Beauty Scarce
EASY 10 POINTS, ENGLISH!!!!?
Explain how Dickinson directs our attention to the beauty of nature, the depth of emotions, and the possibility of immortality.
i need examples from the poem to represent these characteristics.
Heres the 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,–the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.
And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
I didn’t do any heavy analysis, but here is what I saw:
The lines “Until the moss had reached our lips, And covered up our names” tells us that nature will eventually erase everything about an individual. It will slowly take over the body, and then erase the person’s identity. The body will decompose and become a part of nature itself. So nature is beautiful in the sense that it is going to treat everyone the same and we will all be part of it.
We can also think about being in this situation. There is talk about the beauty of nature and that sets a certain tone for the poem, but can you imagine talking to somebody else through the walls of a tomb? That’s to show us that death is still something to be feared.
This isn’t much, but I think it will help you get started. I’m sure you could find some online commentaries that would give you some other ideas as well.
Poetry: Emily Dickinson: I Died For Beauty… But Was Scarce