FREE ESSAY ON ENIGMA OF DEATH

ENIGMA OF DEATH

The Enigma of Death
- An Insight into Dickinson's Portrayal of Death -
Pale Death with impartial tread beats at the poor
man's cottage door and at the palaces of kings.
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 B.C.)
Death eventually comes to everyone, and yet it is a phenomenon shrouded in mystery.
Scholars and scientists try to understand it, philosophers pose theories and conclusions
about it, artists try to capture it between streaks of paint across a canvas, while poets
like Emily Dickinson explore it's meaning and influence through verse. Death is like an
outward rush into the unknown where there is nothing recognizable and nothing to cling
to. The unknown is always feared, and since nothing is known about death or an afterlife,
people fear it. What Dickinson's poetry delves into is the undeniable power of death to
detach one from life and the pain and sorrow that accompanies it like a dark cloud above
it's head. 
In There's a Certain Slant of Light , Dickinson uses nature as the backdrop for her
description of death, and the elements to describe the silent pain that it brings with
it. The poem appears to create some sort of setting for the reader in order to portray
this. The sight of a funeral procession entering a cemetery is probably an apt
description of this setting. The slant of light is used to portray a heavenly beam that
falls on the earth and brings a gloomy feeling with it. It could be the finger of God
beckoning to the deceased to come to the heavenly abode or a divine path showing him the
road to heaven. However, the light possesses a sort of weightiness: That oppresses, like
the Heft / Of Cathedral Tunes-. This heaviness in the light may refer to the
undecipherable feelings that one has, when you lose someone close to you. The second and
third stanzas of the poem bring out the true profundity of these mixed emotions.
Furthermore, both light and air are portrayed as symbolic of God, so that they become
agents through whom God imposes His Heavenly Hurt upon the speaker, or maims her with His
imperial affliction (Griffith 27). The Heavenly Hurt may be described as the deep sorrow
and pain that one feels when faced by the death of one's near and dear ones. The hurt is
not physical, but emotional and psychological. It is probably deep within the speaker's
heart Where the Meanings, are-. For, when someone is lost in love, deeply hurt or
excessively happy, it is hard to describe what one exactly feels or understand where
exactly these feelings are coming from. She still cannot pinpoint the source of her
anxiety. It comes quietly, seemingly 'Sent us of the Air-' . . . (GaleNet LRC). 
Coming back to the setting of the cemetery, we can envision the speaker standing a short
distance away from the grave watching the procession on its way. She beholds before her
the entire landscape as she watches the mourners approaching. She captures the solemnity
and motionlessness of death by implying that time appears to stop for death. When it
comes, the Landscape listens- / Shadows-hold their breath- What Dickinson is trying to
say is that death is an irrefutable fact of life. It comes to everyone (as Horace says)
and the stagnancy of time revealed in the quote above is only a depiction of her
thoughts. Dickinson brings the reader face to face with reality. While death is often
ignored as a biological phenomena that does not influence one individual's daily life,
nature is accepted as the creator that sustains life on this planet. But, Dickinson
provides a new insight into this by describing nature as the force that brings death to
its subjects when the time has come. As Nature bring their weight of pain to bear upon
the speaker, they are shown to have injured and oppressed with a conscious will (Griffith
28). She describes to the reader the crude side of nature: the reality of life and the
suddenness of death. Contrary to common belief, Mother Nature is not quite described as a
loveable and caring person.  . . . Poets have grown accustomed to thinking of Nature as a
cuddly companion . . . Emily Dickinson's Nature is no less personal or dynamic than this
- and no less a Nature read by the light of pathetic fallacy. It is simply that she sees
as tigers what others have mistaken for pets (Griffith 28). This analogy of pets and
tigers describes Dickinson's contrasting views on life, death and nature as compared to
other historical and contemporary poets. 
Another poem that illustrates this viewpoint like no other is Because I Could Not Stop
for Death . This poem is an example of the personification of Death as a character.
