Death and Immortality in Emily Dickinson's Poetry

Introduction: Dickinson's Life and Preoccupation with Death

Emily Dickinson was an American poet whose unique lifestyle and writing have helped to establish her as an important literary figure. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830 and died in the same town in 1886, having spent her entire life there. During her lifetime, despite her many attempts and the multitudinous volumes of poetry she wrote, only seven poems are believed to have been published while she lived, "all anonymously and some apparently without her consent. The editors of the periodicals in which her lyrics appeared made significant alterations to them in an attempt to regularize the meter and grammar, thereby discouraging Dickinson from seeking further publication of her verse" ("Emily Dickinson"). A recurring theme in many of Dickinson's poems — which were mostly distributed among her closest friends via personal correspondence — is that of death and immortality. These themes can be seen in "Because I could not stop for Death," "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," and "My Life had stood — a Loaded Gun."

While the exact cause of Dickinson's reclusion and her interest in death and immortality is unknown, there is evidence to suggest that her work became increasingly influenced by the deaths of those closest to her, including her father, who died in 1874, her invalid mother, who died in 1882, and her close family friend Judge Otis P. Lord, who died in 1884 ("Emily Dickinson"). Moreover, it can be argued that her religious background greatly influenced her views on death and immortality. One of the central questions Dickinson is believed to have tried to understand was how the soul survived after death. Xiao-Chuan Ren contends that Dickinson "rejected absolutely the idea of man's innate depravity; she favored the Emersonian partial reversal of Puritanism that conceived greatness of soul as the source of immortality" (Ren 96). Dickinson has also been described as being as "self-conscious as Rembrandt with mirror and easel, writing into the poem a completed picture of self — size, psyche, and all — in the third person" (Miller 119).

Personifying Death: 'Because I Could Not Stop for Death'

In "Because I could not stop for Death," Dickinson's narrator personifies Death and perceives him as a gentleman caller escorting her carriage on its final ride. In the poem, the narrator rides along in a carriage accompanied by Immortality, traveling a path representative of life toward her final resting place — "a house that seemed / A swelling of the Ground — / The Roof was scarcely visible — / The Cornice — in the Ground" (Dickinson, lines 17–20). Through this journey, Dickinson explores her views of death, the mortal body, and the immortal soul.

While Dickinson, as the persona of the narrator, maintains that death is ever present in the journey through life — the path along which Death, the narrator, and Immortality are riding — the carriage transports only her mortal body to its final resting place while simultaneously carrying Immortality, the soul, toward Eternity. It is worth noting that although Death is described as chivalrous, Immortality is given no specific description beyond its presence in the carriage. Death's chivalry is demonstrated through the narrator's observation: "Because I could not stop for Death — / He kindly stopped for me… / We slowly drove — He knew no haste / And I had put away / My labor and my leisure too, / For His Civility" (lines 1–2, 5–8). It may be posited that the narrator does not describe Immortality because she perceives it as a reflection of herself and therefore sees no need to characterize it as a foreign entity.

"Because I could not stop for Death" provides personal insight into the dilemma Dickinson encountered regarding death and immortality. Through the poem, she demonstrates her belief that Death and Immortality are forever bound to each other, and that as long as individuals live, Death will accompany them — and will ultimately escort their immortal souls to eternity once they have shed their mortal coils.

Psychological Dissolution: 'I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain'

While "Because I could not stop for Death" explores the physical implications of dying and the separation of soul from body, "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" explores the psychological effects that the concept of death has on the narrator. Unlike the previous poem, death here produces psychosomatic effects that appear to be slowly driving the narrator toward insanity. Not only does the narrator believe there is a funeral taking place in her brain — possibly alluding to the death of the psyche — but she is able to picture distinct elements of the funeral, from the mourners to the deceased.

Unlike "Because I could not stop for Death," in which the narrator acknowledges Death as her escort yet remains undisturbed by his presence, death in this poem constantly interrupts the narrator's thoughts. Each disturbance in her mind transforms into the next, and she cannot find a single moment of peace until the end, when everything mysteriously falls away. The "Mourners to and fro / Keep treading — treading — till it seemed / That Sense was breaking through" (lines 2–4); yet just as the narrator might hope for peace once these psychological mourners are seated, her thoughts are immediately interrupted by "A service, like a Drum — " that keeps "beating — beating — till [she] thought / [Her] Mind was going numb" (lines 6–8). The noise in the narrator's head is then transformed again as she believes she hears "them lift a Box / And creak across [her] Soul / With those same Boots of Lead, again" (lines 9–11).

The maddening cacophony of endless noise eventually leads the narrator to lose all reason. In the final stanza, she vividly describes the moment of collapse: "a Plank in Reason, broke, / And I dropped down, and down — / And hit a World, at every plunge, / And Finished knowing — then — " (lines 17–20). Here, the narrator establishes that the relentless noise has destroyed her reason, and that as she falls through an endless abyss, she also falls away from life itself.

Conclusion: Death, Immortality, and Dickinson's Legacy

It is evident that Dickinson's ruminations on death and immortality had a major impact on her poetry, as the theme can be seen in a great deal of her work. The religious subtexts that often accompany these themes help to emphasize that many of Dickinson's concerns regarding death and the immortality of the soul are intrinsically linked to her religious beliefs. Moreover, the nameless narrators in Dickinson's poetry function as extensions of herself. Despite the fact that her work went largely unrecognized during her lifetime, her major posthumously published collections — released in 1890 and 1955 — have ensured that Dickinson's literary legacy continues to endure.