From the Heart of Emily Dickenson to the hearts of many…

1. From the Heart of Emily Dickenson to the hearts of many… By : AriadnaM.Delgado

2. Biography Emily Dickinson was born November 10,1830 in Amherst. She came from a well off and well educated family. Emily's father was very strict Emily would say that , “his heart was pure and terrible.“ She loved her father very much though, and she attempted to be the “best little girl.” Her family were pillars of the local community. Their house was known as the “Homestead” , or the ‘Mansion". It was often used as a meeting place for distinguished visitors, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emily was always said to have shown remarkable intelligence. She was able to create many origins of writings. As she grew older she became a Whig and later became a Republican, although she was never vey interested in politics She later secluded herself from society because of her shyness. She dressed in a manor very close to that of the puritans. Emily was a keen artist, accomplished musician, and even a singer in her college years. When Emily returned home from college she learned many of the domestic household chores and took care of her parents. Emily wrote over 1,700 poems. She died at the age of 55 on May 15, 1886, from Bright’s disease. Although Emily was very talented, and wealthy she was not a very joyful person, and she lived a pretty dark life. In spite of her frail health and seclusion from society its said that she still experience some moments of great joy. When Emily passed away her sister Vinnie was instructed to burn Emily's poems , Emily was a very private poet. When Vinnie found the 1,700 poems and decided to hold on to them . Vinnie held on to the poems for a couple years then passed them to a family friend. Vinnie is the reason we now get to experience Emily Dickinson's great poetry. Emily Dickinson was considered to be one of Americas greatest poets. Overall she lived a life of seclusion and simplicity but wrote some of the most powerful poetry we know. Her poetry questioned the nature of immortality and death, she also did some dark kind of romantic poetry. Ultimately unique poetry style.

3. The Chariot • Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. • We slowly drove, he knew no haste, And I had put away My labor, and my leisure too, For his civility. • We passed the school where children played, Their lessons scarcely done; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. • We paused before a house that seemed A swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice but a mound. • Since then 't is centuries; but each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity.

4. Summary • Death is played in the form of a gentleman suitor, he stops to pick up the speaker and take her on a ride in his horse drawn carriage. • They move along at a pretty relaxed pace and the speaker seems completely relaxed with the gentleman. As they pass through the town, she sees the children playing, fields of grain, and the setting sun. Pretty peaceful, right? • As dusk sets in the speaker gets a little chilly, she is only wearing a thin silk shawl for a coat. She was unprepared for her date with Death when she had gotten dressed that morning. • They stop at what will be her “burial ground”, marked with a small headstone. • In the final stanza, we find out the speaker's ride with Death took place centuries ago…..so she's been dead for a long time. But it seems like just yesterday when she first got the feeling that horse heads pointed toward "Eternity"; or, in other words, signaled the passage from life to death to an afterlife.

5. The thing to remember is that although Dickinson wrote no Iambic Pentameter, Hymn Meters are all Iambic and Ballad Meters vary not in the number of metrical feet but in the kind of foot. Instead of Iambs, Dickinson may substitue an anapestic foot or a dactyllic foot. Hymns are usually written in rhyming quatrains and have a regular metrical pattern. Emily's quatrains (four-line stanzas) aren't perfectly rhymed, but they follow a regular metrical pattern The first and third line in every stanza is made up of eight syllables, or four feet. A foot is made up of one unstressed and one stressed syllable. EX: Be-cause| I could | not stop | for Death,

6. Imagery • Death – Grim reaper • Carriage –final passage to death • Horses/horse heads- break the barrier of life and death • Sunset- foreshadows her death • House- final resting place… her grave.

8. A Shady Friend • A shady friend for torrid days Is easier to find Than one of higher temperature For frigid hour of mind. • The vane a little to the east Scares muslin souls away; If broadcloth breasts are firmer Than those of organdy, • Who is to blame? The weaver? Ah! the bewildering thread! The tapestries of paradise! So notelessly are made!

9. This is my Letter • This is my letter to the world, That never wrote to me,-- The simple news that Nature told, With tender majesty. • Her message is committed To hands I cannot see; For love of her, sweet countrymen, Judge tenderly of me!

11. DARKNESS

15. T H E E N D