Life, Through Death
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“Go, then. There are other worlds than these.” says John “Jake” Chambers as he plummets to his death in Stephen Kings The Gunslinger. No one ever wants to die, but deep within our minds we all know that death is inevitable. Jakes words reverberate with a strong sense of relaxedness, as if he has already accepted his fate. In Because I Could Not Stop For Death, Emily Dickinson reinforces this idea of inevitability; that we are all on a one way track to death. In turn, she relays that we should live our lives without dreading death, and to live everyday as our last. She conveys that life should be lived to its fullest within its time constraints because once we are dead, time becomes meaningless. While at first seemingly contrary to Dickenson, John Donne conveys essentially the same message in Holy Sonnet X (Death, be not proud). He gives death near-human qualities and essentially debunks the mysteriousness and reverence that death holds over people. Death is not something to fear, he says, and goes on to insult death for its arrogance and weakness. Although he insults death, he does not deny death either; rather, Donne expresses a more laid back, “I-dont-care” attitude towards death.
In the first few lines of Dickinson’s poem, she invites the reader to reflect with her on the passing of time during one’s life while we are still alive: “Because I could not stop for Death — / He kindly stopped for me —“ (Dickinson). In effect, she says that her life was so busy that she simply had no time to think about death. Nobody knows the day of their death and we continue to live our lives day-to-day hoping that we will still be alive when we wake up the next day. One cannot wait for death to come when he/she is “ready” to embrace it; it just simply arrives at some point in our lives. Dickinson then “dies” and shows the reader that time is eternal after death:
“We slowly drove — He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility —“ (Dickenson).
Her life ended, she stopped working and finally relaxed upon the arrival of death. Dickinson goes on in the rest of her poem, describing the changing landscape above her burial site, and comments on how even though she has been dead for centuries, eternity seems quite short.
Dickenson’s poem also introduces another interesting idea: the beauty of life persists even through death. The speaker takes the reader on a metaphircal carriage ride through the world of life. We see children playing in a school-yard, passing fields and a sunset; an obvious allusion to the stages of life and eventual death. Despite being dead and cold: “The Dews drew quivering and chill”, she continues to observe the beauty of the circle of life and the wonders of nature (Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful world!). From her eternal limbo-world, Dickenson observes the beauty of new life with even greater clarity and understanding.
In Donne’s Holy Sonnet X, he offers a more humanistic and humorous perspective of death. The poem begins with Donne effectively “shutting down” death, calling death un-proud, weak, and not even dreadful. He goes on, saying that death cannot kill him and that death itself is slave only to the wrath invoked by fate, chance or other people: “Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, / And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;” (Donne). Death has no real power over us, and is only a “tool” used by others. He also insults death by associating it with poison, war and sickness; things that are “dirty”. Some people may say that death is like an eternal sleep, offering peace and comfort, but Donne argues the opposite: “And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well. / And better than thy stroke; why swellst thou then?” (Donne). He says that drugs, such as opium, or the charm of a woman can also offer peaceful sleep, sometimes even better than the touch of death. As a final note, Donne shows that even when we die, death has not succeeded at all: “One short sleep past, we wake eternally, / And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.” (Donne). This is, in effect the biggest insult that Donne could make to Death. He tells death that even in the event that another, greater power (such as Fate,