image of god and death in Emily Dickinsons it was not death for i stood up
As God and Death are the main themes in Emily Dickinson’s poetry, so her poem “It was not Death, for I stood up” is not an exception. It is about death. Although we can not read the poems as the author’s biography but there should be mentioned that Emily Dickinson had strong belief in the afterlife, that is one of the reasons the theme of Death is so important in her poetry. The poem “It was not Death, for I stood up” is an example where the theme of Death prevails. The poem itself is longing for death. The first and the last lines illustrate that: the speaker regrets- “It was not Death” and the last line states that it is just Despair ( The Norton Anthology of American Literature, subsequently NA, 1065). Moreover, the poem reveals the speakers relationship with God which is very unconventional. Therefore, the poem “It was not Death, for I stood up” is an amalgamation of hope, belief in God and longing for death. First of all it is important to state that death is a state of perfection to the speaker. This is the only way through death to achieve oversoul, that is God.