icouldnotstopfordeath詩(shī)歌鑒賞

1、ByEmily Elisabeth Dickinson (1830-1886) is the most important poet in 19th Century America. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. Considered an eccentric by the locals, she becameknown for her penchant fo

2、r white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. While Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly 1,800 poems were published during her lifetime.The work that waspublishedduring her lifetime was usuallyalteredsignificantly by th

3、e publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time. Dickinson's poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems deal with themes of d

4、eath and immortality.The poem I Could Not Stop for Death is one of Emily Dickinson ' s famous masterpieces. It is also one of the great poemsin the English language. It is a brilliant, extraordinary lyric. Being well constructed, easily understood, and filled with many poetic conventions, the po

5、em mainly focuses on twoDeath isthemes: death and eternity. Traditionally, bloodcurdling. In this poem, however, the writer personifies death and eternity. Death is imagined to be a gentleman who connects with Immortality. And the writer herself, as an innocent girl, was moved by the manners of that

6、 gentleman-death. Finally, she and her companion eternity get into the carriage of death. In the whole poem, there is no horrible existence. On the contrary, everything is so quiet, harmonious and warm. It reveals the clam acceptance of life with dignity, grace and how it is welcomed rather than fea

7、red.I like this poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death very muchnot only because it is well- written, but also Dickinson ' s optimistic attitude toward life. Although Emily Dickinson doesn' t use some phrases such as love, life or nature in the poem, her love to life is recognizable. For Di

8、ckinson, death is not the terminal but another world and state. In this article, I will analyze figures of speech used in the poem.1. Figures of speech in BecauseI Could Not Stop for Death DashesDashes are used manytimes. For example, in the first stanza aBecause I could not stop for Death” , or “He

9、kindly stopped for me , in which Dickinson freely cut a complete sentenceinto several parts or connect parts at random which seem to be irrelative. In this way, we readers are able to strongly sense Dickinson ' s surging feeling in her brain or complicated thoughts writhing in her mind. At the s

10、ametime, Dickinson helps pause the poemthrough dashes and leave space to think over and to go on.PersonificationPersonification is used in the poem repeatedly. Death was personated to be a gentle and kindly man. (He kindly stopped for me- ) “We slowly drove - He knew no haste " or “For His Civi

11、lity- " more or less suggests his resp ectful manner and mild characteristic. From this point, Dickinson exemplifies death is not a thing to be afraid of but embrace. Besides, immortalityis personated tobe a third passengerinthecarriage,(The Carriage heldbut justOurselves-/AndImmortality.) whic

12、h indicates death in body walks along with immortality in mind. Once death is gained, immortality of mind will accompany.AlliterationAlliteration is adopted persistently. Examples are as follows: labor and leisure, recess and ring, gazing and grain, setting and sun, dews and drew, gossamer and gown,

13、 tippet and tulle, horse and heads.MetaphorMetaphor is put into the poem to show a life journey. Inthe thirdstanza, the writer writes about three seeminglyunrelatedimages: playing children,gazing grain and thesetting sun.( Wepassed the School, where Children strove / At Recess-in the Ring- / Wepasse

14、d the Fields of Gazing Grain- / We passed the Setting Sun-) In fact, the three images come together to create profound meanings. Children represent young ages, while grain productive and fertile years of one' s life, setting sun old age and end of life, which works as a process to review dying m

15、emories and displays a lifelong journey one would experience. An overview of a lifetime is stretched in front of eyes, which implies the passage of birth, growth, maturity and death. Earthly life is left behind, and "I"headed towards death without yearn. This once again highlights Death

16、9; s gentleness and consideration.SymbolismIn the third stanza, the poet symbolizes the three stages of life: "School, where Children strove" may represent childhood; "Fields of Gazing Grain", maturity; and "SettingSun", old age. Viewing the three stages of one' s l

17、ife, we can see how short the life of men is. As human, we exist alive shortly and are under qualification to act as passers to pass the never creasing life rive of humanity. Instead, it is just the life eternity which passes us by.AnaphoraAnaphora is also put into the poemto show a life journey. In

18、 “We passed the school where children played/At Recess in the Ring/We passed the filed of Gazing Grain /We passed the Setting Sun ” , the author uses "we' to emphasize the three short stage of life that everyone will experience.ParadoxIn the last stanza, Dickinson uses paradox in“Sincethen

19、'its Centuries and yet/Feels shorter than the Day' In this sentence, the poet thinks the day of death is very long as if it lasts for centuries. This is because on that day the poet has gone over the process from birth to death. And the poet also has a new understanding of death.PunIn “We pa

20、ssed the School where children played/ ARecess in the Ringthe ringrefers to two meanings.Oneis the playground in school, and the another meaning is the circle of society.2. ConclusionThe central theme of Because I Could Not Stop for Death is that death is not to be feared since it is a natural part

21、of the endless cycle of nature, this revealing Emily Dickinson ' s attitude towards death - calm acceptance. To Dickinson, death is the other existent state of human beings instead of something makes people feel miserable.As one of the greatest poets in American history, Dickinson lived in an ag

22、e of Transcendentalism which pursues individual self-reliance and self-confidence. At the sametime she was born in a traditional Calvinist family, the idea of original sin and fate has influenced her greatly. She could not accept the idea of her father who thought the fate of human beings was in the

23、 hands of gods and that the meaning of life is to atone for sin. Because she could not find out the real meaning of humanexistence, Dickinson decided to withdraw from society and lead a reclusive life. Death is a human instinct and we all know that people must be dying. However, only a few carry on

24、thorough ponders on this question. BecauseI Could Not Stop for Death reveals Emily Dickinson ' s view of death - to accept death calmly and then the soul of humanbeings maybecome immortal.Many people are afraid of death; however, it is an inevitable process that everyone has to end up in. Death is only the spontaneous ending