Well after "reading" Emily Dickinson, and then rereading, I was overwhelmed with the dense metaphors and unusual use of capitalization and punctuation within the poems. Looking specifically at poem 280, it is noticed that Dickinson's poems have a tendency to focus on the morbid aspects of life, that of death, illness, and the act of dying. I envisioned a funeral taking place while I was reading, with the mourners passing the coffin to pay their respects, followed by the service and then the closing of the coffin. It is as though the speaker is the deceased, and is looking at those mourning his/her death.
"As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here-"
-Taken from 280
From the above passage, I seemed to grasp that the speaker is unable to engage with the others since he/she is deceased, but this different point of view is one that can only be gained once one has died. Is Dickinson stating that death is not the end of life, but rather a different form in which the body may be deceased, but the soul lives on? How does the soul as an eternal figure tie in with the religious language that Dickinson portrays in this poem, as well as others?
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I thought Thoreau was too abstract, now we get to this. But upon doing some research on Emily Dickinson, I found that she has an infatuation with consciousness and the loss of consciousness. One can also assume that her writing deals with the slow progression of slowly declining into madness. Even some scholars have a tough time trying to find out exactly what Emily Dickinson was trying to come up with in some of her poems.
But in regards to the question, by the way...nice job Tara with the first question, I believe that Emily Dickinson is falling out of consciousness in this passage 280. It is almost like a day dream for "[Emily Dickinson] felt a Funeral, in my Brain." (Line 1) One has to question why she uses the capital letters for 'Funeral' and 'Brain.' We can assume she had respect for the abstract and her thoughts (brain) were all important and also had respect for the dead and grievers as she capitalizes "Mourners" in line 2.
So, I do not think that she is feeling these thoughts because she is dead or dying, but thinking how it would feel for the deceased in the "Box", since we will never know how it feels to be in that box until the afterlife, if one so chooses to believe in the afterlife.
Dickinson continues with the theme of the afterlife and soul in line 10. My amateur poetic knowledge tells me that she imagines herself going up to heaven, because line 12, "Then Space - began to toll." and 'toll' in that sense I believe means to suspend, as if she were rising up. And then she is heading up to heaven as just an 'ear' all alone and Emily Dickinson continues to imagine this before...
A shift in the poem in line 17. "And then Plank of Reason Broke" meaning that she could no longer imagine the afterlife and her soul heading to heaven. Her day dream ended and she "dropped, down, and down" like her dreaming ended and she was heading back to reality until she 'hit a World.' (Line 20)
Emily Dickinson is very abstract and likes to think beyond normality. She dreams up scenarios and day dreams on paper in a sense, in my opinion...I think I'm going to be the first to comment, so feel free to rip my analysis apart whoever writes next. See you in class Tuesday.
In this poem Dickenson is portraying the thoughts of one who has just died, and is envisioning herself in a casket with mourners coming “to and fro”. Since we will never be able to experience such an event, Dickenson lays out what she believes one would be feeling when dead. In regards to Tara’s initial question of whether Dickenson is saying that “death is not the end of life, but rather a different form in which the body may be deceased, but the soul lives on”, I would have to disagree somewhat. I believe that Dickenson is saying that when dead, one becomes a completely new being of a “strange race”. I agree with Tara’s point that this is a perspective that can only be gained when one has died, but I’m not sure Dickenson‘s point is to show that once dead the soul lives on.
Dickenson goes on to describe the funeral procession as she is “dropped down and down”, saying that within each drop she hits a “new World”. Here, Dickenson seems to be making a reference to the afterlife and new world after death. However, her diction choice connotes that this afterlife is not as pleasant as one would like it to be. For example she uses words such as “wrecked” and “solitary” and “plunge”. What is interesting is how Dickenson insinuates that the dead can still hear, feel and think. She describes the mass as “A Service, like a drum- kept beating-beating-till I thought My mind was going numb”(6). Eric’s point about Dickenson going in and out of consciousness seems very valid, however I interpreted it a bit differently. At the point where Dickenson states “And then a Plank in Reason, broke and I dropped down and down” I didn’t think it meant that her daydream ended but rather that she was being physically placed into the ground. However by the end of the poem, Dickenson admits that can no longer guess what happens after one is buried saying “And Finished knowing then”.Here is where Eric’s previous point seems to come into play because it is as if Dickenson has now returned to her living conscious self.
