Because I Could Not Stop For Death Poem Analysis

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A poem can take its readers on a journey through life and time, offering them an insight into the beliefs, norms, and values that have been practiced through the ages. Many of Emily Dickinson’s poems transport her readers back to the 18th century and give them an idea of life back then. In “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” by Emily Dickinson, the poem implies that spirits can travel back in time by using the technique of transporting one to another time and is accomplished by using personification to make Death a traveler, imagery to create a visual of what the persona is seeing, and repetition to show present time. “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” is a clear example of how Dickinson moves through time in her poems. Most analyses of “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” claim that Dickinson These literary devices, like personification, imagery, and repetition, are important to create the meaning of the poem. The most important literary device used in this poem is personification. The personification of Death is essential to understanding the meaning of the poem, and how giving Death attributions of a person add to the overall meaning of the poem. Death was personified to give the idea of “death” one of positivity instead of tragedy. Dickinson writes, “He kindly stopped for me” (2). This quote demonstrates that by Death kindly stopping for the woman, the tone of the poem is not one of tragedy but acceptance towards the concept of death. Another major component that is personified is immortality: “The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality” (3-4). In this quote, immortality is also given attributions of a person, which emphasizes the significance of immortality, and this is done because Immortality is also given the attribution of a traveler. Literary devices like personification and imagery work together to deliver the meaning of the

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