The Human Mind Exploring The Evil Side Of Human Life

The Human Mind Exploring the Evil side of Human Life

The human mind is very complex and mysterious. The human mind is a topic that is very common throughout history and also found in poems. In the two poems that show this topic is: "One need not to be a chamber-to be haunted" by Emily Dickinson and "The Haunted Palace" by Edgar Allan Poe. These two poems share similarities and also differences. The similarities are more apparent and more essential than the differences. Similarities within these poems include the use of a house as a metaphor for the human mind and the human body; the fact that they all try to explore the evil or dark side of human life. Also, another similarity present in both poems is the author's tone and style of writing. The differences between the poems are the different rhyming schemes, and plot.

In both poems, a house is obvious a metaphor for the human body and the human mind. In "One need to be a chamber-to be haunted", Dickinson writes, "One need not to be a house" (Dickinson 4). She build the metaphor by stating that "The brain has corridors" (Dickinson 5), thereby shows that the house is symbolic to the human mind. With Poe, he does not directly state that the palace, in his poem, is a symbol for the human body or mind; but words and phrases that he uses, makes one interpret differently. "And all with pearl and ruby glowing, was the fair palace door ... came flowing, flowing, flowing", writes Poe; symbolizes that the door is a mouth.

Both poems explore the human mind and body in terms of a house, but both poems also explore the evil side of human life. Dickinson states that "It would be far safer to meet a ghost at midnight and a hidden murderer in our apartment than to explore and confront the inner depths of our mind" (Dickinson 25). Dickinson is saying that the brain holds more horrors than the world. The discovering of ones true unseen self would be a dreadful experience. In Poe's "The Haunted Palace", the palace, which is the main character, turns from a place of joy and happiness to a place that is evil and sad. The reason for this is dark thoughts enters the main character's mind. Poe writes "evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate" (Poe 33-34).

The concept that both poems deal with evils of human nature is further emphasized by the tone of the poems. The tone in "One need not to be a chamber-to be haunted" by Emily Dickinson is distress and darkness. Dickinson uses gothic style elements to appeal to an image of the haunted chamber which is one's self. Gothic is "a type of fiction that uses remote, gloomy settings and a sinister atmosphere to suggest mystery" (Webster's New World Dictionary 256). The tone also compliments the plot of the poem. "The Haunted Palace" by Edgar Allan Poe, might not express the same kind of gothic feeling as does "One need not to be a chamber - to e haunted" by Emily Dickinson. Poe's choice of words in the last two stanza of the poem is a feeling of darkness and discomfort.

While the tone is similar in both poems, the type of plot and rhyme scheme is not. Dickinson's

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