An Annotation of Emily Dickinsons The Last Night that She Lived :: Poem Poetry Poet Essays Dickinson Last Night

An Annotation of Emily Dickinsons The Last iniquity that She LivedDickinsons The Last Night that She Lived presents a meditation on the reaction of the speaker and those with her while they are confronted with the death of a female friend. Strangely, in dealing with the subject of death, Dickinson steers away from the metaphysical aspect of such a dense situation and remains firmly anchored in the tangible world. The speaker makes no references to God or the afterlife, and her allusions to nature are fleeting. The poem is anything but an attempted plea of the death of her friend, rather it is resembles a catalogue of the human responses of those who remain in the earthly realm after the death of a loved one.The Last Night that She Livedby Emily Dickinson The last Night that She LivedIt was a Common NightExcept the Dying--this to UsMade Nature differentWe noticed smallest things--Things overlooked beforeBy this great light upon our MindsItalicized--as twere.As We went out and inBe tween Her final RoomAnd Rooms were Those to be aliveTomorrow were, a BlameThat Others could outlastWhile She must finish quiteA Jealousy for Her aroseSo nearly infinite--We waited while She passes--It was a narrow time--Too jostled were Our Souls to speakAt duration the notice came.She mentioned, and forgot--Then lightly as a ReedBent to the Water, struggled scarce--Consented, and was dead--And We-We placed the Hair--And drew the Head erect--And then an awful leisure wasBelief to regulate--It is famous immediately that nothing spectacular is taking place within the speakers natural surroundings in response to the situation. The universe has not paused for the departing soul of a woman, or those left behind. It is clear from the first lines that the Dickinson get out make no leaps to paint nature as an intelligible or responsive force.The speaker is all excessively aware that it is the confrontation with the death of a loved one that causes Those to be alive to view their surroun dings with a different slant. The event of death has jarred them into a state of heightened awareness. Previously inevident things smallest things have been brought into focus. It is not the world that has changed, but their perception of it.It is also important to note that the speaker refers to Us. For the remainder of the poem she will only refer to herself as part of a collective. The word I is absent from the poem.