Journal 42 - Dickinson or Whitman

If I were alive in Walt Whitman's or Emily Dickinson's time, then I would definitely read Walt Whitman's literature over Emily Dickinson's. Walt Whitman was just a beast. True, Emily Dickinson's writing was more accepted at this time than Walt Whitman's, but Whitman's was just so much better than Dickinson's. There were so many different meanings to Walt Whitman's poems and writings that it made it way more fun to read than Dickinson's. If I were alive at this time though, I probably would not be reading at all. I would be too busy farming and driving horse buggies around. Maybe living in a small house on the Prairie. So I do not think that I would have actually been reading any writing at all, except for maybe the Bible because it was like the only accepted book at the time. This time period, the mid 1800s, was a very boring time period. People had nothing to do outside of live on the prairie, make fires, and farm. Then they would live in the same house for their whole lives which would be very unexciting. I mean I would not really mind living in this time period because I do not particularly enjoy television, computers, or telephones. This is true that it makes things bearable when it is boring, but for the most part, I do not need them in my life. I think that if I did indeed live in this time period, then I would be an explorer. I probably would have discovered Atlantis or something crazy like that. But I much prefer Whitman's writings over Emily Dickinson's writings because there are so many different ways you can take this one poem. Yes, there is only one set of words, but there are several different ways to interpret the poem. IT IS JUST SO EXCITING! So if you were counting votes, then I believe that over the consensus of this English class, Whitman would over power the voting polls.

I Shall Know Why, When Time Is Over Analysis

"I Shall Know Why, When Time Is Over" is a poem about how once Emily Dickinson, the author of this poem, dies, God or Jesus or "Christ" as she says, will teach her about life. This will explain everything to her and she will have no questions or anguish any longer. It is a very peaceful and relaxing tone that says you may struggle during life, but once you die, you will have no more severe mental or physical pain. That is just a very nice thing to think about. I want that to happen to me because if you work hard during your life then you will be rewarded with "Christ's" knowledge of life's struggles and tests. To me this would be a very useful key to have during life, but as this poem says, you are not rewarded with this knowledge until after you die and you are in the afterlife. "I shall know why, when time is over,/ And I have ceased to wonder why;/ Christ will explain each separate anguish/ In the fair schoolroom of the sky./ He will tell me what Peter promised,/ And I, for wonder at his woe,/ I shall forget the drop of anguish/ That scalds me now, that scalds me now" (Dickinson). So as we take a look into this poem, we ran see that Emily Dickinson says that she will know why after she has ceased to wonder why when her time is over, or in her death. She says Christ, which I presume is Jesus, will explain each individual time of anguish, or time or severe mental or physical pain while they are in a classroom type environment in the sky. It is said to be known that heaven is in the sky above the clouds, so this classroom would be in the clouds. She tells him to explain Peter's promise of staying with Jesus even with the possible consequence of death. We are all familiar with this story of Jesus being tried in the courthouse and Peter staying outside. Jesus tells Peter he will deny him three time before the crow calls. Peter was just like no way Jesus, not me, you are awesome and I will not deny you. But sure enough, Peter ends up denying Jesus three times and still Jesus forgives him. This story is read all the time at my church and it is a good example of the Lord's mercy on all of us. But Jesus will explain this promise that Peter made to Jesus but did not keep. Then Dickinson will forget about the pain that is "scalding" her now because of the sorrow that Peter felt to Jesus for breaking this promise. I thought this poem was a very nice poem that draws in both emotions that she feels as a human like anguish, and mixing into the afterlife with Jesus. Then on top of that she brings in a very recognizable story from the Bible that only deeper embeds the meaning of "I Shall Know Why When Time Is Over."



Dickinson, Emily. "I Shall Know Why, When Time Is Over." Bartleby.com. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .

Ashes denote that fire was - Emily Dickinson

"Ashes denote that fire was" is a poem by Emily Dickinson that in my mind is very respectful to the elder people or the people who passed away of the world who have retired, or have just gotten old. It tells of how they once lived well, and had the fire inside, but now they are just ashes after the fire has burned. They had lived, but now are just old, or passed away looking back on the life that was once theirs. "Ashes denote that fire was;/ Respect the grayest pile/ For the departed creature’s sake/ That hovered there awhile./ Fire exists the first in light;/ And then consolidates,—/ Only the chemist can disclose/ Into what carbonates" (Dickinson). When we look at the literal meaning, we see that Dickinson is talking about ashes. She says that ashes give us the reason to believe that there was once a fire in place of the ashes. She tells us to respect these ashes that was designated a fire. Respect it for the dead animal's reason that was around the once present fire. Fire is first during the light, because fire is light; it sheds light as the fire burns. Dickinson then tells us that the fire comes together to be one force. One may think that fire is already a unified substance/ thing/ object/ whatever you want to call it. But if you think harder about how fire works, it really is not one substance. There are several licks of the fire that are all working separately to burn. Then, in the poem, Dickinson tells us that only a chemist can release the information about what the fire burns into. When we look at this poem from a deeper meaning, we can see that Emily Dickinson deeply respect the dead and elder people. We could say that the ashes are death and the fire is life. Then the chemist is God. We live, we shed light or life. We then die and only God can tell us who you were in your life with your death.




Dickinson, Emily. "Ashes Denota That Fire Was." Bartleby.com. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .