Melissa McMahon

March 19 2009

Journal on Dickinson- late

English 48 B

"I died for beauty- but was scarce

Adjusted in the tomb

When One who died for Truth was lain

In an adjoining Room-" (86)

It's amazing to me the way Dickinson captures her ideas, fears, and thoughts on mortality in her poetry- she makes something that is usually seen as morbid into art- she captures the subtle beauty behind a life lived and lost- and the images she conveys with this particular poem, "Until the moss had reached our lips- And covered up-Our names-" (86) We not only see but feel what Dickinson is trying to say- and it makes us quietly respect our own lives while pondering our mortality. Dickinson knew that life was a gift, but a fleeting one. Her obsessions with existence and its eventual ceasing prompted many of her best poems. It was a domain not many women had passed through, and Dickinson did so with grace, truthfulness, and honesty.

An online biography has a quote saying: "David Porter argues that her central theme is the striving for an end: That theme is not the abstraction death or immortality or love or fame, but rather the act of the mind in quest of all of these. For emotional longing, the ideal is love. For the poetic fancy, the ideal is literary achievement. For the spirit's aspiration, the ideal is immortality" This supports Dickinson's many poems about an "ending" of sorts- in love, in nature, but most importantly- in life. Dickinson may be using life as a metaphor- as a symbol that all things end, and she goes on to explore that with her writing. No doubt Dickinson was fascinated with the "ending" or "finality" of things...she had endings swirl all around her...lives, loves, homes, etc. Dickinson was almost protecting herself in a way- and by shutting herself up in her room, she was free to fully examine the beginning, and ending, of things.

I don't think Dickinson was very good with change, and I think, (as a good writer) she explored her weaknesses and fears, thus bringing life to some of the best literature out there. She was not afraid to pass over the areas she was frightened of. Most people would look the other way or fool themselves with happy little poems...Dickinson did exactly the opposite. Knowing that she feared death, loss, and change- she looked deeper in to it- and she knew she had done something remarkable by doing so. Her poetry was left for us to find, almost like a treasure map or a guide to help us all along. She knew the answers- she had explored them ahead of us, and was leaving her knowledge out there for our later use.

I think she knew that she would leave behind a legacy that will never fade. Her poetry was just courageous, just brilliant, just shocking enough that there was no way her words would stand to be silenced. It's almost as if she passed to the other side, and smiling down upon us discreetly, waited to see what we would do with her gift- her life.