Hello again,

I've already posted before and the suggestions have really helped. This time though im stuck on one last detail.

I already mentioned that I am comparing Emily Dickensons "We Grow accustomed to the dark" with Pauline Johnsons " Silhoutte" using theme. mood and imagery. The essay suppose to be 800 words and I have reached around 500 so I need approximately 300 word comparison on imagery. Is it just me or do these two poems have almost nothing in common when it comes to imagery. I only have one day left and im desperate!!

Silhouette

The sky-line melts from russet into blue,
Unbroken the horizon, saving where
A wreath of smoke curls up the far, thin air,
And points the distant lodges of the Sioux.

Etched where the lands and cloudlands touch and die
A solitary Indian tepee stands,
The only habitation of these lands,
That roll their magnitude from sky to sky.

The tent poles lift and loom in thin relief,
The upward floating smoke ascends between,
And near the open doorway, gaunt and lean,
And shadow-like, there stands an Indian Chief.

With eyes that lost their lustre long ago,
With visage fixed and stern as fate's decree,
He looks towards the empty west, to see
The never-coming herd of buffalo.

Only the bones that bleach upon the plains,
Only the fleshless skeletons that lie
In ghastly nakedness and silence, cry
Out mutely that naught else to him remains

Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake)

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We grow accustomed to the Dark --
When light is put away --
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye --

A Moment -- We uncertain step
For newness of the night --
Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark --
And meet the Road -- erect --

And so of larger -- Darkness --
Those Evenings of the Brain --
When not a Moon disclose a sign --
Or Star -- come out -- within --

The Bravest -- grope a little --
And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead --
But as they learn to see --

Either the Darkness alters --
Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight --
And Life steps almost straight.

Emily Dickinson

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Johnson's poem contains many more concrete images than Dickinson's whose poem is basically an abstract description of night. Examples from each stanza of Johnson's poem could be used to convey the passing of the Native American tribes from the landscape. Dickinson, on the other hand gives very few concrete examples, but both convey a feeling of regret that we have adjusted to something which has been lost. Native American land, and the light of day in Dickinson's poem.


Les



Post Edited (10-20-04 13:50)

It's hard to say what could be added, without seeing the 500 words already composed. Let's assume the comparison is based on what has been lost in each of the works? Dickinson's is on the death (loss) of a person and Johnson's portrays the Indians' loss of the buffalo?

Is that Abdihamid's direction so far, or something else, I mean.

Dickinson's poem might describe a more PERSONAL loss, if the reader wishes to look at it that way. It's really hard to know where to procede from here without reading the essay thus far, as Hugh suggests.

Les

I guess im going to drop the imagery since it seems so difficult to make a lengthy comparison between the two poems using imagery. So I really need suggestions as to what elements besides theme and mood can be easily compared using alot of proof

I would appreciate any help
Abdi

Ps I always do poorly on the introduction and concluding paragraphs. Any tips on writing those will be much appreciated

Abdihamid, I agree, these poems have almost nothing in common, but comparing doesn't mean you have to find similarities. You can also compare differences.

I don't think ED's poem is about regret for something lost. It's saying that we can soon adjust to apparent darkness (whether physical, as of midnight, or emotional, as in 'larger darkness...evenings of the brain') and then carry on erect. That's one of the points of difference from EPJ's poem, which clearly is about the death of a culture based on the buffalo herds. By the same token I can't read the ED poem as about the death of a person. The references to the neighbour's goodbye and the lamp seem to me no more than part of a description of a lamp-carrying neighbour saying good bye as she takes to a path leading away from the house after paying a visit at night. The brightness of the lamp causes temporary night blindness from which the persona soon recovers.

Certainly ED takes darkness, and getting used to darkness, as metaphors, but that's not to say she does much with them. Her poem seems a fairly minor, small-scale piece compared with the sweeping canvas and epic changes addressed by the EPJ poem.

Another point of difference is that ED is writing about night, and there's a reference to dark or darkness in 4 out of 5 stanzas. She doesn't refer to any colours as such. The EPJ poem, on the other hand, which is about huge loss, doesn't mention darkness at all. If I'm not mistaken, it's set at dawn on a cloudless day ('russet into blue').

The persona in the ED poem can't see at first, but soon adjusts to the darkness, and seems glad to do so. The Indian in the EPJ poem can see, and indeed can see a great distance (across the western plains), but his eyes have lost their lustre. The implication is that he no longer wants to see.

I'm sure you can go on and find other points of comparison.

As an opening or end summary, you might say that both poems are about vision, but treat the subject in opposite and contrasting ways.

Ian



Post Edited (10-21-04 10:33)

Good points, Ian. Note also ED writes, "the Neighbor", instead of "a neighbor". Could be Susan Huntington Dickinson, her sister in law & neighbor?

Here are some more ideas of interest:

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