Description
Confronting Death and Old Age
Readings & Materials:
1.) Billy Collins biography
2.) Collins, “Memento Mori”
3.) Emily Dickinson, “Because I could not stop for death”
4.) Dickinson, “I heard a fly buzz”
5.) Dylan Thomas, “Do not go gentle into that good night”
6.) Robert Frost, “After Apple-Picking”
7.) William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 73″
Homework Assignment
Interpretive:
1.) Using a simile, Collins compares a lamp to an “old servant” who will join the “small circle of mourners” at his funeral. Why does he make this comparison? What does it suggest about his view of his death?
2.) In “Because I could not stop for Death,” Dickinson writes, “He kindly stopped for me.” What or—more aptly—who is Dickinson comparing death to? What does this comparison suggest about her attitude toward death?
3.) Many of the lines in “I heard a fly buzz” deal with the serious, spiritual aspects of dying. The fly is an interruption to the somber, spiritual scene, during which the speaker is giving away her “assignables.” This interruption is important in that it leads the speaker to feel “uncertain.” Given the final lines of the poem, what is the speaker “uncertain” about?
4.) When the speaker of “I heard a fly buzz” says “the Windows failed,” it’s clear that she’s not talking about literal windows; she’s using a metaphor. What do you think “the windows” stand for? Why is this an appropriate metaphor?
5.) Like a few of the other poets we will read in this unit, Dylan Thomas refers to death as “that good night.” Why do you think night is such a common metaphor for death? Why do you think Thomas calls death a “good night,” especially since he is urging his audience to resist it?
6.) If “After Apple-Picking” is an extended metaphor for death, what does apple-picking represent? And what, then, is the significance of lines 27-30, “For I have had too much…and not let fall”?
7.) In the first line of “Sonnet 73,” the speaker uses a time of year as a metaphor for his age. The metaphor continues throughout the entire stanza. What time of year is he describing? Why is it an appropriate metaphor for the speaker’s age?
8.) In the second stanza of “Sonnet 73,” the speaker switches metaphors, saying that his lover sees “the twilight of such day…which by and by black night doth take away.” What are twilight and night metaphors for?
Applied:
9.) Identify one metaphor in the poems above that we have not yet discussed. Why do you think the poet chose to make this comparison?
10.) Identify one simile in the poems above that we have not yet discussed. Why do you think the poet chose to make this comparison?
