Because I Could Not Stop For Death Emily Dickinson Analysis

1149 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theme of Death in Emily Dickinson's poems

Roney 2Kate RoneyMrs. ReaAP English - B13 October 2017Happy Death DayAs this minute goes by, there will be about 108 more people pronounced dead - by theend of the day, 155,520. Death seems to be a very common thing; however, it is not verycommon to discuss it. One author, Emily Dickinson, is very famous for writing short poemsabout this rarely spoken travesty called death. She especially elaborates on death in her poem,“Because I Could not Stop for Death.” The title already clues in on the poem's main subject,death. Though at first, one may think the poem will be very dark because of the title, with deeperanalysis it becomes clear the poem has a positive attitude. Just like the title and poem contradictone another, so do the main two themes, …show more content…

Then, she says, “we paused before a house that seemed a swelling of the ground” (lines17-18) as a metaphor for her grave. Her welcoming tone continues as she uses a house, which isknown to be a friendly environment, to describe the place she is buried once she dies.Throughout the poem, there is a definite rhythm scheme which helps keep the poemsoothing. Rhythm is very important because it dictates the direction; whether it is a positive ornegative direction. When there is a nice rhythm it keeps the flow in a nice harmony which showsthe poem is meant to have a positive attitude. The first and third line in every stanza are made upof eight syllables, four feet, and the whole poem uses the basic iambic meter. This furtherintensifies the poem by helping create a flow. The use of rhymes and slant rhymes also give thepoem a flow. "Me" rhymes with "immortality" and, farther down the poem, with "civility" and,finally, "eternity." There are also slant rhymes like "chill" and "tulle" which helps balance out therhythm. Dickinson also capitalized nouns, which intensified the structure to help the rhythm ofthe poem. Capitalization makes the words stand out more which emphasizes their importance.Those dashes have a

Show More
Related

  • Because I Could Not Stop for Death and I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died Poems by Emily Dickinson

    810 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death is a controversial and sensitive subject. When discussing death, several questions come to mind about what happens in our afterlife, such as: where do you go and what do you see? Emily Dickinson is a poet who explores her curiosity of death and the afterlife through her creative writing ability. She displays different views on death by writing two contrasting poems: one of a softer side and another of a more ridged and scary side. When looking at dissimilar observations of death it can be seen how private and special it is; it is also understood that death is inevitable so coping with it can be taken in different ways. Emily Dickinson’s poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died” show both parallel and opposing views on death.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Death By John Dickinson

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem does not have a perfect rhyme; however, it still has some rhythms making the poem connected. For instance, “Immortality” (line 4) with “Civility” (line 8), “finally” and “Eternity”; they all make the poem has beautiful rhythms and poetic musicality. Dickinson also uses many art techniques; for instance, personification and metaphors, to make the poem more appealing. Dickinson personified “Death” as a gentleman in the poem, which it the most important personification in the poem. Dashes are another literary trope commonly used by Dickinson, in this poem she also uses many dashes. Dashes can make readers’ reader speed slow down. Hence, readers can have more time to consider the meaning of the poem. Besides that, the tempo of the poem also influenced by the use of capital letters for common nouns. The speaker of the poem is a woman who has an unusual trip with death and immortality, at the end of the trip, the woman realizes that death is not the end of the

    Read More

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

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” she uses the structure of her poem and rhetoric as concrete representation of her abstract beliefs about death to comfort and encourage readers into accepting Death when He comes. The underlying theme that can be extracted from this poem is that death is just a new beginning. Dickinson deftly reassures her readers of this with innovative organization and management, life-like rhyme and rhythm, subtle but meaningful use of symbolism, and ironic metaphors.

    Read More

  • The Nature of Death in Emily Dickinson's Poems

    2260 Words  | 5 Pages

    Emily Dickinson once said, “Dying is a wild night and a new road.” Some people welcome death with open arms while others cower in fear when confronted in the arms of death. Through the use of ambiguity, metaphors, personification and paradoxes Emily Dickinson still gives readers a sense of vagueness on how she feels about dying. Emily Dickinson inventively expresses the nature of death in the poems, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280)”, “I Heard a fly Buzz—When I Died—(465)“ and “Because I could not stop for Death—(712)”.

    Read More

  • Death and Emily Dickinson

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    One primary element of death is the experience of dying. Many of of us are scared of the thought of death. When we stop and think about what death will be like, we wonder what it will feel like, will it be painful, will it be scary? In Emily Dickinson's poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death, she focuses on what the journey into her afterlife will be like. Dickinson uses the first person narrative to tell her encounter with death. The form that she uses throughout the poem helps to convey her message. The poem is written in five quatrains. Each stanza written in a quatrain is written so that the poem is easy to read. The first two lines of the poem, “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me;” (Clugston 2010), gives you a clear view of what the poems central theme is. Unlike most poems that are about death, Dickinson's attitu...

    Read More

  • Analysis of Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson

    1993 Words  | 4 Pages

    Emily Dickinson is one of the numerous poets who uses death as the subject of several of her poems. In her poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," Death is portrayed as a gentleman who comes to give the speaker. a ride to eternity. Throughout the poem, Dickinson develops her unusual. interpretation of death and, by doing so, composes a poem full of imagery that is both unique and thought provoking.