First of all, I just want to say good job to Tara on the question… Dickinson is hard enough to read, never mind to develop a question about...
On that note, I was pretty overwhelmed by Dickinson’s poems. So much seems to be conveyed in so few words and I feel like I never grasp the full meaning of each poem. I am going out on a limb here so feel free to totally prove me wrong (haha).
I think that Dickinson definitely alludes to an afterlife in the poem, allowing the speaker to be deceased. The detached tone and first-person account of dying allows Dickinson to explore how it must feel to die. I agree with Eric in that Dickinson daydreams on paper, therefore I believe she imagines herself as the speaker in order to gain a better understanding of the concept of death.
In the beginning of the poem, the speaker describes the initial shock of death as a mind going numb. At this point I believe the speaker is close to death and that his/her life is “flashing before his/her eyes” (excuse the cliché phrase). As the poem continues, Dickinson indicates that the speaker wishes to move on to the next life, however he/she cannot. Dickinson writes “As all the Heavens were a Bell/And Being, but an Ear,/And I, and Silence, some strange Race/Wrecked, solitary, here” (13-6), suggesting that the speaker wishes to follow the sound but remains “here” in the physical world. The ending, describing a break “in Reason” (17) and subsequent fall through various “Worlds” (19), could suggest that the speaker travels through the years of his/her life until everything ceases. At this time, when the speaker “Finished knowing,” he/she achieves the ultimate peace.
Considering Dickenson's chosen life style, I don't think shes actually musing on the idea of death. While the poem is riddled with death related words, like "funeral", "heavens", and "numb", I think she is commenting on her life prior to her death. Sitting in her tiny room with nothing but poems to write can wear on a person, so Dickenson's metaphor here probably reflects that monotoneous life she has chosen for herself. Her greatest access to the outside world is received through her sense of hearing (as she stayed in the same room, so not much to see), thus the references to a the beating rythem of drums, the "toll[ing]" of a bell, and even "silence".
The different phases of the funeral she describes are, I think, of less importance compared to her diction. She never actually states she is inside a coffin, but instead aludes to the feeling of being inside one. "Creak across my soul" (10) is a line that echos in the reader's head, allowing Dickenson to produce a gloomy and listless tone. Also the final line, "And finished knowing - then -" doesn't give the feeling of death. I think Dickenson means to say that she has ceased thinking, and is thus dead. Her head has indeed "gone numb" (8).
So to answer Tara's question, I don't think that Dickenson means to say that the soul lives on, but it can die out while we still live.
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When I first read over Emily Dickinson’s 280 poem it made me think of some type of nightmare. It’s not like any of the other poems because she does not make any references to any natural elements like she normally would have done. Dickinson also has this unique fascination with birds and I thought it was interesting that she did not make any references to them in this poem. It’s as if she did not want her beloved creatures to be associated with this experience in her poem.
In the first stanza she states “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And Mourners to and fro, Kept treading –treading till it seemed, That sense was breaking through—“ (lines 1-4) made me think of two possible interpretations. First, that she is referencing her own funeral, like Tara had mentioned, because she capitalizes the word funeral. In a way to sort of personalize it or make note that at this point that’s the only funeral that exists or matters to her. Second, it could be that she is having some time of panic attack, severe migraine, or hallucination. Thus the “Mourners to and fro” could be like the tension of pain increasing and decreasing in her head.
