GHOSTS

OED Defnition:

The soul or spirit, as the principle of life.

Analysis of Representations in Nineteenth Century American Poetry:

Ghosts are the most frequent form of undead in the 19th Century. As an undead character, they also have the most connection to both the dead and the living. Ghosts, unlike spirits, are not just transient beings in between life and death. They represent the dead unable to pass on, still holding on to the living. Ghosts can interact with the living. In "Presentiment," the ghost feels the footfall of a living person on his grave. In "Dibdin's Ghost," the undead and the living can speak to one another. While this interaction is sometimes harmless, ghosts often inspire fear because they haunt the living. Thus Emily Dickinson characterizes her mental insanity as a ghost that will not leave. These two conflicting images of ghosts are imagined in "The City of the Silent," which tells the tale of certain ghosts who are inspired by malice, and of other ghosts who have lofty aims. As in life, these ghosts have some form of free will over their actions, if not over their state of being. Ghosts often can hold onto their humanity in death. This can be understood as an attempt to understand the afterlife. If ghosts are left on the earth and not allowed to leave, picturing them as having a choice to be peaceful allows the living to feel that they have control over their afterlife. They can choose to haunt or protect the living.

List of Poems in which Ghosts Appear:

"Presentiment" by Ambrose Bierce

"The Dead Moon" by Danske Dandridge

"Dibdin's Ghost" by Eugene Field

Kwakiutl Song: "Song of the Ghost Dancer"

"The Empty House" by William Dean Howells

"One need not be a Chamber - to be Haunted -" by Emily Dickinson

"The City of the Silent" by William Gilmore Simms

"Dream-Land" by Edgar Allan Poe