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The theme of death in literature
How do imagery and metaphor contribute to Dickinson's messages in her poetry
The theme of death in literature
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William Shakespeare once said, “All that live must die, passing through nature to eternity.” A character joined by Death and Immortality in a poem written by Emily Dickinson passes through her nature right before our very eyes. The narrator reflects on the time of her death as a fond memory still as clear as the day it happened. In this shattering yet calming poem entitle Because I could not stop for Death, Dickinson uses personification, imagery, metaphors, and anaphora to express opposing themes of mortality and immortality in everyone’s lives. Throughout this poem, Death, Immortality, and the Setting Sun are all personified to make the experience more personal and relatable. The narrator states that “because [she] could not stop for Death- He kindly stopped for [her]- ” (1-2). Giving off the feeling that Death is a gentlemanly character picking her up for a date. Not only that, but Immortality is there in the carriage as a sort of chaperon, perhaps to ensure that Death would keep his promise. As the date progresses, “[they] passed the Setting Sun- Or rather, He passed [them]- ” (12-13). This goes to show that the three men at her life’s end, were all there to secure her safe transportation to eternity. Portraying these large factors in one’s In the third stanza, Dickinson writes, “We passed the School, where Children strove- At recess in the ring- We passed the field of gazing grain- We passed the Setting Sun- ” Not only is this where the narrator combines herself and death, maybe in acceptance of her situation, but she also repeats the phrase “We passed” in order to emphasize the union and natural occurrence. This seems to be a moment when her whole life flashes before her eyes and we are left with the feeling that this is truly the beginning of the end as well as the fact that there could be
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...
In the poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” Emily Dickinson portrays death as a polite gentleman who ushers people into the afterlife. The poem’s opening lines reveal death to be the driver of a carriage who stopped for the narrator of the poem. The narrator and death travel alone passing by several scenes of everyday life ending the journey when the carriage stops at a home. The imagery and symbols within this poem paint a picture of a calm activity that is ordinary and expected, starting with the deliberate slow pace and intimacy of the poem.
Because I could not stop for death” is a poem written by Emily Dickinson. In this poem death is personified as a suitor coming to take the speaker for a ride in his carriage. Death Is looked upon as someone who is kind. This poem is being told in three stages first as life then death and then the afterlife. On their carriage ride, the speaker sees the stages of life, and so it goes from being a child to adulthood, and then death. Finally, we come to the end of the poem where the speaker now has a new place to call “home,” which is her grave; however, it is not a place where she will always remain, because life is eternal.
This is highly ironic as He is connotatively depicted as gruesome, horrid, and like the Grim Reaper. Additionally ironic is that the Grim Reaper carries a scythe, and they pass a field of grain. As if the speaker is too busy and cannot find time for Death, “He kindly stops for [her]—” (line 2). There are further applications of metaphors and personification in “Immortality” (line 4), which is personified to represent the speaker’s soul riding in the carriage, and in, “[Death] knew no haste” (line 5), which emphasizes His docile description and can mean that the speaker had a slow
In “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” the speaker is explaining the passage of her own death from beyond the grave in a more tender way. In the beginning, the narrator is too busy for death-- “Because I could not stop for Death/ He kindly stopped for me” (Belasco 1338). The character is not going to wait for her life to end; rather the speaker will live life and allow death come to her naturally. Death is what helps the speaker stop. Death causes the narrator to give up what made her so busy—“And I had put away/ My labor and my leisure too” (Belasco 1338). Death gives the speaker a chance to reflect on life and the memories of it. “Death is figured as the nineteenth-century “gentleman caller,” but one who arrives unexpectedly” (Greenberg 219). The speaker acts kind towards death because she feels that death is chivalrous when it picks her up in a carriage and gives her time when she has none. “The speaker encounters two entities in the carriage when it...
" The third quatrain seems to speed up as the trinity of death, immortality, and the speaker pass the. children playing, the fields of grain, and the setting sun, one after another. The poem seems to get faster and faster as life goes through its course. In lines 17 and 18, however, the poem seems to slow down as Dickinson writes, "We paused before a House that seemed, "A Swelling of the Ground. " The reader is given a feeling of life slowly ending.
This could be seen as a metaphor of life as a journey and the meeting of one's life passing before his eyes as he dies, from childhood, through maturity, to sunset. The reader sees death as the driver of the carriage probably because Dickinson herself sees death as the driving force behind life. In this poem, the reader clearly sees death as the one in control. However, the control is not forced, but accepted, just as Dickinson accepts death easily.
