An Analysis Of Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death

In “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, Dickinson personifies something I never thought could be personified: death. In the poem, death is a “he” who is on a carriage ride with the narrator to the narrator's death. In lines one and two, Dickinson writes, “Because I could not stop for Death-- He kindly waited for me.” This is personification because death cannot literally stop to wait for someone. Here, death is not associated with its usual connotations such as fear, but with peace and kindness, which is ironic. In line three, the poem reads, “The Carriage held but just Ourselves-- And Immortality.” In this line, immortality is also included in the carriage ride, contrasting death. This is personification because immortality

Ms. Dickinson seemed very at ease with death as if it were but another point of our existence. In her later works she concentrated more on death because her own personal life was marked by a succession of deaths, loosing those that she was close to and these events in her life caused her to write about death as if it

Emily Dickinson grew up in New England in the late 1800s. The nineteenth century was a difficult time period for the people of America. There was an abundance of war, epidemic, and death. Because her house was located beside a graveyard, Dickinson saw many of the elaborate funeral processions as they passed (Murray). Because of these experiences, death became very real to her, and it made a large impression on her life. Conrad Aikin, one of the many critics of Dickinson's work, believes that: "Death and the problem of life after death obsessed her" (15). She had a very peculiar idea about eternity that was unlike any of the traditional

Her family was well known in Massachusetts since her father was a lawyer and her grandfather was one of the college’s founders. However, Emily was quite the opposite since she was reclusive and withdrew from almost all social life in Amherst. She was not known during her time, but she wrote uplifting verses that touch the heart that are now famous (Michael Mayer, 754). In the poem “Because I could not stop for Death” the speaker dies many years ago, which is reflecting back to her life and the day she died. Thus the theme is that although death is a scary thing, its a soothing process to enter the afterlife. The literary elements that contribute to the theme are personification, imagery, and extended metaphor.

In addition to these three stages, the final stage of eternity was symbolized in the last two lines of the poem, the “Horses Heads” (23), leading “towards Eternity” (24). Dickinson fathomed the incomprehensible progression of life by unraveling its complexity with figurative symbols. Emily Dickinson dresses the scene such that mental pictures of sight, feeling, and sound come to life. The imagery begins the moment Dickinson invites Her reader into the “Carriage.” Death “slowly” takes the readers on a sight seeing trip where they see the stages of life. The first site “We” passed was the “School, where Children strove” (9). Because it deals with an important symbol, —the “Ring”—this first scene is perhaps the most important. One author noted that “the children, at recess, do not play (as one would expect them to) but strive” (Monteiro 20).

Emily Dickinson (1830-1836) is one of the greatest poets in American literature. Although she spent most of her life working in relative anonymity, her status rose sharply following her death and the subsequent publishing of much of her surviving work. Two of Dickinson’s most well-known poems are “Because I could not stop for Death—" and “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died”. I say known as because Dickinson never actually gave her poems proper titles. For this reason, the first lines of her poems have come to be used as a distinguishing reference. This paper will briefly analyze both poems in an attempt to both compare and measure their relative literary merits.

(14, 18). During this poem, Dickinson wants us to simply see her version of a person's trip during death. The imagery is supposed to lead us into seeing what the author is describing.

Dickinson starts the first stanza of the poem with, “Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me” (807). Clearly she was not ready to go, death simply took her by surprise and brought her busy life to a halt. This could be seen as a beautiful way to take on death because death is usually said in such a morbid tone and the fact she associated “kindly” with death makes it beautiful. The second line says, “The Carriage held but just Ourselves – and Immortality” (Dickinson 807). The author emphasizes Carriage, Ourselves, and Immortality. Dickinson seems to be talking about her own death chariot and by immortality, she believes her death is not the end, but rather as a step to eternal life.

In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death “ (448), the speaker of the poem is a woman who relates about a situation after her death. The speaker personifies death as a polite and considerate gentleman who takes her in a carriage for a romantic journey; however, at the end of this poem, she finishes her expedition realizing that she has died many years ago.

Emily Dickinson is one of the most important American poets of the 1800s. Dickinson, who was known to be quite the recluse, lived and died in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, spending the majority of her days alone in her room writing poetry. What few friends she did have would testify that Dickinson was a rather introverted and melancholy person, which shows in a number of her poems where regular themes include death and mortality. One such poem that exemplifies her “dark side” is, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. In this piece, Dickinson tells the story of a soul’s transition into the afterlife showing that time and death have outright power over our lives and can make what was once significant become meaningless.

She believes death to be an unavoidable requisite for all living beings to eventually fulfill, and she writes “Because I could not stop for Death--(479)” to express her acceptance of this as well as imagine what she thinks the afterlife might be like. The lines, “Because I could not stop for Death – / He kindly stopped for me – / The Carriage held but just Ourselves – / And Immortality,” (1-4) state how death will find her someday even if she does not ever ask for it, as no one is immortal. She nonchalantly boards the figurative carriage alongside Death and remarks, “We passed the School, where Children strove / At Recess – in the Ring – / We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – / We passed the Setting Sun – / Or rather – He passed Us – / The Dews drew quivering and Chill – / For only Gossamer, my Gown / –My Tippet – only Tulle –,” (9-16). Dickinson frames death in a light and optimistic manner, in which she joins Death for a scenic journey to the afterlife. She portrays herself as casual and curious about this experience, and there is not one feeling of pessimism nor regret in Dickinson’s account of death when compared to that of Thomas. Putting forth her imagination and creativity, Dickinson also describes what the actual afterlife might be. The lines, “Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet / Feels shorter than the Day / I first surmised the Horses' Heads/ Were toward Eternity,” (21-24) portray the

Disguised as a carriage ride, Dickinson cleverly creates her metaphor of death. The carriage starts out riding and passing beautiful, natural scenery, similar to the journey of life. The ride is described as slow, and when the carriage stops, the horses of the carriage have their heads pointed toward. Whether this "eternity" resembles Heaven or Hell, it remains unclear. This poem gives an accurate representation of the short journey's people have until

When the speaker states, “Because I could not stop for Death—/He kindly stopped for me—,” she implies that most people do not stop to think about their death. People go on with their busy lives and do not talk or think about death because they are afraid of it. So Death must stop and “kindly” ask people into his carriage. After she went into his carriage, Dickinson goes on to portray what the speaker sees as she is dying. Contrary to the speaker’s busy and fast life, line five

In the first stanza she imagined death stopping for her. The poem also describes how she died. She was using literary devices to describe what she saw. She also used figurative language in the stanzas. Death personified as a suitor takes the speaker past a school “ We passed the school, where children at recess in the ring, we passed the fields of gazing grain, we passed the setting sun.”

Dickinson speaks of morality and immortality in first person point of view. For example, in line 1, “Because I could not stop for Death”. She is recalling these events from beyond the grave in her new immortal life. She constantly makes comparisons of things she has seen and experienced herself. Another example, in line 7 when she states, “My labor and my leisure too” she uses the pronoun “my” to describe the characteristics she once had as a mortal being. An additional example, in line 23 she says, “I first surmised the Horses’ Heads” this exemplifies the end of her mortality with the horses taking her into