The speaker tells us how death is patient and generous. Death not only is being a gentleman to the speaker, but he also takes her on a carriage ride. On the ride he takes her through places that she remembers, even one where she is left buried. We are left thinking that the speaker is alive throughout their journey and that death is taking her on a ride to her burial spot. But once we reach the last stanza of the poem, we are then surprised that the speaker has been dead for centuries and that it’s her spirit thinking about the day of her death. We are then told that her journey not only continues after her grave, but it goes on into…
Emily Dickinson, a chief figure in American literature, wrote hundreds of poems in her lifetime using unusual syntax and form. Several if not all her poems revolved around themes of nature, illness, love, and death. Dickinson’s poem, Because I could not stop for Death, a lyric with a jarring volta conflates several themes with an air of ambiguity leaving multiple interpretations open for analysis. Whether death is a lover and immortality their chaperone, a deceiver and seducer of the speaker to lead her to demise, or a timely truth of life, literary devices such as syntax, selection of detail, and diction throughout the poem support and enable these different understandings to stand alone.…
Death is an odd thing, humans do not know what waits for them the moment their hearts stop beating, they do not know where they’ll end up going- but death is a common topic. Whether it be in movies or writing, death has made its impression on the world; especially on poet Emily Dickinson. Dickinson’s poems, “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death” focus on a consistent theme of death and her own curiosity on what it might be like to die herself. Dickinson’s life and use of the archetypal device have a connection to helping fuel her dreary, death revolving, poetry.…
The woman leaves with Death without protestation, and permits him to take control in driving the carriage. She evidently realizes that there is no use in fighting it and instead allows herself to be taken on this journey. Dickinson depicts as Death treating her “kindly” and very respectfully as well. She is not externalized or disregarded as his metaphorical wife. Additionally, Dickinson used specific symbolism such as the vision of the children at the schoolyard to signify the youthful period of her life, the carriage that symbolizes her funeral wagon—the vehicle that Death is using to take his bride to the next destination. All of these elements that Dickinson used to personify the concept of death is quite effectively in getting the reader to think outside the box. Perhaps there is an Eternity after death. Perhaps Death isn’t such a scary concept to embrace at the end of one’s life. These are the kinds of thoughts that reading this poem conjure up, and sure it shows that Dickinson certainly had a rather interesting view of the afterlife in general. That she was able to build such an interesting imagery about such a morbid topic shows just how much of a skilled poet she was. She will be continue to be lauded for those skills far into the future, perhaps even into…
In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, the use of imagery helps clarify the theme that death is not an end but a passage way into eternity. In the first stanza imagery is used to show the reader that a carriage has stopped with death being the driver at her house, “Because I could not stop for Death-/ He kindly stopped for me” (1-2). Later as the speaker is in the carriage, she looks around outside of the carriage and…
Death is portrayed as a man driving a carriage and delivering people to their respective graves. In this poem death is said to have “kindly stopped”(2) for the character and in the journey he “knew no haste”(5). Instead of being grim and gray, the characters actions during his part of the journey show the character as a gentleman and bring him to life. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost details the pause of a person during travel. The traveler is accompanied by his companion, a horse.…
Emily Dickinson uses personification to similate how death is a gentleman that stopped to give someone a pleasant ride to their destination. The gentleman (Death) waits for her is the way the poet conveyed in the poem. As if death is a person waiting for her to join him. Another personification is when the writer compares death to someone having good manners, although this is not possible, they travel together at no certain speed with no time limit. As they pass through the town the sun sets as death takes her to her final resting place, the ride is peaceful.…
The speaker states, “Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses’ Heads Were toward Eternity,” (21-24). The speaker references horses’ heads, she is mentioning the horses that drew the carriage and lead her to her eternity. It is important to note that, at this point the poem brings upon closure and melancholy. Despite the overwhelming sadness, there is a peaceful undertone and allure to the poems structure. The topic of death is often times hard to digest; it is typically avoided and can also cause people of any age discomfort.…
Through this, the reader can come to the conclusion that death not just an action to the speaker, but an important tangible figure. In the line “We drove slowly -- He knew no haste” Death becomes a sentient being that travels with the speaker. Likewise the line “We passed the school, where Children strove” creates a real image of the journey Death is taking the speaker on. Such personification emphasizes the respect and importance Death has for the speaker. If the speaker didn’t respect Death, Death wouldn't be a travel companion, rather an end or action that leads to an abyss. The humanization of Death allows the reader to better understand and fathom the respectful and pleasant relationship the speaker has with the…
In the poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," Emily Dickerson discusses how death may happen suddenly whether you are prepared for it or not. Yet although it may be unexpected it is but just another trip, in this case "the carriage held but just ourselves/ and immortality." She discusses how she has to put an end of things done while living, "labor, and my leisure too," and how the world will still go on, with her watching children play. Eventually Emily Dickerson comes to realize that death is everlasting, when she surmises that the horses carrying her on her voyage "were toward eternity."…
By contrast in ‘Death’ the imagery of beauty is moving. Throughout the poem fleeting beauty is portrayed e.g. in the words; washed, sunset, quick, blown, ended, changing. The adjectives from the poem that are listed normally don’t last long giving a sense of brief purity. This poem is deeply moving. In every line there are…
Where “This is my Letter to the World” demonstrates disengagement from the outer world, this poem also explores her alienation from the outer world through her unusual relationship with death. Through the imagery in the lines, “I died for beauty but was scarce/adjusted in the tomb” the persona demonstrates her unconventional attitude toward death in contrast to the ideologies of the outer world regarding the topic of death. This statement contains distinct imagery of dying for beauty which is intangible, accentuating the personal belonging of the persona. The imagery is very macabre, morbid, and martyr-like. The issue of death is considered to be an unspoken topic in the polite world and the persona is putting herself out there into the world, despite conservative ways of thinking. The persona speaks of death bravely which shows her unwillingness to avoid the topic of mortality. This causes her not to belong. The persona causes her own sense of detachment from…
If we can imagine something similar the the human population it becomes something personal and makes it okay but if the author would have left death something dark and mysterious it wouldn’t be as personal and would be harder to except making the author push death away. The tone in this poem is blissful. The main character is dying but she doesn’t realize completely until the end. She is driving past…
In the first stanza Dickinson writes, “Because I could not stop for Death- / He kindly stopped for me-” (Dickinson 1-2). Right away it appears as if the death was unexpected and there were no signs of it coming to the person. These theme continues through Dickinson’s poem as she takes this person through the experience of death in a carriage ride with Death itself. Through the carriage ride there is no sense of danger as Dickinson writes, “I had put away / My labor and my leisure to, / For His Civility-” (Dickinson 6-8). As they ride together there is a familiarity between them as if they are friends enjoying the presence of each…
Throughout the history of human kind, there have existed a significant number of poets, who did not care to write about “happy things.” Rather, they concerned themselves with unpleasant and sinister concepts, such as death. Fascination and personification of death has become a common theme in poetry, but very few poets mastered it as well as Emily Dickinson did. Although most of Dickinson’s poems are morbid, a reader has no right to overlook the aesthetic beauty with which she embellishes her “dark” art. It is apparent that for Dickinson, death is more than an event, which occurs at least once in a lifetime of every being. For her, death is a person, who will take her away with Him, when the right time comes,…