For after all, in hopeless love it is despair at the situation, rather than hope that it can be overcome, which tends to feed on us and which we, in turn, feed on. The speaker clearly believes that this would not be right, and thus she uses this as yet another reason for her refusal to marry the person to whom she speaks. Dickinson uses quite powerful imagery to get her point across. The poem can be broken down into five parts. The handwritten poems show a variety of dash-like marks of various sizes and directions some are even vertical. Autoplay next video I cannot live with You-- It would be Life-- And Life is over there-- Behind the Shelf The Sexton keeps the Key to-- Putting up Our Life--His Porcelain-- Like a Cup-- Discarded of the Housewife-- Quaint--or Broke-- A newer Sevres pleases-- Old Ones crack-- I could not die--with You-- For One must wait To shut the Other's Gaze down-- You--could not-- And I--could I stand by And see You--freeze-- Without my Right of Frost-- Death's privilege? Nor could I rise--with You-- Because Your Face Would put out Jesus'-- That New Grace Glow plain--and foreign On my homesick Eye-- Except that You than He Shone closer by-- They'd judge Us--How-- For You--served Heaven--You know, Or sought to-- I could not-- Because You saturated Sight-- And I had no more Eyes For sordid excellence As Paradise And were You lost, I would be-- Though My Name Rang loudest On the Heavenly fame-- And were You--saved-- And I--condemned to be Where You were not-- That self--were Hell to Me-- So We must meet apart-- You there--I--here-- With just the Door ajar That Oceans are--and Prayer-- And that White Sustenance-- Despair--. Dying together: stanzas 4-5 They can't die together because she has to perform the last act which the living perform for the dead, closing his eyes.
Nor could I rise with you, Because your face Would put out Jesus', That new grace Glow plain and foreign On my homesick eye, Except that you, than he Shone closer by. The last stanza is emphasizes the idea of the stanza, their separation; also it gives the impression of a long or stretched out time for her loneliness and aloneness. Lord, a Massachusetts Supreme Court judge, and Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican. However, the speaker does not portray a loving God that allows people to live, but one that seems to keep people in their graves, or on a shelf like a porcelain figurine or a decorative cup which gives him pleasure to look at, to own. By the 1860s, Dickinson lived in almost complete isolation from the outside world, but actively maintained many correspondences and read widely.
He left for the West Coast shortly after a visit to her home in 1860, and some critics believe his departure gave rise to the heartsick flow of verse from Dickinson in the years that followed. Though she was dissuaded from reading the verse of her contemporary by rumors of its disgracefulness, the two poets are now connected by the distinguished place they hold as the founders of a uniquely American poetic voice. She claims that she cannot live with this person, and then she claims that she cannot die with him. The current standard version of her poems replaces her dashes with an en-dash, which is a closer typographical approximation to her intention. A three-part argument against erotic union I cannot live with you, die with you, or share the Resurrection with you, as either one of the damned or the saved , the poem ever more forcefully registers the desire for fulfillment each time it asserts the inevitability of disappointment.
To analyze the poem, the writer uses the theory of imagery. Since then, many critics have argued that there is a thematic unity in these small collections, rather than their order being simply chronological or convenient. Copyright © 1999 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. For you served Heaven, you know, Or sought to; I could not, Because you saturated sight, And I had no more eyes For sordid excellence As Paradise. I wish to see more of her work posted as a means to help the students who find it difficult to understand the literature.
In any case, she believes that she cannot be worthy of him because she has no desire to serve heaven. Yet, she knows that life does not work that way. So we must keep apart, You there, I here, With just the door ajar That oceans are, And prayer, And that pale sustenance, Despair! Her lover's face would outshine Jesus's. To my mind and ear, no other American poet comes close. And I, could I stand by And see you freeze, Without my right of frost, Death's privilege? It opens by wrong-footing us — twice — in the first two lines.
I cannot live with you, It would be life, And life is over there Behind the shelf The sexton keeps the key to, Putting up Our life, his porcelain, Like a cup Discarded of the housewife, Quaint or broken; A newer Sevres pleases, Old ones crack. This poem has an alternate reading: she rejects him to write poetry. I Cannot Live With You by Emily Dickinson. And I, could I stand by And see you freeze, Without my right of frost, Death’s privilege? According to A Handbook of Literature by C. I Cannot Live With You Analysis Stanza 1 I cannot live with You — It would be Life — And Life is over there — Behind the Shelf I Cannot Live With You opens with a curious line. This length emphasizes the idea of the stanza, their separation; also it gives the impression of a long or stretched out time for her loneliness and aloneness. Meaning of the poem She wants to resurrect her lover since he is dead, but unfortunately it is impossible because it would anger Jesus.
This is yet another reason she offers in defence of her choice to decline this marriage proposal. As stated in the book entitled Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama by X. Life in this world: stanzas 1-3 Why can't they live together? The cup metaphor is expanded from the sexton to the housewife, who prefers Sevres Sevres: fine porcelain made in the French town of Sevres. This extension to the housewife suggests that the conditions and values of society. Similarly, anyone who has heard, say, Aaron Copland's song cycle based on twelve Dickinson poems knows how beautifully her work can be set and sung. The safety coffin had a bell the person inside could ring if for some reason he or she woke up to find themselves buried alive. She died in Amherst in 1886.
Though she was dissuaded from reading the verse of her contemporary Walt Whitman by rumors of its disgracefulness, the two poets are now connected by the distinguished place they hold as the founders of a uniquely American poetic voice. Her total absorption in her beloved, his importance for her, would relegate Jesus to secondary status: her lover's face would outshine Jesus's. She was a recluse for the later years of her life. This is the choice Dickinson's first editors made in their revised, heavily repunctuated, and ultimately repudiated 1890 edition of Dickinson's poems. However, unlike most sonnet arguments or , this poem seems designed to argue against love.
She spent a great deal of this time with her family. It can be concluded that the poem is easier to understand by knowing the imagery inside the poem. · Check out our other writing samples, like our resources on , ,. Similarly, she cannot conceive of hell, because hell for her simply means being without him. I cannot live with You -- It would be Life -- And Life is over there -- Behind the Shelf The Sexton keeps the Key to -- Putting up Our Life -- His Porcelain -- Like a Cup -- Discarded of the Housewife -- Quaint -- or Broke -- A newer Sevres pleases -- Old Ones crack -- I could not die -- with You -- For One must wait To shut the Other's Gaze down -- You -- could not -- And I -- Could I stand by And see You -- freeze -- Without my Right of Frost -- Death's privilege? She is not sure exactly why she believes this, other than the firm belief that someone or something outside of her is controlling her life. She lived in a place and time in which the culture was embracing Christianity, and Emily Dickinson expressed on multiple occasions that she wished she could buy into the message like so many people around her were doing.