Representations of Death in Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson

822 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Dickinson's obsession with death

The poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” written by Emily Dickinson deals about death. Dickinson does not waste time showing about what this poem is. She lets the reader know from the beginning that it is going to be about death. The title itself seems really alive and active.
The way she started with “Because” shows that the poem gives a clear argument or an answer to a question. Also the rest of the title “could not stop for death” shows the reader that it does not depend on us when we are going to die and how. She tries to show us the important words and meanings by capitalizing it and she leads us with her title to the next line and makes it even more interested for the reader. The second line “he kindly stopped for me” is about death and how death is represented as a gentlemen. It shows an acceptation about death and how your life can be a ride with full of new surprises. Already after the second line of the poem Dickinson catches the attention of the reader.
The last part of the stanza “The carriage held but just ourselves – and immortality” creates and irritation to the reader. In line three she talks about death in the carriage, but in the last line of the stanza she irritates the reader by using the word “immortality”. She also tries to irritate the reader by capitalizing word which usually has a big meaning for her like the word “death”, but in this situation she tries to confuse the reader and to lead him or her in another direction. The words “Carriage”, “Ourselves” and “Immortality” are the important word in the last two lines of the first stanza. “Carriage” is a capitalized noun which has a big meaning for Dickinson. With capitalizing “Ourselves” she means the relationship between death and her. She wants us ...

... middle of paper ...

...oice – the trip to death. In literature death is often represented by the cold and so is Dickinson characterizing death with the coldness.
The fifth stanza starts with “We paused before a house that seemed a swelling of the ground”. It shows that Dickinson is going to die. She wants the reader to have the mind of running away from death. She wants that the reader cheer her up to run as fast as she can before death is able to catch her. The first stop in this part is “we paused”. It represents the beginning of the journey where death picks up the reader. We can assume that the other part could be the end of the story. Dickinson uses the word “house” to demonstrate the place of burial. Some people call it the final resting place. It was a smart way of Dickinson to show that the journey is ending soon. She talks about where to hid the bones like talking about a dog.

Show More
Related

  • 'Two Views Of A Cadaver Room'

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dickinson has put emotion into this poem; by using words that intrigue the emotions of the viewer’s such as a simple word like “death”. Personification was also used very well in this poem. Dickinson says “Because I could not stop for death/He kindly stopped for me” which perceives death as an animate object such as a

    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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Differing Experiences of Death in "I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died" and "Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Dickinson,

    1861 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the beginning of the poem, Dickinson writes, "Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me." Not only does Dickinson portray death as a man, but she does so in a way that the man is not perceived in a negative way. She writes as if the man is her lover, kindly stopping in a way as if he was to suit her. Death is not our enemy, but instead is our companion. In the next two lines, in lines three and four, Dickinson then uses a metaphor to compare a carriage to death.... ...

    Read More

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

    1993 Words  | 4 Pages

    " 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.

    Read More

  • Compare Hope Is The Thing With Feathers And Because I Could Not Stop For Death

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dickinson doesn’t have the speaker complain about dying and be trying to avoid it instead she is calm and just riding along with death. She sort of goes on a date with him and is driving around taking their time to get wherever they need to go. When you get to the end you realize that she is already dead, and that’s why she wasn’t fighting it, because she was already there. The speaker had come to terms with what had happened and was reliving the moment when it happened. As one would expect, dealing with death, it was darker than her poem about hope. This poem was really able to capture emotion of death and portray it in an easy way to

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis of Emily Dickinson's Poetry

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagery is a big component to most works of poetry. Authors strive to achieve a certain image for the reader to paint in their mind. Dickinson tries to paint a picture of ?death? in her own words. Thomas A. Johnson, an interpretive author of Dickinson's work, says that ?In 1863 Death came into full statue as a person. ?Because I could not stop for Death? is a superlative achievement wherein Death becomes one of the greatest characters of literature? (Johnson). Dickinson's picture to the audience is created by making ?Death? an actual character in the poem. By her constantly calling death either ?his? or ?he,? she denotes a specific person and gender. Dickinson also compares ?Death? to having the same human qualities as the other character in the poem. She has ?Death? physically arriving and taking the other character in the carriage with him. In the poem, Dickinson shows the reader her interpretation of what this person is going through as they are dying and being taken away by ?Death?. Dickinson gives images such as ?The Dews drew quivering and chill --? and ?A Swelling of the Ground --? (14, 18). In both of these lines, Dickinson has the reader conjure up subtle images of death. The ?quivering an chill? brings to the reader's mind of death being ...

    Read More

  • Analysis of Because I Could Not Stop for Death

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    While we now know this poem as “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, it was originally an untitled piece. After Dickinson’s death, her younger sister Lavinia discovered an abundance (in fact over one thousand) of untitled poems that Emily had kept to herself, never meaning for them to become published works. Against her wishes the poems were published, but the fact that this wasn’t her intention allowed Dickinson to feel comfortable while writing and let her thoughts flow unfiltered into her work. This is what makes “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and other works like it even more meaningful as we can be assured that they are completely untainted thoughts and feelings coming directly from Dickinson’s heart.

    Read More

  • Because I Could Not Stop for Death

    619 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because I Could Not Stop for Death is proclaimed to be Emily Dickinson’s most famous poem. This poem reveals Emily Dickinson’s calm acceptance of death. She portrays death as a gentleman that surprises her with a visit. Emily illustrates everyday scenes in a life cycle. While her metaphors explore death in an immutable way, her lines often contain as much uncertainty as meaning.

    Read More

  • Poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death

    1457 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the poem "Because I could not stop for death", Emily Dickinson talks about her acceptance of death as something inevitable that comes to her and she has no control over it; although she seems confused about being alive or dead as she keeps narrating.

    Read More

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

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is a remarkable masterpiece that exercises thought between the known and the unknown. In Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not stop Death,” there is much impression in the tone, in symbols and in the use of imagery that over flow with creativity. One might undoubtedly agree to an eerie, haunting, if not frightening, tone and use of symbolism in Dickinson’s poem.

    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

  • Because I Could Not Stop For Death Essay

    456 Words  | 1 Pages

    In “Because I could not stop for Death”, she uses an ABCB rhyming pattern. Second, she describes death as a gentleman. Although most people would describe death as a thief, Emily Dickinson does not. Death acting as a gentleman also helps the theme of lack of fear for death. When a writer does something out of the ordinary, it makes readers think.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Death in Poetry by Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

More about Representations of Death in Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson

Open Document