English Paper 2

Emily Dickinson, Gwendolyn Brooks and Pablo Neruda employ imagery, observatory
tone through repetition, and personified symbolism to distill focused emotions from the broader
topics of love, loss, and longing, and create a personal desire for these emotions in the reader.
The element of loss is strongly used by Emily Dickinson, and is a closely personal topic
due to the many deaths in her family. Dickinson uses strong imagery of death in the poem
712-Because I Could not Stop for Death. The protagonist of this poem states openly in the first
lines, Because I could not stop for death- //He kindly stopped for me- This is the setup
Dickinson uses to create the imagery of death being a stocky man who accompanies her in the
third stanza. She uses imagery of a carriage ride with death and the sun going down which also
creates a somber mood. Dickinson uses repetition of the phrase We passed in describing the
protagonist and death passing by a school and children, fields of grazing grain, and the setting
sun. The imagery chosen seems to give the audience two different sensations of the passing of
time. Although the action of passing implies movement there is an almost observatory tone
through the descriptions of what is seen while traveling with death, which creates stationary
imagery. The second effect is implied through the chosen chronological order of the imagery. In
this passage, children playing are representative of youth and innocence, fields of grazing grain
allude to prosperity later in life, and the setting sun as a natural ending to a day - or to life. The
use of symbolism here creates a familiarity with death by associating it in interaction with life
experiences, which as commonly viewed positively. Dickinsons employment of imagery to
create a sense of passing time and physical movement allows for the reader to connect with her
constant feeling of loss in her life due to death in her family, as well as in the Civil War.
Similar to Dickinson, Gwendolyn Brooks captures the feelings of love and loss through
atmospheric imagery of location and symbolism. In A Lovely Love Brooks uses symbolism to
express that love can not be defined and is found everywhere and in everything we do. A key

element to this poem is the use of location imagery. Brooks opens with Let it be alleys. Let it be
a Hall. She personifies love to take the form of environmental surroundings, which supports her
closing line, Definition Less in the strict atmosphere. Brooks uses juxtaposition of harsh words
and loving thoughts, to show that love can be violent and can be complicated though using words
such as, scraped me with your kisses, and You have honed me, have released me after this.
This idea of an all encompassing emotion of love is used in a similar way that Dickinson
discusses death and loss.
Brooks is also able to draw the connection of the push-and-pull interaction between love
and loss. In The Empty Woman, Brooks uses imagery, not to describe romantic love, but
rather to describe possible qualms of women towards motherhood, and to express the longing for
children of ones own and all of the joys and struggles that come with them. Brooks describes the
protagonist as hating her sister because of her ability to experience the real emotions of
motherhood, rather than have an outsider's experience through giving artificial commodities such
as toys, taffy and popcorn. Brooks uses alliteration to put emphasis on longing for even the
negative parts of motherhood, such as mend measles, nag noses, blast blisters. Through this
juxtaposition of imagery Brooks is able to create a mood of jealousy, that is deeply rooted in the
feelings of loss and desire.
This feelings of desire and love is commonly used by Neruda in his love sonnets and
throughout his works. From Neruda's book of 20 Love Poems, his poem I Can Write the
Saddest Verses discusses the idea of lost love and longing for the feelings that were felt before
between two lovers. Neruda uses repetition of the night to create imagery associated with the
times he used to hold his lover, in the line, The night wind spins in the sky and sings. Neruda
uses personification for form a personal connection, by using vivid imagery of a woman dancing
and singing in the night. Neruda is also able to create a very specific progression of the nature of
their love through stating, I loved her, sometimes she loved me // she loved me, sometimes I
loved her // I no longer lover her, but I loved her // I no longer love her, but maybe I love her.

Through this Neruda is able to find catharsis in the evolution of their love as they grew apart.
The mood is melancholy and the audience is able to sense the longing for the kind of love he felt
for the woman and the way he is constantly reminded of her throughout his life.
Dickinson, Brooks and Neruda all commonly write about the feeling of longing and
desire. Imagery is used in their poems to depict locations, which are associate to memories in
their own lives. Personification is also used in partnership with imagery as a technique to form a
personal connection with the audience. Repetition was commonly employed to create emphasis
on the passing of time, or of what could have been, but wasnt. Although desire is the broad topic
employed, each writer is able to personalize their writing by relating their longing to platonic
relationships, romantic love, and the longing for life which accompanies death and grievance.