英语教学DICKINSONS BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH

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Abstract:Analyzesthepoem`BecauseICouldNotStopforDeath,''''byEmilyDickinson.Theuseofrememberedimagesofthepasttoclarifyinfiniteconceptionsthroughtheestablishmentofadialecticalrelationshipbetweenrealityandimagination,theknownandtheunknown;Theviewpointofeternity;Understandingoftheincomprehensible;Thestagesofexistence.

DICKINSON''''SBECAUSEICOULDNOTSTOPFORDEATH

In"BecauseICouldNotStopforDeath"(J712),EmilyDickinsonusesrememberedimagesofthepasttoclarifyinfiniteconceptionsthroughtheestablishmentofadialecticalrelationshipbetweenrealityandimagination,theknownandtheunknown.[1]Byviewingthisrelationshipholisticallyandhierarchicallyorderingthestagesoflifetoincludedeathandeternity,Dickinsonsuggeststheinterconnectedandmutuallydeterminednatureofthefiniteandinfinite.[2]

Fromtheviewpointofeternity,thespeakerrecallsexperiencesthathappenedonearthcenturiesago.Inherrecollection,sheattemptstoidentifytheeternalworldbyitsrelationshiptotemporalstandards,asshestatesthat"Centuries"(21)ineternityare"shorterthanthe[earthly]day"(22).Likewise,byanthropomorphizingDeathasakindandcivilgentleman,thespeakerparticularizesDeath''''scharacteristicswithfavorableconnotations.[3]Similarly,thefiniteandinfiniteareamalgamatedinthefourthstanza:

TheDewsdrewquiveringandchill--ForonlyGossamer,myGown--MyTippett--onlyTulle--(14-16)

Intheselinesthespeaker''''stemporalexistence,whichallowshertoquiverassheischilledbythe"Dew,"mergeswiththespiritualuniverse,asthespeakerisattiredina"Gown"andcapeor"Tippet,"maderespectivelyof"Gossamer,"acobweb,and"Tulle,"akindofthin,opennet-temporalcoveringsthatsuggesttransparent,spiritualqualities.

Understandingtheincomprehensibleoftendependsonanappreciationoftheprogressionofthestagesofexistence.Byrecallingspecificstagesoflifeonearth,thespeakernotonlysettleshertemporalpastbutalsoviewsthesehappeningsfromahigherawareness,bothliterallyandfiguratively.Inaliteralsense,forexample,asthecarriagegainsaltitudetomakeitsheavenlyapproach,ahouseseemsas"ASwellingoftheGround"(18).Figurativelythepoemmaysymbolizethethreestagesoflife:"School,whereChildrenstrove"(9)mayrepresentchildhood;"FieldsofGazingGrain"(11),maturity;and"SettingSun"(12)oldage.Viewingtheprogressionofthesestages-life,todeath,toeternity-asacontinuuminveststheseisolated,oftenincomprehensibleeventswithmeaning.[4]Fromhereternalperspective,thespeakercomprehendsthatlife,likethe"HorsesHeads"(23),leads"towardEternity"(24).[5]

Throughherboundlessamalgamationandprogressiveorderingofthetemporalworldwiththespiritualuniverse,Dickinsondialecticallyshapesmeaningfromthelimitationsoflife,allowingthereadermomentarilytoglimpseauniverseinwhichtheseeminglydistinctanddiscontinuousstagesofexistenceareholisticallyimplicatedandpurposed.

NOTES

[1.]OtherswhohavewrittenonEmilyDickinson''''sresponsestodeathincludeRuthMiller(ThePoetryofEmilyDickinson[Middletown,Conn.:WesleyanUP,1968]);RobertWeisbuchEmilyDickinson''''sPoetry[Chicago,111.:UofChicagoP,1975]);CarolAnneTaylor("KierkegaardandtheIronicVoicesofEmilyDickinson,"JournalofEnglishandGermanPhilology77[1978]:569-81);CharlesAnderson(EmilyDickinson''''sPoetry:StairwayofSurprise[NewYork:Holt,Reinhart,1960]);SharonCameron(LyricTime(Baltimore:JohnHopkinsUP,1979]);BritaLindberg-Seyersted(TheVoiceofthePoet:AspectsofStyleinthePoetryofEmilyDickinson[Cambridge:HarvardUP,1968]).

[2.]ThetheoreticalfoundationforaspectsofthisargumentrestsinpartonthephilosophiesofsuchmenasImmanuelKant,whorepresentsthenotionoftheboundaryofhumanexperienceasabeltofmediation:"Thesensuousworldisnothingbutachainofappearancesconnectedaccordingtouniversallaws;ithasthereforenosubsistencebyitself;itisnotthethinginitselfandconsequentlymustpointtothatwhichcontainsthebasisofthisexperience,tobeingswhichcannotbecognisedmerelyasphenomena,butasthingsinthemselves"(ProlegomenatoAnyFutureMetaphysics,trans.anded.PaulCarus[Chicago:OpenCourtPublishingCo.,1902]124).

[3.]InTheLongShadow,ClarkGriffithgroundsthispoeminseculartraditions,ashepointsoutthatDeath''''sstoppingfortheLady-Poetreflectsa"traditionofnineteenth-century''''courtlylove''''"(129),aninterpretationwhichallowsthereadertoevaluate"Deathaseitherkindormalevolent"(130)and"Eternity"(131)asa"pleasant"placeorrealmof"nothingness"(132).

[4.]InTheRhetoricofAmericanRomance(Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUP1984),EvanCartonsays,"ToapproachGod,forDickinson,isgenerallytoshapeamoresatisfying...relationshipbetweenoneselfandtheuniverse..."(270).

[5.]JaneD.Eberwein,inDickinson:StrategiesofLimitation(Amherst:UofMassachusettsP,1985).arguesthatDeathdoesnot"launchthepersonaofthispoemintoanotherworld"butratherleavesthepersonaina"House"(218).

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