Death In Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death

In the poem “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson refers to death as a gentlemen who unexpectedly visits Dickinson to take her on a journey “towards eternity” (I. 24). It is very ironic that she considers death as a gentleman, but as we all know it is the total opposite. On the second stanza they both start the slow and peaceful journey. “We slowly drove, he knew no haste” (I. 5). We can see the tranquility of the scene in which they are. Dickinson here understands the seriousness of the situation in which she is, and she forgets about everything.

Death is inevitable; it should not be feared but instead accepted, and this is the main idea and theme explored in Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death.” In the poem, Death is personified as a gentleman who “kindly stopped [stops] for me [her]” (Dickinson 2), “slowly drove [drives] … know[ing] no haste” (Dickinson 5), and with whom she stops at a “house that seemed [seems]/ A swelling of the ground” (Dickinson 17-18) or in other words, her grave. To begin the poem, the fact that Death is represented as “if he were a human being” (Evans 15) implies that it is humane. This contributes to the idea that death is not to fear. Later on, it can be concluded that this person has control over her as she describes how she “had put away / My [her] labor, and my [her] leisure too, / for his civility” (Dickinson 6-8), which implies that “everything that had once seemed so important and distracting now recedes in importance” (Evans 17), and how he “slowly drove [drives] … know[ing] no haste” (Dickinson 5), which gives “no clear sense of the underlying purpose of the journey or its ultimate destination” (Evans 16) and thus implies that only Death knows the path and destination of the journey. Both of these examples contribute to the fact that Death completely controls a person against its will and that it is inevitable. Finally when “we [they] paused before a house that seemed / A swelling of the ground” (Dickinson

Later in "Because I could not stop for Death," Dickinson hints to the reader that her setting is darkening as time goes on. This is much like one would expect death to look like. In line twelve Dickinson expresses this setting by stating that she and death, "Passed the setting sun." However, this leaves the reader with a conflicting question whether the sun was simply setting in its natural state, or if the carriage was moving underground. Dickinson uses this imagery to allow the reader to fill in the blanks that she purposely did not fill in. By using the setting sun as a symbol to foreshadow death, Dickinson creates a darker feeling to the poem. In lines seventeen to twenty, Dickinson uses a metaphor to compare a house to a grave. It is stated that, "We paused before a house that seemed/ A swelling of the ground;/ The roof was scarcely visible,/ The cornice but a mound." Instead of comparing a grave to something much scarier, such as a stockyard, Dickinson is able to create a sense of lightness to her poem. The reader is able to connect to a house and relate to the welcoming feeling that most houses

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.

Emily Dickinson's Feelings About Death Revealed in Her Poem, Because I could not stop for Death

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).

This poem is written in ballad form which is odd because one would think of a ballad and think a love story or an author gushing on about nature not an allegory about personified Death. Dickinson both unites and contrasts love/courtship with death, experimenting with both reader’s expectations and the poetic convention dictating specific poem form. This is why Dickinson is widely hailed because of her unconventional writing methods.

Death is a natural occurrence that happens to every living organism. Though, death is a destined occurrence many people have many different point of views on death. In Alan Seeger’s poem, “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” he further elaborates on death in his perspective as a soldier in battle and in “Because I could not stop for death” Emily Dickinson explains her poem in a perspective of a white puratan women. In the poems, “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” by Alan Seeger and “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, both explain to readers what death means to them and their point of view on death is and the implications it may have on them. Overall, these poems use diction, repetition, personification, and even rhyme to relate

The first two lines of the poem, “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me” (lines 1-2), shows Dickinson’s use of personification. She personifies Death by portraying “him” as a carriage driver, who stops to pick up the speaker, in this case being Emily Dickinson. The poem continues with Dickinson and Death riding through town shown through the repetition of the phrase “We passed…” in lines nine, eleven, and twelve. The poem states that they pass a school where children played.

One of Emily Dickinson’s most read and celebrated poems is “Because I could not stop for Death.” The narrator, presumably dead, is reminiscing the day Death came to take them. Death is personified as a kind and civil man. The speaker remarks that because they could not stop for Death, he stopped for them. Death stops his carriage for the narrator, who notices Immortality is also accompanying them. As they drive forth leisurely, without haste, Death’s courteousness convinces the narrator to forget their worries. On their way, they pass a school where children are playing and fields of grain. The narrator mentions also passing the setting sun, but then remark it i it that passed them. As evening comes, the speaker begins to quiver from the cold,

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.

“Because I could not stop for Death-” is the more famous of Dickinson’s works. The poem is her attempt to visualize the process of actually being dead. As a narrative, the unknown Speaker of the poem describes how the literalized manifestation known as Death “kindly stopped of me-”. Death picks the Speaker up in a carriage and they ride away together – “The Carriage held but just Ourselves — And Immortality.” In this way, Death has been compared to both a suitor and a seducer for the speaker. After all, the Speaker did not actually choose to die and was not even contemplating the end of life. Rather, Death chose the Speaker. The suiter/seducer interpretation provides a double-meaning wherein can be viewed as both the natural progression of life and also the destructive violation of it. Immortality is the third person

Dickinson gives Death a gentle personality. Painting him in a thoughtful way, with him taking her on a peaceful journey pass a schoolyard, an open field and a setting sun. Death is known to be a harsh reality that must be suffered. However, Dickinson makes it out to be this beautiful last ride through life, admiring all that life had to give to her. “We passed the School, where Children strove/ At Recess – in the Ring – / We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –/ We passed the Setting Sun – “. (9-12) The passing of the schoolyard with the children playing symbolizes a new growth of life. She also mentions that the yard is in a ring. This could mean that she was comparing it to the circle of life. While they are growing, she is going the other way in the circle and dying. She also mentions passing growing fields of grain and a setting sun. The setting sun seems to symbolize the end of the journey, as when the sun sets usually the day is at its end. It gives a sense of ease, knowing that while life does truly go on, she knows that she is not the only thing that will be gone at the end of this journey. Unlike Dickinson’s poem, Donne feels that death is an inferior being, painting him in a weak and useless form. Instead of believing that death will be the last fate he endures, he believes that there is more after death. “One short sleep past, we wake eternally, / And

Throughout the poem, Miss. Dickinson is aquatinted with Death, and they ride along together in a wagon. Their journey is cut short once they reach their destination- her grave. Once her eyes made contact with her grave, she knew her time had come; death had taken her by surprise. A person’s passing can come unexpected, just like Emily’s.