To some, poetry is a thing of the
past. It’s true that lately, poetry is seemingly dissolving away at an alarming
rate, and even general fiction readership is at an all-time low. Emily
Dickinson, however is still widely known and read by all demographics, and it’s
important that we not only enjoy Dickinson’s works, but to spread her works. Nowadays,
you are able to catch a bit of Emily Dickinson’s poetry in popular films, which
is a modern way of keeping her poetry alive and giving her immortality. My
favorite example of this is in Woody Allen’s “Crime and Misdemeanors” which you
can view at the 1:17 mark:
Woody Allen is known for referring often to Emily Dickinson, as you
can see from one of his famous quotes from his collection Without Feathers:
“How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not ‘the thing with feathers.’ The
thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a
specialist in Zurich.” So it can be no coincidence that Allen used Dickinson
specifically instead of another poet, especially when Dickinson is not known
for being taught in schools without some controversy. It’s interesting that
they used “Because I could not stop for Death” in this film, not only because it’s
one of Dickinson’s most recognizable poems, but because of the meaning behind
the poem.
Because I could not stop for Death
By Emily Dickinson
“Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
By Emily Dickinson
“Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly
drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the
school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
Or rather, he
passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.
We paused
before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then 'tis
centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.”
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.”
Allen and Dickinson share some
similarities in their works, seemingly because of the way Allen has been
influenced by Dickinson. The use of this particular poem in the film is because
of the theme of immortality. Like Dickinson, death is prevalent in much of
Allen’s works. In the film, Allen’s character interjects, “he kindly
stops, the word kindly, right?” What Allen is subtly hinting at here is
Dickinson’s colloquialism when referring to Death. Death is portrayed as a sort
of gentle figure that adheres to manners before duty in this poem, which Allen
finds ironic. It is this sort of writing that makes Dickinson such an
irreplaceable part of literary history.
Film obviously was not part of
Dickinson’s life, but instead, Dickinson kept a great deal of correspondence
with friends through her letters. In “Because I could not stop for Death”
another motif is that of exclusion. Dickinson is leaving with Death in the poem
and viewing life from the view-point of the dead, and this could be a symbol of
the sort of exclusion that she felt during her life that she spent a great deal
of isolation in.
Distribution of information these
days are a bit different from Dickinson’s time where communication was executed
through letters. Our generation was raised on television and film, and it is
likely that many people learn about poets like Dickinson firstly through film.
Crimes and Misdemeanors came out the year that I was born, and it’s most likely
that when I first saw the film at the tender age of five, I didn’t give
Dickinson a second thought (probably because I lacked the proper cognitive skills to do
so). Regardless, film is not detrimental to literature or poetry
because of the way they bring light to wonderful poets like Emily Dickinson.
Sources Cited
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZpXxBJRbXM
http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/ed/files/poetry/EDtoMrsWard_AC837.jpg
Sources Cited
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZpXxBJRbXM
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