The following “And when they were all seated, “ (line 5) can refer to when the pain in her mind finally stopped or literally when they sat down.“A Service like a Drum – Kept beating – beating – till I thought my mind was going numb—“(lines 6-8) can reference how the beating could be like a countdown or even the heart beat of her soul. Literally it could reference the people still arriving to her funeral. The line “As all the heavens were a Bell,” (line 13) can symbolize many interpretations. It can refer to the monotonous drumming being silenced by the delicate sound of a bell.
Either way it’s like her commentary on the separation of her soul from her body. The poem makes it seem as if the soul has a limited amount of consciousness with human reasoning before it is transformed into a part of the natural world. It is apparent that this is her soul’s description through lines such as “And I heard the lift a Box” (line 9) If it was an account from her body it would have said that she felt them lift the box or something like that.
Dickinson's writing certainly does have a morbid air to it, which is quite a jump from Thoreau and Leopold's colorful descriptions portraying the beauty of nature. Dickinson conveys many of her points through insinuations of death and anguish. Her poetic style is very dismal and depressing, but the meanings or her writings (at least what I got out of them) are solid as well as unique.
In the poem that Tara chose it looks like Dickinson is viewing a funeral in an out of consciousness experience. She makes herself the body in the casket, giving readers a feeling of what it would be like to retain your senses while being dead. Being able to see and hear at your own funeral wouldn't be a pleasant experience, and it seems to me that the only way Dickinson is able to convey her ideas and ideals is through the portrayal of the negative aspects in the world, like death, despair, anguish, etc. "I like a look of Agony, Because I know it's true". Dickinson seems to think that the only way we can express our true selves is when we are miserable. She seems to be saying that only through agony can we be genuine.
I don't think Dickinson inserts any religious implications in this certain poem, but I do think that she talks about what happens when we die. At the very end of the poem she says that she, "Finished knowing-then-". She says that she's finished, but she is still knowing, which is something that could only happen if she was still existing.
Firstly, woot for such an awesome topic!
Poem 280, while almost certainly from the perspective of one looking down on their own funeral, does not seem to me, as others have said, to necessarily portend that the soul lives on after death- it seems more a conjecture of what it feels like to die the sudden cessation of thought an existence (“And Finished knowing-then-“ 20). Within the other poems included the concept of the soul has varying characteristics attributed to it. While within the living body, much as Tara suggests, it seems to be wrapped up in suffering. Dickens literally refers to herself as “The Queen of Cavalry” (24) in 348, which, as the foot note explains, means one who has suffered much. In poem 315 the soul is portrayed as something upon which hurt is continually inflicted, beaten by such things like an “Ethereal Blow/By fainter Hammers-“(6-7). Its finite nature is alluded to at the conclusion of the poem- upon receiving a great blow to the soul “the Universe- is still” (13).
Dickenson isn’t content, however to make death futile and final. Great importance seems to be placed on the act of remembering. In 1560 she notes “To be forgot by thee/Surpasses Memory” (1-2) and uses the term “oblivion” (8) to describe her state when forgotten. Likewise she notes in 1508 that permanency lies in true remembrance, saying “Real Memory, like Cedar Feet/ Is shod with Adamant-“ (7-8), and imbuing it with the same renewing and infinite properties as nature itself, constantly renewing and resurrecting. It does not seem that the soul itself is of the utmost importance- it is how such a soul is remembered.
I thought this was a pretty tough poem to decipher but I agree that here Dickinson is imagining a funeral from the perspective of the deceased. I think she is questioning the existence of the soul and even give images of a dead thinking during the funeral " and then I heard them lift a box/and creak across my soul. For me it seemed like she was writing from inside the coffin and thikning about such things that might go through their head. She is listening and waiting for heaven "as all heaven were a bell/and being but an ear." She is listening and waiting for heaven but not completely sure that the soul or spirit even exists. This is almost like a daydream or creation of her mind that the soul and heaven do actually exist. The final stanza seems to make all those notions disapear and "reason" breaks in. "and I dropped down, and down/and hit a world at every plunge" As she dropped more and more she encountered more "worlds" of reason and consciousness, falling into reality rather than death and the unconscious.
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