The Last Night That She Lived Essay, Research Paper
Dickinson writes about a lady that is dying peacefully. The language used presents the speaker’s attitude as accepting, towards the woman’s death. In “The Last Night that She Lived,” Dickinson uses repitition, imagery, and personification to portray the speaker’s attitude.
In the third stanza Dickinson writes, “Between Her final Room And Rooms Where Those to be alive Tomorrow were.” This emphasizes the pain that everyone was going through, knowing that this was the last room she would ever rest in. In the last stanza, the author uses “We” to put emphasis on her death. This lets the reader know that these people were the ones who wanted to take care of her.
The imagery in this poem reflects a peaceful death. When the second stanza talks about noticing the “smallest things,” the reader can imagine a family sitting in a room, very quietly, awaiting this death. When situations like this happen, people are speechless and just sit around noticing every small detail. The last four lines of the poem are full of imagery. This explains what the people did to care for her, even after her death.
Dickinson uses personification when she writes, “Too jostled were Our Souls to speak.” This was describing the pain that they felt when they heard the news of her death. Personification is also used when Dickinson writes about the “reed.” She says that the reed does not struggle, it just slowly gives up. Like the lady, she just peacefully died.
Dickinson writes about a natural occurance in everyone’s life. The speaker has realized that the time has come for this lady to die and they have accepted. There is nothing they can do, but try and make the process as calm as possible.