Because I could not stop for Death personification

These tools are called “poetic devices”. All poets use poetic devices in their poems. So, this paper is mainly concerned with poetic devices in the poem Because I could not Stop for Death, there are a high number of techniques that Emily Dickinson uses it throughout her work. There are three significance poetic devices in this poem: Personification, repetition and alliteration. Firstly, one of the main poetic devices in this poem is personification. According to the definition of personification in dictionary, the word “personification” means the lifeless things act like human. In Because I could not stop for death, the writer uses the personification to death as a character of human. For example, from the line 2 “He kindly stopped for me” the word he refers to death. Dickinson personifies the death by giving it humanly qualities.

Another obviously poetic device in this poem is repetition. Based on the definition of repetition in dictionary, the word “repetition” means the act of doing it again and again. In Because I could not stop for death, the writer uses this technique to grab a reader’s attention. For example, in the third stanza, the word “pass” is repeated three times in the same

Emily Dickinson personified death in the poem “Because I could not stop for Death” by representing death as a person. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,

He kindly stopped for me;” In this poem the speaker is communicating as someone who as seen both sides of life,the real life and after life. Because she could not stop for Death—“), death takes the time to do what she cannot, and stops for her. This deep thought that Death shows in taking time out for her leads her to lay aside things that had made her so busy—“And I had put away My labor and my leisure too”—so they can just enjoy this carriage ride.


It is notted in the first stanza that the in the carriage its just two of them, she and death, doubly so because of the internal rhyme in

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He arrives in a carriage with Immortality to take the author to her grave. Death is formal and gentle, with the author telling us of “his civility.” The stracture of the poem and the personification of Death alludes to Dickinson’s comfort with the subject; she seems to regard death as a change in mind, rather than a total departure. The last stanza shows that Dickinson regards death as eternity, rather than a final end. In short, Death in this poem is not something to be feared, but should be taken as something…show more content…
He is no frightening, or even intimidating, but is seen as a courteous and gentle guide, leading her to eternity. The speaker feels no fear when Death picks her up in his carriage, she takes it positively as an act of kindness, as she was too busy to find time for him. This is explicitly stated, as it is “For His Civility” that she puts away her “labor” and her “leisure,” which is Dickinson using metonymy to represent another alliterative word— her life. The next stanza shows the life is not so great, as this quiet, slow carriage ride is contrasted with what she sees as they go. A school scene of children playing, which could be emotional, is a simple show of the difficulty of life—although the children are playing “At Recess,” the verb she uses is “strove,” insisting on the labors of existence. The use of anaphora with “We passed” also insists on the tiring repetitiveness of mundane routine. The next stanza tells us on the rather controversial side of life—things become cold and more sinister, the speaker’s dress is not thick enough to warm or protect her. Yet it quickly becomes clear that though this part of death—the coldness, and the next stanza’s image of the grave as home—may not be ideal, it is worth it, for it leads to the next stanza, which ends with immortality. Hundreds of years feel no different than a day. Because time is gone, the speaker can still feel that moment of realization, that death

Because I could not stop for Death personification

“Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality,” by Emily Dickinson. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson has become one of the greatest American poets. Her unique style of writing has become iconic in the poetry world. No one can quite capture her ability to write. However, out of the 1,775 poems she wrote only 7 were published before her death. Her sister, Lavinia, found all of her poems and published them into a book known as “The Poems of Emily Dickinson. “Among these poems was “Because I could not stop for death.” In this essay I’m going to analyze Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘Because I could not stop for Death,” to show how formal elements create meaning within this poem. In this poem, Emily Dickinson uses many different ways to express the speaker’s reflection on death with personifications, symbols and metaphors.

Personification is used as the most important literary element of death. Emily Dickinson is giving human death human traits. She personified death because death doesn’t stop to wait, and you don’t know when death comes. The way she describes death in lines 1 and 2 “Because I could not stop for death/ He kindly waited for me.” These two lines make you think of a gentleman pulling in a carriage. Death acts like a person, like how people are inevitably is waiting for death. The other example is shown in line 5 “We slowly drove- He knew no haste.” Death is like a gentleman that slowly gets to know a lady before he sweeps her off of her feet and takes her home with him. In this case her home would be Eternity. “For his civility.” She compares death to its manners. Death is polite and courteous.

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Because I could not stop for Death personification

The other element is symbolism. Symbolism is used to help the readers understand meaning that she is trying to express. “My Tippet”/ “only tulle” is used both for bridal veils and funeral veils but in this poem, it suggests that objects are used to make shrouds. Another example of symbolism is used in line 18 “A swelling of the ground”, the area around the grave swells once the body is in the ground. The reader reminds that is actually grave. We can also see symbolism in lines 9,12,13. The details of these lines represent the stages of life. “We passed the school,” includes her childhood memories, as Dickenson compares death with the lives of young children. “We passed the Field of Grazing Grain,” represents the middle of her life, the working years. “We passed the setting sun,” as the sunset begins to get colder and darker is symbols death, last stage of her life.

Dickenson’s last element is metaphor. The poem as a whole is a metaphor. She is slowly taken to her death in a carriage and death is the driver. She compares what real death might be like to the journey that we take to our final resting place. In my interpretation home is like a grave because through our journey in life no matter where we go, our last stop is our home. In line 17 “We paused before a house,” shows that the house is the “final resting place.” This poem describes that house is the home of the death in other word a gravesite which is final destination. The speaker depicts the timeless nature of eternity. It suggests that both death and life are journeys, but death’s journey is free of the busy, chaotic pace of life which we can see in line “Feels shorter than the Day.”

In conclusion, the theme of this poem it’s about death which is natural and there is no way to avoid it. In this poem death is polite and civil. Usually death is portrayed as a cruel and painful experience, but Dickenson represents him as a kind figure. The words create a calm and fearless mood. A connection is the poem to Emily’s life. It seems that she wrote this poem before her death in real life. She expected her death anytime soon. She was calm and understanding just like she sounded in the poem. Emily Dickinson uses death as personification and she also includes many symbols and metaphors. We aren’t always ready for death, but death is ready and waiting for us.

Literary Devices, Figurative Language, Metaphor, Personification in Because I Could Not Stop For Death. (2021, September 17). Edubirdie. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/personification-metaphor-and-symbolism-in-because-i-could-not-stop-for-death/

“Literary Devices, Figurative Language, Metaphor, Personification in Because I Could Not Stop For Death.” Edubirdie, 17 Sept. 2021, edubirdie.com/examples/personification-metaphor-and-symbolism-in-because-i-could-not-stop-for-death/

Literary Devices, Figurative Language, Metaphor, Personification in Because I Could Not Stop For Death. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/personification-metaphor-and-symbolism-in-because-i-could-not-stop-for-death/> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2022].

Literary Devices, Figurative Language, Metaphor, Personification in Because I Could Not Stop For Death [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2021 Sept 17 [cited 2022 Sept 29]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/personification-metaphor-and-symbolism-in-because-i-could-not-stop-for-death/

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Because I could not stop for Death personification