“Because I Could Not Stop For Death” Analysis
The poem, “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” by Emily Dickinson
presents captivating themes on the cycle of life, time, and death. The first two lines,
“Because I could not stop for death - / He kindly stopped for me – “ (Dickinson 679;
Stanza 1, Line 1 & 2), capture the poem’s central theme, but the interpretations of
that theme vary widely. This variation would have to do with how one would
interpret Death. The three varied elements that are used to describe the theme are
the civil character of Death, how Death has to do with the eternal life and, and
sailing through time in order to look back at seeing the positives of living every day
life. One would
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Some examples of images that she sees while she is on her journey with Death are:
children playing, wheat growing, and the sun setting. The children that she sees
playing “in the Ring” have a major influence of human beings because they
symbolize eternity. The wheat that grows symbolizes the natural world as she
currently views it. However, as time changes, the grain appears to be “gazing” at her,
or observing her with much interest. The “setting sun” represents the life clock,
which is also known as the thing that humans measure as the amount of time left to
live on earth. As time passes by, she passes with Death into another phase or
dimension. This all ties into what the young woman strives to do. As she journey’s
with Death, she relates everything that she does in every day living as something
she would still see when she is already dead. She tries to repress the stress of living,
but tries to think about it in a positive way. She temporarily loses herself in a
wonderland, where she imagines that everything she sees when she travels with
Death is a pleasant experience. Afterwards, she then tries to think positively of what
she can do to feel the same way when she is alive. As this happens, she spots
significant symbols that represent her life.
In the fifth stanza, the narrative figure uses euphemism as a way to
symbolize the mysterious places that she encounters at her time of
The person who she once was is almost entirely lost and she knows that her life will never be the
be done when dying is what kept her alive. She discussed how she struggled to move from one
This question can be seen as a follow up question of the first. If there are any negative aspects she sees in life, this question will present the details.
into three parts: the beginning, middle, and end, it shows how her values change over time. The
as we find out that she has no parents. Also, because we are told she
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.
him she is. She still remains in an upbeat and pleasant mood despite what happens to
Without presenting the biological facts and the psychological process of the human in a textbook presentation, he successfully managed to represent the human condition in each of his vignettes in an entertaining format that appeals to any type of audience. Suitably, he made the content of the book as universal as possible by not limiting it to appeal to a specific religion, race, or culture. The stories are a product of his enormous imagination, regardless of his formal education about the brain’s functions. One type of afterlife describes that death has three phases. The first two phases deal with the body physically dying.
In the afterword the article addresses the journey, or process of dying. In our study of death and belief we have seen civilizations and give great consideration to the crossing from life to afterlife, and an evaluation of the life lived taken place between. Ancient civilization
In opposition to “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, Dickinson published her work of “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died”. In this particular piece of literature, the author disbeliefs in an afterlife. In this poem, a woman is lying on bed with her family surrounding her, waiting for the woman to pass away. The woman, however, is anxiously waiting for “…the kings”, meaning an omnipotent being. Finally when the woman dies, her eyes or windows, as referred in the poem, “could not see to see “. When the woman passes away, she couldn’t see any angels or gods as she expected would be there, but instead, she is fluttered into nothingness. She isn’t traveling to an afterlife as she had expected to unlike in the poem of “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. The woman finds out that death is a simple end to everything.
When she dies, she chooses to revisit her 12th birthday, ignoring the advice of her fellow deceased, who told her to choose a non-important time in her life. During her journey to the past, she realizes how the living do not appreciate what they have, even if it may seem like nothing. She states how she misses, “food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths … and sleeping and waking up.” These may seem like unimportant, everyday activities, but when one dies they do not get to experience these.
And how the memories that once had occupied her mind is now a faint
Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson processes the life leading up to death and eternal life. The speaker is telling the poem many years after death and in eternal life. She explains the journey to immortality, while also facing the problem of sacrifice and willingness to earn it. The poem is succulent in alliteration, imagery, repetition, personification and rhyme. A notable shift in almost all of the poems direction occurs as well. By doing so, Dickinson, a poet in the American Romantics era, sets forward an idea that immortality will appear in the afterlife of an individual who believes so.
begins to realize her self that she does not have to continue living her life in
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.