Death is often considered to be a taboo subject in our culture. I still remember how evasive my parents used to be when I asked them questions about death. Embarrassed, they would simply divert my attention to something else. Among ourselves, we often use ambiguous words to express that someone has died, like \u201che or she is gone\u201d. Death is simply not a welcoming discussion topic.<\/p>\n
Back in the 19th century, a poet, Emily Dickinson, had already been more liberal than us towards death. Death is one of the common themes in her poems, and she shows no embarrassment or evasiveness when trying to express her thoughts on death. Instead of fearfully waiting for death, she boldly embraces it. Her image of death is often warm, positive and even romantic.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look of one of her poems:<\/p>\n
Because I could not stop for Death<\/span><\/p>\n
Emily Dickinson<\/p>\n
Because I could not stop for Death \u2013
\nHe kindly stopped for me \u2013
\nThe Carriage held but just Ourselves \u2013
\nAnd Immortality.<\/p>\nWe slowly drove \u2013 He knew no haste
\nAnd I had put away
\nMy labor and my leisure too,
\nFor His Civility \u2013<\/p>\nWe passed the School, where Children strove
\nAt Recess \u2013 in the Ring \u2013
\nWe passed the Fields of Gazing Grain \u2013
\nWe passed the Setting Sun \u2013<\/p>\nOr rather \u2013 He passed Us \u2013
\nThe Dews drew quivering and Chill \u2013
\nFor only Gossamer, my Gown \u2013
\nMy Tippet \u2013 only Tulle \u2013<\/p>\nWe paused before a House that seemed
\nA Swelling of the Ground \u2013
\nThe Roof was scarcely visible \u2013
\nThe Cornice \u2013 in the Ground \u2013<\/p>\nSince then \u2013 ’tis Centuries \u2013 and yet
\nFeels shorter than the Day
\nI first surmised the Horses’ Heads
\nWere toward Eternity \u2013<\/p>\nInstead of a haunting skeleton man who holds a scythe,\u00a0ready to cut short our lives, death here is personified as a kind gentleman who is inviting us on a romantic journey in a carriage, like one we might find in fairy tales. Such an accepting attitude towards death is why I love Dickinson\u2019s poems the most.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Death is often considered to be a taboo subject in our culture. I still remember how evasive my parents used to be when I asked them questions about death. Embarrassed, they would simply divert my attention to something else. Among ourselves, we often use ambiguous words to express that someone has died, like \u201che or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":10555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[713],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10508"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12379,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10508\/revisions\/12379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}