Luluatul Musyafaah: BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH

BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH
by Emily Dickinson

A. Emily Dickinson’s Biography.

Born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson left school as a teenager to live a isolated life on the family homestead. There, she filled notebooks with hundreds of poetry. Dickinson's remarkable work was published after her death—on May 15, 1886, in Amherst—and she is now considered one of the infuential figures of American literature. The literary works of Emily Dickinson are:

· Departed to the judgment

· On this long storm the rainbow rose

· I went to thank her

· Because I could not stop for death

· Sleeps is supposed to be

B. Poem

Because I could not stop for Death

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.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I furst surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

C. Translation

Sungguh aku tak bisa datang menjemput maut,

Maka dialah yang datang ramah singgah;

Siaga berangkat kereta, membawa

Kami dan sang Kekekalan Abadi.

Perlahan memacu, dia tahu tak perlu

terburu-buru, dan kutinggal saja

seluruh sibuk dan senggangku,

Aku tahu itu pun tak lagi perlu.

Melintas murid yang bermain di halaman,

Murid yang nyaris melupakan pelajaran;

Melintas juga hemparan ladang padi

melintas juga matahari membenam diri.

Hanya segenap jeda, sebelum tiba di rumah

Yang kulihat seperti raksasa timbunan tanah;

Bubung yang nyaris tak sampai penglihatan,

Bukan hiasan pilar, tapi cuma gundukan.

Lalu senja itu berabad-abad waktu; tapi

seratus tahun itu terasa sesingkat sehari lalu.

Ah, semula kusangka pacu kuda-kuda itu

menuju keabadian yang nyaris dihampiri.

(Diterjemahkan oleh Hasan Aspahani)

D. Techinal Terms

Labor	kerja	Sibuk
Scarcely done	hampir tidak selesai	nyaris melupakan
Gazing	memandang	hemparan
The horses' heads	kepala kuda	Pacu kuda-kuda
House	rumah	kuburan
Swelling	timbunan	_
cornice	hiasan pilar	_
Mound	gundukan	_
Surmised	Diduga	_
Grain	Padi	_

E. Poem Analysis

1. Rhythm

In each stanza: 1st line = 8 syllables 4 feet (iambic tetrameter)

2nd line = 6 syllables 3 feet (iambic trimeter )

3rd line = 8 syllables 4 feet (iambic tetrameter)

4th line = 6 syllables 3 feet (iambic trimeter )

The feet (pairs of syllables) contain an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

.......1........................2.......................3........................4
We PASSED..|.. the SCHOOL..|..where CHIL..|..dren PLAYED,
......1.......................2...................3.......
Their LES..|..sons SCARCE..|..ly DONE;
........1.......................2.................3...................4.....
We PASSED..|..the FIELDS..|..of GA..|..zing GRAIN,
...........1.................2...............3........
We PASSED..|..the SET..|..ting SUN.

..........1........................2............3........................4.....
We PASSED..|..be FORE..|..a HOUSE..|..that SEEMED,
......1................2...................3.......
A SWEL..|..ling OF..|..the GROUND;
........1.......................2.................3.............4.....
The ROOF..|..was SCARCE..|..ly VIS..|..I BLE,
........1............2....................3........
The COR..|..nice BUT..|..a MOUND.

..........1................2...............3...................4.....
since THEN..|..’tis CEN..|..tu RIES..|..but EACH,
......1..........................2...................3....
Feels SHORT ..|..er THAN..|..the DAY;
........1.......................2.................3.............4.....
I FURST..|..sur MISED..|..the HORSE..|..’s HEADS,
........1............2....................3........
WERE toward..|.. I TER..|... ni TY

2. Rhyme

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.

ABCD, ABCB, ABCC, AABA, ABCB

a. Assonance is clearly audible as the long /ɑː/ of the words “not” and “stop

b. Alliteration

Because I could not stop for Death (line 1)
he knew no haste (line 5)
my labor, and my leisure too (line 7)
At recess, in the ring
gazing grain (line 11)
setting sun (line 12)
For only gossamer my gown (line 15)
My tippet only tulle (line 16)
toward eternity (line 24)

c. Internal Rhyme

The writer uses internal rhyme, as in the following lines:

The carriage held but just ourselves       (line 3)
We slowly drove, he knew no haste      (line 5)
We passed the fields of gazing grain    (line 11)
The dews grew quivering and chill        (line 14)

3. Figurative Language

a. Personification

Giving human qualities to to something non-human or non-living.

E.g: Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me

The use of pronoun “He” for ‘Death’ and it seems like a person who stops to pick the writer up.

b. Hyperbole

The word “Centuries” in the poem is an exaggerating word that symbolizes the long period of the writer death.

c. Paradox

Since then ‘tis centuries, and yet each feels shorter than the day. The word “centuries” is contradictory to the word “the day”.

d. Denotation

The Denotation of the word labor, leisure and a house is the time when you are working and not working, and a building which people live in. However, they also carry the additional connotation of the worries and joys of life and a grave. Beside that, the setting sun in the poem signifies the end of the day, but it might also stand for the end of life.

e. Connotation

the school where children played = the beginning of her life

the fields of gazing grain = adolescence/adulthood

the setting sun = the writer’s final years

f. Anaphora, a repeated word or phrase throughout a poem.

We passed the school, where children played

We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun. (3rd Stanza)

g. Attitude/Tone:

Her tone is optimistic because she saw death as a friend. She also used words like kindly, leisure, passed, riding, slowly, and civility that suggest an attitude of comfort and peace.

h. Simile

it is a figure of speech in which two things are compared using “as”, “as when”, “like”, “than” or other equivalent constructions. The simile in this poem is “Feels shorter than the day”.

4. Imagery and Symbols

Imagery:

it is a Concrete representation of a sense impression, feeling, or idea. Images appeal to one or more of our senses. The visual and feeling imageries of this poem are:

_ a house that seemed a swelling of the ground

_ The roof was scarcely visible

_ but each Feels shorter than the day

_ I furst surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity

Symbols:

in stanza 4:

_the school symbolizes the morning of life

_the grain symbolizes the midday of life and the working years

_the setting sun symbolizes the evening of life and the death of life.

5. Theme and Speaker

Theme:

a. Mortality:

Quote :

My labor, and my leisure too,(7)

We passed the school where children played,(9)

We passed the fields of gazing grain,(11)

We passed the setting sun. (12)

b. Immortality:

Quote :

And Immortality.(4)

Were toward eternity.(20)

Speaker:

A woman who speaks from the grave. She says she calmly accepted death.

Luluatul Musyafaah

Minggu, 21 Juni 2015

BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH

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