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson's Obsession with Death

    2687 Words  | 6 Pages

    Emily Dickinson's Obsession with Death. Emily Dickinson became legendary for her preoccupation with death. All her poems contain stanzas focusing on loss or loneliness, but the most striking ones talk particularly about death, specifically her own death and her own afterlife. Her fascination with the morose gives her poems a rare quality, and gives us insight into a mind we know very little about. What we do know is that Dickinson’s father left her a small amount of money when she was young.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the poem "Because I could not stop for death", Emily Dickinson writes about death as if she had already been dead for centuries. She humanizes death and uses him to chauffeur her in a horse-drawn carriage, straight to her grave. The sights she describes on the way to her grave are aspects of her life and what she is leaving behind. Dickinson uses personification, a peaceful tone, a theme of both mortality and immortality, and symbolism throughout her poem in order to attract the attention of the reader and to convey a message that death is not something to fear and that she believes in the afterlife.

    Read More

  • Comparison of Emily Dickinson’s: I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died, and Because I Could Not Stop for Death

    603 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emily Dickinson, a poet that was never truly heard until after death. Life is not always what you think it will be and sometimes your words are worth more after your gone. “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died,” and “Because I could not stop for Death” both poems engrossed on the subject of death. It is ironic and humorous; that after her death is when people began to read her poetry. Emily Dickinson was somewhat of a hermit so many people had not read her poetry until long after it was wrote; for she did not publish it herself. These poems are noticeably similar focusing on the subject of death, which is also the subject that makes them different. “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died,” is completely focused on death in a physical state; and “Because I could not stop for Death” focuses on death as a spiritual journey: The poems both present the existence of an afterlife, the speaker is dead and yet their voice is heard.

    Read More

  • Compare Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night And Because I Could Not Wait For Death

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    The two poems, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, by Dylan Thomas and, “Because I Could Not Wait for Death”, by Emily Dickinson, we find two distinct treatments on the same theme, death. Although they both represent death, they also represent it as something other than death. Death brings about a variety of different feelings, because no two people feel the same way or believe the same thing. The fact that our faith is unknown makes the notion of death a common topic, as writers can make sense of their own feelings and emotions and in the process hope to make readers make sense of theirs too. Both Dickinson and Thomas are two well known and revered poets for their eloquent capture of these emotions. The poems both explore death and the

    Read More

  • Because I could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem is comprised of six stanzas of four lines each. The poem is long and aligned to the left. The rhyme scheme is ABCB in its first and last two stanzas; however, stanza three and four has different rhyme schemes as stanza three is read ABBC and stanza four is read ABCD. She frequently applies the use of personal pronouns; for example, in the first stanza of the poem, she uses the pronouns "I", "He", "Ourselves". In the second stanza she uses the pronouns "We", "He", "I". In the third stanza she uses the pronoun "We", in three out the four lines composing the stanza. As Harold Bloom, editor of "Bloom's Major Poets ' Emily Dickinson' " says,” When Dickinson declares her "I," these instants become our own" (Bloom 38) The use of pronouns in the poem makes us, as the readers, get involved so deeply into the poem so that we get to feel the protagonist of the poem which is of course the speaker. Most stanzas are composed of a two -beat line but the majority is three b...

    Read More

  • Comparing and Contrasting Dickinson’s Poems, Because I Could Not Stop for Death and I Heard a Fly Buzz- When I Died

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    Comparing and Contrasting Dickinson’s Poems, Because I Could Not Stop for Death and I Heard a Fly Buzz - When I Died

    Read More

  • Analysis of After Great Pain A Formal Feeling Comes by Emily Dickinson

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    Bringing reference her off syllable lines, the author of Dickinson's Fascicles, says the first stanza is held together by the structured iambic pentameter, in addition to using rhyming couplets as in, ?Bore? and ?before.? Due to Dickinson?s submergence in nature, she emphasizes organic matter, with both her use and capitalization of ?Heart? and ?Nerves.? Although she draws attention to those of which are organic, she shifts to emphasize those of which are inorganic, for those of ?Ground,? ?Air,? and ?Quartz.? Analyzing the two four syllable lines, ?A Wooden way/Regardless grown? (7-8), the way can be viewed as an insincere mourning path that society attempts to set individuals toward to cope with their emotions during troubled times. Wood, even though an organic matter is used negatively here to describe an artificial reconstruction of this natural element into a coffin. Looking further at an inorganic element, quartz, it signifies the sharp pain of a loss.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Because I Could Not Stop for Death

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Themes of Death and Immortality in Emily Dickinson's Poetry

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Emily Dickinson’s poetry there is a reoccurring theme of death and immortality. The theme of death is further separated into two major categories including the curiosity Dickinson held of the process of dying and the feelings accompanied with it and the reaction to the death of a loved one. Two of Dickinson’s many poems that contain a theme of death include: “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” and “After great pain, a formal feeling comes.”

    Read More

More about Because I Could Not Stop For Death Emily Dickinson Analysis

Open Document