However, it shares an obvious bond with There's a Certain Slant of Light in more ways
than one. Certain beliefs and impressions that are embedded in Dickinson's mind
permanently force themselves out in her poems and they can be linked together if one
scrutinizes her disquieting verses. In this poem, the author indicates that Death is a
kindly gentleman who stops by to escort her into her afterlife. Because I could not stop
for Death- / He kindly stopped for me- She describes her slow ride towards what she deems
to be eternity I first surmised the Horses Heads / Were toward Eternity- But, as the poem
goes on, she realizes the truth and inevitability of death. Her thoughts grow deep and in
the third stanza, she realizes that her life is flashing past her eyes. She sees children
playing at school, fields of Gazing Grain and the Setting Sun that indicate the three
stages of life: childhood, adulthood, and old age where one nears death. This poem also
brings out one of Dickinson's typical thoughts on time and death. Time has stopped for
her, and the fields of grain do the gazing, not her (Semansky: GaleNet LRC). The idea
that the poet wishes to put across to the reader is that she is in a world where time has
no reference. She is past the land of the living where the sun and the fields of grain
are mere participants in the process of supporting life. She uses these elements of
nature to describe the stillness of time and the affect death has on the surroundings. 
As it grows quivering and chill-, the author describes the inadequacy of her clothing and
conveys the coldness that surrounds death. This response suggests not only literal
coldness . . . but also the emotional coldness that occurs when approaching one's own
death (Semansky: GaleNet LRC). The setting that the poet has managed to set very
effectively is the approach to death and eternal nothingness. This can be compared to the
funeral procession in There's a Certain Slant of Light that slowly marches the dead
towards his ultimate resting place. Her chariot-ride is a slow one and as she draws to
the climax of her journey, the surroundings become grayer, colder and gloomier indicating
a dark end to a colorful life. As she approaches A swelling of the Ground, which is
acceptably her grave, she is struck by the purpose of the whole journey. Not for the
first time, Dickinson's poetry portrays very successfully the inevitability of death. The
domestic nature of the grave's description and the fact that there is no door, only a
roof (the coffin's lid), suggests that there is no escape from Death (Semansky: GaleNet
LRC). She looks back at her whole journey and sees how the colors of life depicted by the
sun and the fields have now faded in to the gray gloom of the grave and its headstone.
The long, long journey, which she first thought was to Eternity, seems to have passed in
flash.  . . . she finds the human's lot of the realization of death to be so overwhelming
that it makes time stand still (Joyner: GaleNet LRC). 
Suddenly, in one final burst, the reader is able to decipher the gist of the poem. The
author now realizes that her suitor (Death) who so politely took her away from her home
and from her life has deceived her. Dickinson herself represents all of mankind who
believes that death brings with it some sort of salvation either in the form of heaven or
some other divine abode. But, it is all a fa?ade! She has, therefore, apparently been
tricked, seduced, and then abandoned (Twayne's U.S. Authors). She conveys to the reader
and to the people of this world that there is nothing to look forward to in death and
that all it leads to is a void: an emptiness that lasts forever. Death is not a release
from a life of hard work or some sort of salvation. It is cold obliteration. 
Dickinson portrays death as a harsh and crude force that is uncompassionate to human
feelings and emotions. It strikes with deadly exactness and brings with it an envelope of
grief that suffocates even the hardiest of human beings. It is the primary truth of life.
If you live today, you will die someday. If not tomorrow, may be the day after. When the
time of reckoning arrives, there is nothing that one can do to prevent one's own
destruction.
Bibliography
Dickinson, Emily Selected Poems
New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1990
GaleNet Literature Resource Center Overview: There's a Certain Slant of Light, by 
Emily Dickinson GaleNet Literature Resource Center. http://www.galenet.com (10/19/99)
Griffith, Clark The Long Shadow: Emily Dickinson's Tragic Poetry
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1964
Joyner, Nancy Carol Because I Could Not Stop for Death: Overview GaleNet 
Literature Resource Center. http://www.galenet.com (10/19/99)
Semansky, Chris An Overview of Because I Could Not Stop for Death GaleNet 
Literature Resource Center. http://www.galenet.com (10/19/99)
Twayne's United States Authors Personification of Death: Emily Dickinson Chapter 3: 
The Mortal Life. http://rosie.menlo.edu. (10/16/99)