Personification Of Death

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Recommended: Critically comment on Dickinson's obsession with death

Emily Dickinson's, "Because I could not Stop for Death" is just as intriguing a poem as it is thought-provoking. It contains the description of the persona reminiscing about a death experience. The persona does not describe death as scary or one that inspires fear. On the contrary, it is presented as content and serene. There is a clear personification of death making it appear as if it is not just an event in a person's life. This essay supports the idea that the poem is about a speaker who describes her journey accompanied by death to the other side of the World that is eternal life.
In the poem, the author describes her ride with death. She meditates about being in a carriage with both death and immortality. According to her, death is a …show more content…

It is, therefore, polite and charming. The poem also describes the three stages of life. The three images used to achieve this are present in the third stanza. They include "in the Ring", "fields of gazing grain", and the "setting sun" (Patricia 72). The three images state the chronological order of a person's life from childhood, maturity and old age, to the final stage of death. As they pass through the school, the grain field, and the setting sun, it is almost as if it is the demonstration of her life's journey. The children playing in the field remind her of a time when she was full of life. The fields of grain that reflect her adult years force her to think about the things she failed to do. The sunset reflects a time when she was supposed to put away everything and rest. In a way, death is providing her with a tour of her life. She, therefore, gets an opportunity to see the things she will be leaving behind as she departs to the other life beyond the …show more content…

In the beginning, she is happy to go on this voyage with the presumed suitor. However, the last three stanzas show her life passing in front of her eyes. At this point, the tone changes to that of denial. She wishes she could have more time to experience the things that she was seeing. She is on a trip with death, but she keeps thinking about immortality. In the end, she shows the willingness to confront her destiny.
In a nutshell, this is a poem about the life of a human and its relation to death as well as eternity. The author describes her journey with death. She presents death as gentle although one that comes without warning. She decides to remain calm and enjoy the experience because she knows that she cannot stop

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