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REPORT ON EMILY DICKINSON

Theres Been A Death In The Opposite House .

Theres been a death in the opposite houseAs lately as today

I know it by the numb look

Such houses have always

The neighbours rustle in and out

The doctor drives away

A window opens like a pod

Abrupt, mechanically

Somebody flings a mattress out

The children hurry byThey wonder if it died on that

I used to when a boy

The minister goes stiffly in

As is the house were his

And he owned all the mourners now

And little boys besides

And when the milliner and the man

Of the appalling trade

To take the measure of the houseTherell be that dark parade

Of tassels and of coaches soon,

Its easy as a sign

The intuition of the news

In just a country town

- Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

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The title of the poem above is Theres been a Death in the Opposite House . This poem was

not published during Emily was still alive. To be exact , only two poems of Emily was published

during her life. As we can see from the poem above , the main character is not obvious. We can

take the persona as the the character but it is not very clearly stated. Moving on the othe other

characters , we can obviously see (1) neighbours , (2) children , (3) milliner , (4) doctor ,(5)

undertaker and (6) minister . These characters actually plays a big part in describing the whole

situation of the setting where it will be discussed later on. The trait from each character cannot be

seen that literally but it can be seen as whole community as in they are quite a caring community.

They poke their nose into the issues that occurs around them .

Setting can be divided into three components as in place , social and time setting. The place as

we can see is that the death happened in a house in a small village . It may be Emilys house as

Emilys isolated herself from the society for some time. Social setting can be explained when we

see the society of the village is actually quite caring and superstitious .They see death as a scary

occurrence and is very afraid of it. The caring society can be seen through stanza 2 ,line 1.The

neighbours rustle in and out . This shows that the people there take notice of the happening

around the village. As for the superstitious society , we can clearly see in stanza 3, line 1 .

Somebody flings a mattress out . As the people believe the dead body actually leave bad luck to

the family if the mattress was still in the house . We can also say that the society is a society full

of curiosity . This is clearly potrayed in stanza 3,line 24. (The children hurry by ,They wonder

if it died on that , I used to when a boy) . As for time setting, it is not stated in the poem but I

guess it is in the morning as the minister walk in the house. We all know that they only work in

the morning.

The narrator of the poem is actually is a boy which is using I . He is a grown-up as in stanza 3,( I used to when a boy ) . It is a first person point of view . This is clearly shown in I . I is

narrating the whole incident that is happening

The poem is in the chronological order where it all begin with there is a death in the village or

countryside . Then the neighbours walk in and out from the house and the doctor came to

confirm the death . Somebody throws the mattress out and the children gathered around and was

curious if the man died on it . The minister walks in and calm the mourners and the undertaker

measure the dead body to decide the coffin that to be made . The hat-maker arrives to take the

measurement for the hat the deceased is supposed to wear.Next, the undertaker arrives to get the

measurement to build the coffin.Then the funeral procession where everyone will wear black

attire will take place.The tassels (ornaments), the funeral procession which includes coaches(horse and carriage) followed by mourners, are signs that death has occurred.

In Theres Been A Death In The Opposite House, the persona shows an atmosphere of

gloominess throughout the poem. The persona is expressing grief or sadness that is often

associated with death. People are sad and mourn over the loss of someone who is dear to them.

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In the poem, death is expressed through the use of selected words by the poet. These words are

lately, numb, mechanically, stiffly, mourners, man of the appalling trade and dark

parade. The poet creates the tone of gloominess and grieving over the loss of someone dear to

the family or even the community. The persona is just an observer. However, he too accepts thereality of the situation and shares the family's or neighbour's grief and loss.

The main theme of the story is death is a natural occurrence. Yet, it is a sad event for those who

lose a loved one . The persona knows that one of his neighbours is dead. He sees a mattress

thrown out from the window and children hurrying by. He knows that the children are wondering

if the dead person has died on the mattress. He has undergone similar experiences as a boy. The

persona knows that neighbour go in and out of the house to pay their last respect to the deceased.

He also knows that it is not necessary to make known that a person is dead in the community, as

there are ways to know it. The doctor is around and when he leaves, the minister arrives to see

the family; the milliner and the man of the appalling trade do their part to get on with the funeral.Similarly, the funeral procession would take place, and the mourners and others would be

around. This is how people deal with death in the neighbourhood, as seen through the eyes of the

persona. He shares his experience with the audience.

The symbols of death are numbness and stiffness. The word house symbolises the place where

the body is placed, and also the coffin.

The irony in the poem relates to the the man of the appalling trade. It is an irony that a job that

is very important, which is preparing the coffin for the dead person is considered a disturbing

and unappealing job. It is a job that someone has to do. It is the final thing in getting the bodyplaced in a coffin to carry on with the funeral services and burial.