing a level of comfort with the topic uncommon to their contemporaries and modern society, owing to their first-hand experiences with the event. Again, the specific question that framed this study was, to what extent does the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Percy Shelley on the end of life reflect the societal views of death? It became clear that the views of this issue in the poetry of Dickinson and Shelley differ dramatically from societal views and that these distinctions derive from their approach to poetry, which was based on their personal day-to-day experiences. Death is a subject that most poets do not write about, and if they do, they only talk about the plain facts, at least as known by most people. Furthermore, society itself disregards or avoids the subject, failing to approach life’s end with any comfort. The poets in this essay not only contradict this perspective but also employ controversial means in doing so.
Dickinson puts herself at the center of most of her death poems. To put it differently, she is the persona. She talks to the audience through herself. This approach is relatively dominant in most of her poems, many of which are all about death, and surprisingly enough her ideologies differ from those of most other poets (Dickinson 1). For Dickinson, death is explored oppositely but still attracts the attention of her readers. The audience reads her poems because she is at the center of each of them (Carolyn 221). Shelley usually describes the events that come into his life, which are related mostly to nature and life’s cessation. He writes about each of the deaths that he sees in his life. It is imperative to note that their focus on the issue was informed by their passionate love for their loved ones. In many ways, the poems mentioned here go against the social norms about death. The poets not only discuss the subject but go so far as to break it down and even inscribe their own death. This comparison revealed that we could only understand the end by confronting it and that we might experience the presence of death in a variety of ways, whether in dread, welcome, or ambiguity. What these poets guard against is turning a blind eye to the cessation of life and refusing to address it.
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