Emily Dickinson Because I Could Not Stop For Death Essay

Emily Dickinson's most famous work, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" is generally considered to be one of the great masterpieces of American poetry (GALE). Dickinson experienced an emotional crisis of an undetermined nature in the early 1860's. Her traumatized state of mind is believed to have inspired her writing. In this particular poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” the deceased narrator of the poem reminisces about that material day when Death came seeking for her. In stanza one of the poem, the speaker states that she had always been too occupied to give room to death, so in good manner, he stopped for her. She further remarks that, in his carriage, she was accompanied by Immortality alongside Death. "The Carriage held

In "Because I Could Not Stop For Death," the narrator describes how she is accompanied by Death, who is described as a gentleman caller. The narrator notes, "Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me.../We slowly drove, he knew no hast/And I had put away/My labor, and my leisure too,/For his civility" (Dickinson lines 1-2, 5-8). Through this description, the narrator is able to establish a somber, yet accepting tone in which she does not feel that she has to fight death, but rather accept it as a part of life. Through the narrative of the poem, the narrator is able to demonstrate change through the different landmarks that she passes on her journey. In the poem, change is emphasized through the anaphora that is used to describe the carriage's journey. For instance, the narrator notes

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

The subject of death, including her own was a very prevalent theme in Emily Dickinson’s poems and letters. Some may find her preoccupation with death morbid, but this was not unusual for her time period. The mindset during Ms. Dickinson’s time was that of being prepared to die, in the 19th century people died of illness and accidents at an alarming rate, not to mention the Civil War had a high number of casualties, she also lived 15 years of her youth next to a cemetery. Dickinson’s view on death was never one of something to be feared she almost romanized death, in her poem “Because I Could not Stop for Death”, she actually personifies death while narrating from beyond the grave. In the first stanza she states “I could not stop for

One of Emily Dickinson’s most famous poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death, consists of Emily summarizing her journey through life, from the afterlife. The poem embraces death and its eternity. She begins by personifying death as a person who takes her on ‘date’ in which her life is calmly retold.

This lets the reader know that she is long past her death, and what is being explained now happened centuries ago, but to her, it “feels shorter than the Day.” The carriage that was first mentioned in the beginning stanza, is now being brought into the poem once again when the speaker announces that she feels like it’s been a while since she “first surmised the Horses’ Heads”–the carriage, Death. The speaker finally uses the word ‘eternity’ as a way of describing how she feels. Death has left his mark on her thoughts

"Because I could not stop for Death" is a poem by Emily Dickinson that gives the reader an interesting take on death. The speaker in the poem gets in a carriage and rides along with a gentleman who is the personification of death. On the carriage ride, they pass many of life's gifts and ride off into eternity. Dickinson's vision of death in this poem implies that the worries and joys of life will be gone in the afterlife, death will come unexpectedly, and that death will leave an individual riding eternity reflecting on a single day.

Writers have different interpretations of death. Some authors view death as rather intimidating. However, Emily Dickinson, in her poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” makes the departure from earth seem quite peaceful. Dickinson had written a fair amount of poems regarding death and immortality. Perhaps writing was her way of coping with the death of those whom she was close with.

Emily Dickinson stresses the theme of death in her poem, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” It seems as if she likes to explore and question the experience of mortality. Within her poem, she creates conceits that compare death to a lover and tries to explain the process of death. Dickinson tentatively approaches the theme of mortality and questions what the actual experience of death is like rather than avoiding it. Poems that usually have a theme of death revolve around the fear of dying and the worry that there is not enough time within a lifetime, however, Dickinson uses personified metaphors to describe the process of dying and shows curiosity throughout her poem rather than fear of running out of time.

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

Writing nearly 1800 poems, Emily Dickinson is known as one of the most distinguished poets of the 19th century. She was born on December 10th in the year of 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts to a very well-known and influential family. Naturally, Emily had the reputation of being a recluse since she was the second born of three children, making her the middle child. Having never been married, she died in the house where she was born on May 15th, 1886. Seemingly her most understood ballad, "Because I Could not Stop for Death" clarifies the desires that Emily Dickinson put on her freedom from common traditions and her strong sense of understanding life as a whole.

First, Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death” is obvious in its theme of death in comparison to the others listed in the previous paragraph. The narrator of this poem uses a figure of speech to describe Death as a kind person taking the time to pick her up since she was too busy for him (Dickinson 566). Death is described as warm and kind throughout most of this poem, with only two stanzas depicting a sinister feeling when she actually realizes that she is dead. The speaker tells about a carriage ride with Death, a metaphor for the act of dying. This poem, in fact, is built on metaphors, alliterations, anaphora, paradox and it’s written in lyric form; it’s got a beat to it when read. The poem contains six stanzas with four lines in each making it a quatrain. “Because I could not stop for Death” also uses symbols in its text to establish the speaker’s lifetime. The speaker tells of the carriage ride past the school where children

The poem written by Emily Dickinson "Because I could not stop for death" also subsumes a similar poetic language and meaning as the other poems. The poem deliberates about a funeral carriage drawn by horses to her burial. Unlike her other conventional poems, Emily Dickinson personifies death as a civil gentleman; while using many powerful metaphors and visual imagery to help influence that we should accept death. The poem contains an anaphora “We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – We passed the Setting Sun” that suggests a relationship between the writer and reader that we all go through this situation. Dickinson's metaphors which are used throughout the poem help create vivid imagery such as her unprepared and acquiesce of death. The stanzas are inconsistent, having a slight rhyme in lines two and four, which does not satisfy our expectation. This poem elucidates that we must accept of what transpires in our life and absconds us from the problem at hand.

Modernism for Emily Dickinson has to do with the uncertainty. Emily Dickinson was a somber thinker who doesn’t try to enlighten anyone of anything. Her poems were uniquely written and she wrote about the uncertainty, which makes her poetry easy to empathize with in the 21st century. The 21st century, is a period of science which is used as a tool to make sense of the uncertainty. Emily Dickinson uses her poetry as a means to question and observe the trauma of human existence. For instance, she doesn’t shy away from the reality of death in her poem “Because I could not stop for Death”. Emily Dickinson being obsessed with the concept of death influenced her to question the effect that death creates by painting death as a traveling companion in her poem. Dickinson as a modern writer challenges traditional beliefs such as gender norms and society in her poem “I gave myself to him”. She questions the value of marriage which is treated as a business transition. She also went against traditional writing as demonstrated by her use of punctuation. Emily Dickinson doesn’t purposely strive towards an end or aim to convince the audience of something, which makes her poetry work as riddles so that the reader questions and analyzes her poetry. Through analyzing Emily Dickinson’s poetry, she demonstrates that she is a modern poet by questioning and observing the values of the nineteenth century. Emily Dickinson enables the reader to come up with many interpretations of her poems because