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. This allowed her to spend her time writing and lamenting, instead of seeking out a husband or a profession. Eventually, she limited her outside activities to going to church. In her early twenties, she began prayed and worshipped on her own. This final step to total seclusion clearly fueled her obsession with death, and with investigating the idea of an afterlife. In “Because I could not stop for Death”, Dickinson rides in a carriage with the personification of Death, showing the constant presence of death in her life. Because it has become so familiar, death is no longer a frightening presence, but a comforting companion. Despite this, Dickinson is still not above fear, showing that nothing is static and even the most resolute person is truly sure of anything. This point is further proven in “I heard a Fly buzz”, where a fly disrupts the last moment of Dickinson’s life. The fly is a symbol of death, and of uncertainty, because though it represents something certain—her impending death—it flies around unsure with a “stumbling buzz”. This again illustrates the changing nature of life, and even death. “This World is not Conclusion” is Dickinson’s swan song on the subject of afterlife. She confirms all her previous statements, but in a more r...
When it comes to death, no one plans on a time or date to die; what Emily is identifying as a tragic event is translated to being a casual experience. Emily writes, “The carriage held but just ourselves, and immortality,” (3-4). Emily describes her ride with death, but affiliates a third rider with immortality. “Davidson does not emphasize what is gained after death; she emphasizes what is lost because of death,” (Privatsky 35). Emily’s third passenger has a wide variety of interpretations.
Dickinson’s poem lives on complex ideas that are evoked through symbols, which carry her readers through her poem. Besides the literal significance of –the “School,” “Gazing Grain,” “Setting Sun,” and the “Ring” –much is gathered to complete the poem’s central idea. Dickinson brought to light the mysteriousness of the life cycle. The cycle of one’s life, as symbolized by Dickinson, has three stages and then a final stage of eternity. “Schools, where children strove” (9) may represent childhood; “Fields of Gazing Grain” (11), maturity; and “Setting Sun” (12) old age. In addition to these three stages, the final stage of eternity was symbolized in the last two lines of the poem, the “Horses Heads” (23), leading “towards Eternity” (24). Dickinson thought about the life cycle in terms of figurative symbols.
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)”.
In Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” Dickinson portrays what it is like to go through the process of dying. According to Mark Spencer of the Explicator, the speaker portrays death as a two-step process. It is said that this particular poem makes more sense if read from the perspective that reconciliation with God is a delayed process. In this poem the speaker has ended their existence on earth but have yet to reach the final step. The horses are pulling the carriage “toward Eternity” which suggests that the final step has yet to be reached. The speaker says that “Centuries” feel “Shorter than the day” implying that although an end will come, it will not come soon. Although the end is said not to come soon, it will seem like nothing to those who have passed. A grave site is compared to a house when the carriage passes a “Swelling in the ground”, because indeed the speaker will stay in this home until her final day comes. The speaker then becomes “quivering and chill” wearing her thin flimsy clothing but then realizes that the clothing has become appropriate for what is to come. The speaker indicates that the carriage is only pausing because the current state she is in is only temporary (Spence). It is said that the speaker looks death in the eye and escapes ...
In poetry, death is referred as the end of literature and it is associated with feeling of sorrows. However Emily Dickinson demonstrates that death is not the end of literature or feeling of sadness but death is a new element of inspiration in poetry and is the beginning of a new chapter in our life. In the poem ‘’Because I Could Not Stop for Death’, she discusses the encounter of a women with death, who passed away centuries ago. Dickenson uses metaphors and similes to show that the process of dying can be an enjoyable moment by appreciating the good moments in life, and by respecting death rather than fearing it. Also Dickinson portrays death in a humorous way as she compares it to man seducing her to go to her death as well, to childhood games that show the innocence of this encounter (Bloom). The poem is a reflection of how unpredictable death can be. Death is a scary process in life that should not be feared because it should be celebrate as new start.
For Dickinson, on the contrary, death is not something unreal. As the author has written "Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me..." After reading these two lines the reader "imagines the picture of Death being a human which joins the author during the ride" . Dickinson tries to portray the characteristics of death in the poem. Stating that there is eternity after death, the author alludes both the possibility of the life after death and absolute zero-ness of it. Unlike Plath, Dickinson not only talks about the notion of death, but personalizes it. The reader feels that the author in fact...
.... “We passed the school, where children strove- At recess -- In the Ring.” The points continue showing the chapters of the growth in which the speaker has went through and is moving through and tell the viewer about her experience. “Or rather – He passed Us” the sun moves away from her since it sets beneath the horizon. Emily proposes that perhaps that is what death is similar to the light and warmth leaving to the cold blackness that is death. “The Dews drew quivering and Chill –For only Gossamer, my Gown –My Tippet – only Tulle.” The stanza reflects the statement that she stands under dressed for this trip similarly reflects that she remains under prepared. “Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day.” The poem appears to be expressing a current memory, but all really occurred a long time ago, meaning the speaker was dead the whole time.