Afterlife
Throughout history many authors have been concerned with uncertainties about the afterlife. Life after death is known through mostly through faith, therefore the imagination must make up for what lies beyond. Many poets express their beliefs about death through their literary works. The authors' background influences his or her opinion on death. D.H. Lawrence, from Britain, and Emily Dickenson, from America, both incorporate their ideas about death in their poetry. These complex poems utilize a wide variety of imagery, symbols, personification, metaphors, and similes that help the author reflect on their theme. While Dickenson's "Because I could not stop for death" and Lawrence's "The Ship of Death" share similar motifs, the poems contain both analogous and contrasting opinions of death through literary technique. Careful analysis reveals that the two poems share similar themes through the use of various literary devices. In "Because I could not stop for death", the narrator's drive symbolizes her leaving life. She progresses through the life cycle, from childhood to death
. In "The Ship of Death", reference to the life cycle is also seen in the fallen fruit. Both authors believe that death is a long journey that must be taken. In "Because I could not stop for death" darkness takes over as the sun sets. The speaker suddenly becomes cold as she pauses before her grave. This chill is also seen in "The Ship of Death", as "the frightened soul finds itself shrinking, wincing from the cold" (). Both of the authors use personification to convey the darkness; Dickenson describes the dew as quivering and Lawrence portrays the soul withdrawing from the cold. Each poem contains concrete imagery to depict the author's feelings about death. For example, Lawrence states that "death is on the air like a smell of ashes" (), and he compares the apples to falling dew, bruised and ready for death. These images paint a picture in the reader's mind, and helps the readers understand how the author feels about death. Both authors use vivid words such as "oozing" "quivering" and "bruised". Dickenson personifies death into a gentleman driving a carriage, which creat
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Approximate Word count = 731
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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