American Romanticism
The Romantic period is a period that occurred before American Independence. During that time, there emerged a movement in Europe that was concerned with writing literary works. Afterward, in America, another movement with the same motive was developed. This movement was concerned with producing artistic, intellectual, and literary works (Corfman 1). The movement occurred towards the end of the 18th Century. One of the literary works done in that period is, ‘Because I could not stop For Death.’ This is a poem written by Emily Dickinson, a great poet who existed at that time. This paper seeks to examine some characteristics of American Romanticism expressed in the poem and why reading the text as a Romantic influences the understanding.
Literary works from American Romanticism put value in feeling over reason. When Dickinson symbolizes death as the carriage and has a driver who comes to pick the deceased and transport her to the grave (Dickinson 1), this beats logic. It is not reasonable, but it evokes a feeling of peace and tranquility. Similarly, literary works of this period evoke an individualism characteristic. Throughout the text, the carriage driver symbolizes death (Dickinson 1), is self-reliant and does not ask for help in the transport of the dead to the grave.
Most of the poems written by the American Romanticism movement are quite challenging to comprehend, especially when reading as a layman. Therefore, to understand, it is best to read as a Romantic (Corfman 1). This is because the symbols used will relate to the period. Carriages were used during the fight for independence by soldiers and transported the dead from the battlefield (Corfman 1). Therefore, Romantics can understand meaning easily.
Poems are great artistic and literary works that someone can find challenging to understand. Understanding the characteristics first and putting yourself in the time and the people’s shoes in that event would make it easier to understand. If the majority of the readers did this, they would find it easy to comprehend poems from the American Romanticism.
Works Cited
Corfman, Allisa. “Analysis of “Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson.” 2020, poemanalysis.com/emily-dickinson/because-i-could-not-stop-for-death/.1
Dickinson, Emily. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death (479).” 1998, poets.org/poem/because-i-could-not-stop-death-479.1