Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop for Death Essays

In each of the poems, “Thanatopsis”, “Dust in the Wind” and “Don’t Fear the Reaper” they are mostly meaning death. The main point each poem is making is to live life to it’s fullest and not to fear death.

In Patricia Engle’s review of Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”, Engle argues that Dickinson’s poem employs Death as a lover who takes whomever is reading the poem to “heaven”, if you will. She also posits the idea that our eventual death is just a state of mind and we do not all follow the same path to reach Death. The poem, at its core, is about the visceral fear of Death and not wanting to die. I disagree with Engle’s assessment. Engle’s take on Dickinson’s poem is an inaccurate one because it explains that Dickinson does not seem to be afraid of death, that Dickinson is very spiritually aware and even accepting of her eventual fate, and that Dickinson, or the speaker of the poem, has accepted death so he has “stopped” for her.

The second stanza is addressed to ‘wise men’ who know they cannot hide from death and it’s inevitability. Poetic techniques used in this stanza are metaphors, rhyme, symbols and repetition. The line “words had forked no lightning” is a metaphor because words cannot actually fork lightning. This line suggests that the men hadn’t made an impact on the world, nor accomplished all they wanted to in life. Rhyming is also a technique used in every line, ‘right’ and ‘night’ are rhyming words used, and ‘they’ in the second line rhymes with ‘day’ in the previous stanza. So ‘night’, ‘light’ and ‘right’ rhyme, and ‘day’ and ‘they’ rhyme, hence the ABA ABA rhyming pattern. The third poetic device used in the second stanza is symbolism of ‘dark’ in the first line, which represents death. Repetition of “do not go gentle into that good night” is repeated every second stanza as the ending line, ‘night’ in the final line also symbolises death.

Throughout “Because I could not stop for Death” readers encounter Dickinson’s uncertainty regarding death. From the first line, she is timid about “Death” and cannot allow herself to stop for him. Therefore, “He kindly stopped for [her]” (Dickinson 2). Not only to readers see this doubt, but also here readers become aware that Death is personified. Dickinson represents death as a person so that readers will understand the gravity of the subject. In the following lines, Dickinson writes, “The Carriage held but just Ourselves –/And Immortality” (Dickinson 3-4). Here the carriage is the chauffer to the grave, and is given important notice. Although immortality is mentioned, it seems to be more of a suggestion of Heaven or Hell to insinuate the author’s faith. In the next line,

This poem is interpreted as a farewell letter to Bradstreet’s husband. She decides to write the poem since she considers she lies on her death bed while giving birth. In the 16th Century death during childbirth was common, she is afraid of the chances death has with her. She expresses feelings of sorrow and sadness as the poem progresses. Written as an iambic pentameter poem with rhyming couplets. The author combines ideas of death, love and her dismiss from this world. She starts the poem by introducing death “Fading world hath end” (1), “adversity doth still our joys attend” (2), she describes death inevitability and how all thing come to an end. How happiness isn’t eternal. She comes to the conclusion that death is inescapable. Death is coming for the speaker “How soon, my Dear, death may my steps

Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is a remarkable masterpiece that exercises thought between the known and the unknown. Critics call Emily Dickinson’s poem a masterpiece with strange “haunting power.”

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

(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.

“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

Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is a remarkable masterpiece that exercises thought between the known and the unknown. In Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not stop Death,” there is much impression in the tone, in symbols and in the use of imagery that over flow with creativity. One might undoubtedly agree to an eerie, haunting, if not frightening, tone and use of symbolism in Dickinson’s poem.

Like many poets, Emily Dickinson explored the themes of death, leading to the answers of so many questions, in which she was concerned herself. Her poetry frequently clarifies her reaction as to why she wrote about death. However, her treatment of death is unique: “Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me –” (577). Dickinson expresses herself being able to accept death as an old friend rather than a force of nature. With many of her poems, Dickinson elaborates and questions death being incorporated in daily lives as well as the mysterious life leading after it. Among the understanding of her views of death, numerous people become frightened as if it were some creature prowling behind something ready to take them at any second.

The aim of this article is to analyze Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death” stylistically. This analysis is made on different stylistic levels; graphological level, phonological level, morphological level and lexico-syntactic level. All these aspects are helpful to understand the literal and hidden meanings that were used by the poetess to explain her viewpoints regarding the natural phenomenon of death in a very polite manner.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born December 10, 1830, into an influential family in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her father helped found Amherst College, where Emily later attended between 1840 and 1846. She never married and died in the house where she was born on May 15, 1886.

“Because I could not stop for Death” effectively establishes a different meaning or interpretation of what death is from the perspective of Emily Dickinson. She does not view death as dark and evil, but instead views death as a beautiful, peaceful event in one’s life to pass through into eternity. Dickinson uses numerous literary elements including figurative language, imagery, symbolization, and tone to allow the reader to fully comprehend death from Dickinson’s

It was “A Swelling of the Ground--” and “ The roof was barely visible—“. The turning point of the poem was a flashback, when she says, “ Since then—‘tis Centuries—and yet/Feels shorter than the Day/I first surmised the Horses’ Heads/Were toward Eternity—“(21-24). This flashback lets the reader know that she is looking back on that day almost as if she is sad. Centuries have passed, yet that day seems longer than any time that has passed.