The document analyzes the poem "Advice to My Son" by Peter Meinke. It discusses how the poem uses symbols to convey themes of death and life. The first stanza depicts death as sudden, while the second suggests it can be slow after hardship. The last stanza encourages enjoying life through symbols like flowers, food, and wine. Overall, the poem addresses how Meinke represents life and death through symbolic language.

1. Sandy Cash
Professor Bouchard
ENG 132
Thoughts on “Advice to My Son,”
March 25, 2012
Thoughts on “Advice to My Son,”
In “Advice to My Son,” the theme is death and life. At first, the author is very
negative and is only talking about death. After, that the author is still negative, but is now
talking about how hard life is, but to still try to enjoy it. Peter Meinke describes and
shows all this by the symbols he uses in this poem.
The first stanza deals with death in a very negative way. The poem talks about
how death comes fast and how young people lose their lives in unimaginable ways. Then
the poem goes on to talk about how for some people death comes slowly, if they survive
through the hardships of life. This is shown by symbols; he uses “shattered windshield”
and “the bursting shell” to refer to hardships of life (Meinke, 537).
The last stanza deals with balancing life, even though life is tough, make sure you
have those special moments. A few of the symbols he uses here are “peony,” “rose,”
“squash,” “tomatoes,” and “wine” (Meinke, 537). Peony and rose make me think of
beautiful flowers that I enjoy, and used for special events. “Tomatoes” and “squash” are
used as the symbols of the practical and helpful parts of life (Meinke, 537). Lastly, the
“wine” is a symbol of special events, like a wedding (Meinke, 537).

2. The main theme in this poem is life and death. Meinke uses symbols to talk about
death, and about life. For example, Meinke uses “wine,” “rose,” and “squash” (Meinke,
537). These are just a few of the symbols that Meinke uses in this poem.

3. Works Cited
Meinke, Peter. "Advice to My Son." DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to
Fictioin, Poetry, and Drama. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. 536-537.

4. Sandy Cash
Professor Bouchard
ENG 132
Thoughts on “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
March 25, 2012
Thoughts on “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
“Because I could not stop for Death,” the theme is death, as in “Advice to My
Son,” but it also seems to be about how sometimes people get extremely busy, but that is
not going to make death come later, so enjoy life. The narrator of this poem seems to be
going over their life, and realizing how time goes by quickly. Dickinson seems to portray
death as this kind gentleman, which is different from how death is usually portrayed
(“GradeSaver”).
In the first stanza, it says, “Because I could not stop for death/he kindly stopped
for me,” which shows how busy the narrator was. The narrator goes on to describe how
busy her life was by how she talks about “passing the school, where children strove,” and
“the fields of grazing grain” (Dickinson 541). The narrator next says how time just goes
by so fast by saying, “’tis centuries—and yet feels shorter than the day” (Dickinson 541).
Life, in today’s world is very busy, from kids playing, students studying and doing
homework, to adults working and maybe taking care of a family. Sometimes people just
need to take a step back and enjoy life, and by not being so busy, for one day death will
come, no matter how busy a person is.
Dickinson personified death in this poem by the following: “he kindly stopped for
me,” and “he know no haste” (Dickinson 541). Dickinson also, makes death sound like

5. this kind gentleman, who is just helping the narrator go “toward eternity” (Dickinson
541). This is quite a different view of how death is usually portrayed, for death is usually
seen as a sad part of life. For Christians, at least death is not the end and we have a hope,
that one day we will be in heaven with God, but for people who do not know God death
is very scary.
The narrator of this poem talks about their life, and how the time just went away
so fast because she was very busy, so busy that death stopped for her. Dickinson makes
death seem like this gentleman, who is bringing her to eternity (“GradeSaver”). The main
theme of the poem is death, and how no matter how busy people get death will come.

6. Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. "Because I could not stop for Death" DiYanni, Robert. Literature:
Approaches to Fictioin, Poetry, and Drama. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. 541.
"GradeSaver." Emily dickinson. GradeSaver LLC, 2011. Web. 25 Mar 2012.
<http://www.gradesaver.com/emily-dickinsons-collected-poems/study-guide/section1/>.