‘Aspects of death’ in emily dickinson’s poetry

Since time immemorial, death has been one of the greatest mysteries known to humankind. Through the poetry of Emily Dickinson, death has almost been explained. Dickinson’s death-related poetic compositions reflect a metamorphosis of style and thought that distinguish her earlier work from that of her two later periods. Her dynamic utilization of personification, metaphor, and euphemism is a key element in fully comprehending both her maturing poetic influences on the human perception of death, and her fear of relinquishing her life to an unknown eternity. Death becomes, in the words of Henry Wells, her closest and dearest friend (94). Investigation of the theme of death gave her a panoramic view of vital issues such as religion, God, nature, love and immortality. This paper explores the aspect of death which is the principal subject of her poems, but, because the topic is related to many of her other concerns, it is difficult to say how many of her poems concentrate on death. The paper analyzes some poems of this American poetess in complete detail.