Emily Dickinson #324 vs. #449

This first poem was directed towards religion and how different Dickinson was from normal church goers.  She did enjoy worshiping God, but in her own way.

"Some keep the Sabbath going to Church--
I keep it, staying at Home--
With a Bobolink for a Chorister--
And an Orchard, for a Dome--"

By writing this, she is stating she does celebrate the Sabbath, but at home in her own privacy.  I get the impression that Dickinson is communicating that being out in the wild, in nature, is more Godly than being inside of a man made building.  In the next stanza, she pokes fun, in a sense, of the ones that attend church;

"Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice--
I just wear my Wings--
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton--sings."

Stating she does not need fancy clothes or bells for her to worship.  All that is needed is nature and her "wings" or purity.  As for the sermons, she goes at her own pace, when ever and where ever she feels the urge to study, worship, or talk to God. 

 "God preaches, a noted Clergyman--
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last--
I'm going, all along."

On the complete opposite spectrum, Dickinson wrote the second poem.  This writing has more of a physical feel and very superficial unlike the first poem.

"I died for Beauty--but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain
In an adjoining Room--

He questioned softly "Why I failed"?
"For Beauty", I replied--
"And I--for Truth--Themself Are One--
We Brethren, are", He said--"

In the second part, it shows that no matter how hard you try to live for beauty, you will still end up the same as everyone else, dead.  These two poems show two sides of Dickinson, one of spiritual means and the other as very superficial. 

Dickinson #249 Vs #712

This first poem, it hits you with joy and happiness.  The first two stanzas make you wonder what she is talking about;

"Wild Nights--Wild Nights!

Were I wish thee

Wild Nights should be 

Our luxury!"

Who was she exactly referring to as "Our luxury"?  Maybe a love or significant other.  In the second poem, we know exactly who is being talked about, Death.  The mood of this poem is the opposite, sort of in a despair.

"Because I could not stop for Death--

He kindly stopped for me--

The Carriage held but just Ourselves--

And Immortality."

It seemed like she was not ready to just stop and die, but if it was her time, she surely was going to go.  Through out the poem, Dickinson describes what she sees as the carriage passes everything, as if remembering things as they were before she was to go.

"We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess--in the Ring--

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--

We passed the Setting Sun--"

In the first poem, she speaks of her heart and how she is done searching, she is ready to settle, with her lover?

"Rowing in Eden--

Ah, the Sea!

Might I but moor--Tonight--

In Thee!"

While in the last poem, Death and herself end the journey at a strange house.  This was the end of her journey, where she was to bid farewell to Death.

"Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses' Heads

Were toward Eternity--"

Two poems by the same person, but two completely different moods and feelings.  One about a possible lover and the other about the end.

Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Sleep Hollow was a small town where everyone knew everyone.  It was of Dutch decent so the wives would spin and the husbands would tend to their farms.  There was a tall, lanky, skinny man named Ichabod Crane who was not much to look at.  

"...narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together."

He was the towns teacher and a wanderer of sorts, living in one of his students houses' to the next, not having a true home.  Ichabod spent much of his time with the Dutch wives telling of witchcraft and omens and they would tell of ghost and goblins, most of all the Hessian of the Hollow.  The Hessian of the Hollow was to be the spirit of a fallen fighter, said to ride his house from the graveyard, along the woods in search of his head.  

Ichabod also sung in his church and there is where he met Katrina Van Tassel, her and her rich father.  When he saw where she lived, nothing but thoughts of getting rich raced through his mind.

"...he pictured to himself every roasting-pig running about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a comfortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust; the geese were swimming in their own gravy; and the ducks pairing cosily in dishes, like snug married couples..."

To him, Katrina was a way to get rich and move out west.  He made a plan, to marry her and inherit all of her money.  What Ichabod did not realized was Brom Van Brunt was also interested in her.  Brunt was a man of pure mass, quite the opposite of Ichabod. 

"...rang with his feasts of strength and hardihood.  He was broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short curly black hair, and a bluff, but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance."

They both took different ways in trying to receive Katrina's hand, Ichabod made friendly with her father, while Brunt tried to woe her in person.  Katrina's father invited them both, and multiple others, to a small gather.  It did no end will for Ichabod, his plan had failed and Katrina denied him.  He was devastated and rode off into the night.   The down fall of Ichabod being so into the stories of witchcraft and ghosts, made him very paranoid, especially that night.  Between being rejected and it being completely dark and him alone, he wasn't in his right mind.  

"All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard in the afternoon, now came crowding upon his recollection.  The night grew darker and darker; the stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky, and the driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight.  He had never felt so lonely and dismal."

This whole scenario was set up for failure.  His imagination got out of hand and ended up thinking the Headless Horseman was chasing him.  Ichabod ended up getting so scared, knocked off of his horse, and disappeared.

To me, Ichabod brought everything upon himself.  If he wasn't in it just for his own evil wants, this would not have happened.

Wheatley and Freneau

Upon reading Wheatley's On the Death of the Revereend Mr. George Whitefield, it gave me an uplifting feeling.  The way this poem was set up, it was like a eulogy in Whitefield's remembrance, giving praise;

"Hail, happy saint, on thine immortal throne,
Possest of glory, life, and bliss unknown;"

Then there is Freneau's The Wild Honey Suckle, which spoke of the living life of a beautiful flower.  The beginning of the poem starts out quite lovely;

"Fair flower, that dost so comely grow,
Hid in this silent, dull retreat,
Untouched thy honied blossoms blow,
Unseen thy little branches greet;"

Midway through the poem though, it takes a turn.  He starts to describe this flower as dying and decaying.  Turning this positive poem kind of depressing, describing death to such a beautiful thing.

"Smit with those charms, that must decay,
I grieve to see your future doom;
They died---nor were those flowers more gay,
The flowers that did in Eden bloom;"

Unlike Freneau, Wheatley was uplifting throughout the whole poem, even sounding exciting that he was going to heaven, as in the following;

"Behold the prophet in his tow'ring flight!
He leaves the earth for heav'n's unmeasur'd height,
And worlds unknown receive him from our sight.
There Whitefield wings with rapid course his way,
And sails to Zion through vast seas of day."

At the end of Wheatley's poem, she explains they need to move on and continue  the reverend's dream, while in Freneau's poem death stops any moving on and nothing comes from it.  Even though the first poem was more positive, I have got to say I enjoyed Freneau's much better.