Example research essay topic: Deal With Death Dickinson Poem - 1,391 words

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My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close My life closed twice before its close -- A paradox is a statement which contains apparently opposing or incongruous elements which, when read together, turn out to make sense. The first line is paradoxical in that there are separate meanings for the words "closed" and "close" -- Dickinson tells of having suffered 2 great losses, so monumental as to be comparable to death. She wonders if another such devastating event awaits her in the future. There's been a Death, in the Opposite House, Such Houses have - alway -- The Neighbors rustle in and out -- The Doctor - drives away -- Somebody flings a Mattress out -- They wonder if it died - on that -- The Minister - goes stiffly in -- And he owned all the Mourners - now -- And little Boys - besides -- And then the Milliner - and the Man To take the measure of the House There " ll be that Dark Parade -- Of Tassels - and of Coaches - soon -- The muscular one, and bid him whip In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.

Let the wenches dawdle in such dress As they are used to wear, and let the boys Bring flowers in last month's newspapers. The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream. Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet On which she embroidered fantails once And spread it so as to cover her face. If her horny feet protrude, they come To show how cold she is, and dumb. The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream. It would be extreme understatement to say that death has long been a topic in literature; the topic has been central to human thought since the beginning of human thought, and is no stranger to the pages of literature, both classic and modern.

However, in twentieth century America, death has been sanitized to a great degree. One way in which twentieth century Americans have been shielded from death is the replacement of the wake at home with the funeral director and the funeral home. We have replaced familial cooperation and shared grieving with convenience. What seems to have happened in light of these changes is that the event of death seems to have become more one-dimensional in its emotion than it may once have been. What this long-winded introduction is attempting to lead toward is the notion that the two poems chosen for this discussion deal with death in the home on multiple levels of tone and emotion. Because the norm of the times was to deal with death (both before and after) in the home, both poems approach the topic with a distinct sense of intimacy and comfort.

Emily Dickinson's poem, "There's been a Death, in the Opposite House, " is believed to have been written in 1862. Wallace Stevens' poem "The Emperor of Ice-cream, " was published in his first collection of poetry, in 1923. Both poems have common elements (home and death, hustle and bustle, and a certain sense of irony), yet it is apparent that sixty-some years separate An initial distinction can be made between the two poems's else of perspective. The speaker in Dickinson's poem is noticeably outside the main action of the poem - an outsider. The first line makes that clear: "There's been a Death, in the Opposite House. " The first line in Stevens' poem, however, makes clear that the speaker is somehow an integral element of the goings-on in this death house. Here, the speaker seems to be orchestrating the whole event: "Call out the roller of big cigars. " The speaker needs this particular person to perform tasks necessary for the wake.

We, as readers, are viewing the events from inside the home. This is in distinct contrast to the patchwork story that the reader and speaker create through Dickinson's poem, based on outside clues and speculation. Another distinction can be made between the perspectives of the two poems's intuition in time. In the Dickinson poem the death seems to have just occurred, perhaps an hour or two - at the very least "As lately as Today. " Whereas the death in Stevens' poem seems to have taken place perhaps a day or two before the events of the poem. This impression is given, it seems, by the manner of events taking place in the poem - they are not the events one would associate with the very day of death. The corpse must have been already washed and dressed, so that the characters of the poem can now spend their time preparing flowers and food for the wake.

In Dickinson's poem, the actions of the characters appear to be the more immediate concerns of postmortem - airing out the house, discarding the mattress of the Another difference between is noticeable in the tone of the two poems. Dickinson's poem is much more somber than Stevens'. The very list of characters that come and go and "hurry by" the death house is something not unlike the funeral procession that Dickinson alludes to near the end of her poem, as the "Dark Parade. " The neighbors are first to arrive, second only to the immediate family, whose members are surely already inside. Then the Doctor comes and goes, followed by the defenestration of the mattress (YES! I finally get to use that word in a real setting! ... Sorry).

At this point the person is finally dead, and those people who were not as close to the person (say, the family, neighbors and doctor), can now join in this The somber tone comes through in some of the word choices as well. The house itself has a "numb look" to it. The mortician, or perhaps the coffin-maker, is described as belonging to "the Appalling Trade. " It seems worth noting the implication of "pall" or "pallbearer" in this particular word choice. What is consistent in the tone of the poem is the idea of death as a looming figure. "There has been a Death, " to be sure, but the speaker does not know this from first hand experience; the speaker can tell by the look of the house itself. The speaker wonders, like the boys, how the death occurred. The signs make it clear that there has, in fact, been a death, and it occurs to the speaker that a funeral procession will soon follow.

This realization is stated with a sense of dread, and that sense of dread is heightened by the fact that the line is set apart from the otherwise regular four-line stanzas. There has been a death, but the speaker seems preoccupied, not with what has been, but what will be. Conversely, there is an air of acceptance and lightheartedness in Stevens' poem. The death has taken place and the time has come to move on. The speaker here allows that the women should wear comfortable clothing. The choice of words conveys a relaxed sensibility.

Let the women wear such clothing - let the boys bring flowers, let be, let the lamp - there is an implication of acceptance and tolerance of whatever might happen in the recurrent use of that single word. While the corpse is present in the situation, the emphasis is on the living and on the creation of the scene, the creation of those things that will make the event alive for the living. The call for the roller of cigars suggests a sense of relaxation. The call that he whip desirous ice-cream suggests festivity rather than mourning. This poem, in contrast to Dickinson's, does not include people that do not belong in the scene. There are no outsiders in the forms of Minister, Milliner, Doctor, or "the Man / Of the Appalling Trade. " The scene in Stevens' poem seems more like a household setting.

The boys are asked to bring flowers in last month's newspapers, and there is a sense of comfort and familiarity in the fact that the boys must know where those newspapers are. The embroidered sheet is taken from the dresser of deal (a cheap type of wood) missing three knobs - the dresser seems to invoke a sense of humility. The furnishings are not being embellished or hidden from any of the type of outsiders that Dickinson's poem includes. What is...

Research essay sample on Deal With Death Dickinson Poem