Poem 1 Analysis

A Dream by Helen Hunt Jackson (click link here) http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/helen_hunt_jackson/poems/4311.html

I dreamed that I was dead and crossed the heavens,-- 
Heavens after heavens with burning feet and swift,-- 
And cried: "O God, where art Thou?" I left one 
On earth, whose burden I would pray Thee lift." 

I was so dead I wondered at no thing,-- 
Not even that the angels slowly turned 
Their faces, speechless, as I hurried by 
(Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned); 

Nor, at the first, that I could not find God, 
Because the heavens stretched endlessly like space. 
At last a terror siezed my very soul; 
I seemed alone in all the crowded place. 

Then, sudden, one compassionate cried out, 
Though like the rest his face from me he turned, 
As I were one no angel might regard 
(Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned): 

"No moew in heaven than earth will he find God 
Who does not know his loving mercy swift 
But waits the moment consummate and ripe, 
Each burden, from each human soul to lift." 

Though I was dead, I died again for shame; 
Lonely, to flee from heaven again I turned; 
The ranks of angels looked away from me 
(Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned).


Analysis: When I first read this poem I was very confused to what the writer was talking about. I didn't for sure know what the writer was talking about. But I defiantly got a negative vibe after reading this poem. As for evocative language, there was quite a lot of them in this poem, but there was one particular one that caught my eye. The line "I was so dead I wondered at no thing,--". I liked how they made this particular sentence because it's very creative. I like how they used the word dead because the person couldn't think/wonder. For figurative comparison, I didn't really see any that I liked in this poem or any at all. As for structure, I like how they built this poem up. When they were writing this poem, they liked to make it dramatic so by making it dramatic, they would make a pause at the end of the line and continue to a new line. For the Big Idea portion, I think that this poem is basically about a man trying to go to heaven after he died but is not able to because he does not belong in heaven, he belongs in hell. I say this because towards the ending of the poem, it states " The ranks of angels looked away from me" in this line it is stating that the angles are ignoring him. Also in the poem is says "Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned" in parentheses under three stanzas.