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Ali Kilinc – 900235909 – Literary Analysis Essay #3: Draft #10 [FINAL]Ms. Rebecca AlexanderENG 193: Literature & Composition – 10:30AM – 4042318 May 2009
 Topic #4: Choose two or more poems in your text by Emily Dickinson in which the speakeraddresses the reader from beyond the grave or near death, and discuss theauthor’s treatment of the process.
Death is Fun!
Emily Dickinson is an extraordinary poet with a great ability: she canwrite from beyond the grave. She is one of the most prolific poets in historywho wrote tragic poetry. This writing style can be observed in hundreds of her gothic-style poems. Dickinson took her life experiences, contrasted thoseto fictitious near death and post-death experiences, and then reflected andchanneled all that into many of her poems. Emily Dickinson is able todemonstrate her ability to treat death as if it was a living, breathing event,while at the same time, being a highly pleasurable experience. Three of herpoems that specifically illustrate this experience to a deeper sense of consciousness are: “After great pain, a formal feeling comes;” “Because Icould not stop for Death;” and, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.”First, the poem, “After great pain, a formal feeling comes” discusses afairly pleasant experience surrounding a beloved’s death. In reality, thereader herself does not experience death; nevertheless, a slightly gothictheme of numbness that is felt after death is highly prevalent throughout the
 
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entire poem. The poem refers to the entire grieving process, apparentlybeing somewhat painful, that friends and family have to go throughsubsequent to a death, or specifically, at a funeral. She mainly conveys howone must be strong enough to get through this initial stage of numbness.Emily Dickinson emphasizes that after this feeling, there is complete pain,but if one can overcome this feeling, “…a formal feeling comes” (1). Thisformal feeling symbolizes the immense bliss felt after the emotional releaseof the pain and agony which follows the feeling of numbness. Moreover, it isapparent that the poem also elevates any painful experience associatedaround someone else’s death to a pleasurable incident. Reflection upon thissymbolism is effortless when one takes note of Dickinson’s usage of the word“Snow” being capitalized (12). In this line, the word snow is meant todescribe a numbing yet pleasurable experience. For example, snow can be asign of purity, because it is pure white; meaningless fun, because when onesee’s a snowball fight, it is impossible not to join; and even peace, because itcovers the land in a soft blanket, turning everything uniform and forcing allto succumb to their warm homes. Yet at the same time, it could alsosymbolize numbness because when one stays surrounded by snow for anextended duration, the sheer unforgiving nature of snow has proven to numbthe body, and leave it void of any sensation. This description of death isclosely related to the experience in many of her other poems as well. The second poem, “Because I could not stop for Death” describes theevents leading to death, and then gives details about experiences from the
 
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afterlife. In the poem, “death” is capitalized, as stated: “Because I could notstop for Death –/He kindly stopped for me” (Dickinson 1-2). This usage of capitalization personifies death and transforms the occasion into someone orsomething similar to a living entity such as Charon. Dickinson uses suchcharacterization in an attempt to create imagery. As the speaker recalls fromher own past, the reader feels as if she is in a room with the speaker anddeath. As Brian Cahill states, as a result of doing this, “Death” himself, likeCharon, becomes a gentle passage from life to the afterlife instead of aninevitable, horrible, and scary incident (“Emily Dickinson: Lonesome Beauty”20). It is also obvious that the speaker in the poem is not prepared for thistransition to death, as it somewhat surprises her. Consequently, this leads tothe speaker despising “Death” for not embracing her sooner. The reader israther distraught because after death, there is the afterlife. It is here in whichshe is in absolute peace for all of eternity, which is also what the speakerdesires. The theme of speaking from the afterlife is established in Dickinson’sother poems as well, specifically, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.”Also, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” describes an experience frombeyond the grave. The poem mainly revolves around events pertaining to afuneral, where the speaker believes that she is not really dead. These eventslead onto other events that go beyond the grave. One unusual observation of “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” is how speaker is completely unaware of deathitself. The speaker is oblivious up until it tries to embody her, at which pointthe “feeling” of death itself starts to overwhelm her. Her feeling of being
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