How Does Emily Dickinson Reach Heaven

Words: 483
Pages: 2

Heaven is the unknown that people have always strived for. Although nobody knows what it consists of, or if it even exists, it has often been the ultimate goal for religious individuals. However, the definition of heaven is different for everyone. Emily Dickinson accounts her personal struggle to reach heaven in Heaven is What I Cannot Reach. Her exclamatory tone used throughout exposes her intense yearning for this place free of distress. In Heaven is What I Cannot Reach, Dickinson describes her journey to reach heaven and how she finds it within nature, using imagery to explain how they intertwine.
The first stanza begins with a woeful cry to an invisible source, expressing her compunction for her incapability to reach heaven. The poem takes a turn, however, with the sight of an apple. The apple symbolizes the heaven Dickinson finds in nature. The apple on the tree alludes to the Garden of Eden, where an apple spurned the humans just as heaven spurns the author in the text. It is seen as the key of life, although it brings eventual ruin. She sees it hang hopelessly, and compares it to her futile pursuit to reach heaven.
This newfound paradise is reveled in the second stanza as Dickinson uses vivid imagery to describe her discovery. Nature’s beauty
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She describes how the beautiful colors of the sky tease her, as she can see heaven but still cannot reach it. The overwhelming beauty of nature reminds her of the memories of yesterday conjuring up conflicting emotions that cause her to feel disparaged. An intense desire is prevalent with the author’s utilization of dashes for a gripping effect. She so desperately wants to reach this place, but she never will be able to as it is merely a construct of her mind. The overwhelming beauty of nature reminds her of the memories of yesterday, conjuring up conflicting emotions that cause her to feel