In Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not be stopped for Death”, Death is describe in human characteristics, throughout the piece of literature.
She uses a a great deal of personification to allow us to relate to the piece. She also uses the poetic technique imagery. This plays a big role in the piece because it allows us to kind of picture ourselves there. .
In this piece of literature, the persona describes death as being gentle, handsome and well groomed. Perhaps a man coming to pick a woman up for a date. The poem begins with the woman bring suprised on how “nice” death actually is. It would n’t be right for a young women to take a carriage ride with a strage gentelman by herself, so in this case Immortality rides with them, and supervises. Immortaility is only mentioned once through out this piece, because the woman is still much focused on death.
People have busy lives, and don’t think of their own death, however, the speaker admitts that she was willing to put aside her distractions and go with death. She seemed to find it pretty charmming. She comments on his politeness. If she has any expectations, they were certainly met. Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could Not Stop For Death” also uses remembered images of the past to make clear of the possible.
She doesn’t seem to be concerned with where she is going, infact, she enjoying the scenery. It may be possible that she knows she maybe seeing these things for the very last time. These things were take for granted in life, yet they become more meaningful as her journey comes to an end. As she passes time and each place she seems to pass into a new dimension. Death has no concept of time or any concerns that someone would.
It is the Sun that is moving (“He passed Us”), indicating the passage of time by its daily course across the sky. The carriage here seems to be going so slowly as to be nearly motionless. In any event, night appears to be falling, and a chilly dew is settling in. The references to the thinness of the woman’s clothing (her gossamer gown and her tulle tippet) suggest that she is growing cold and yet, another reminder that she is now “dead. ” This “House” is a grave.
This is where her body will be housed while her soul journeys onward. She describes the house as a “Swelling of the Ground,” an image of a fresh burial plot. She can hardly see the roof, fancy looking molding near the roofline, is only just visible above the pile of earth. She does not describe how long they “paused” there, but it could not have been long. This seems to be just a way station, though the woman does not seem to know it at this point.
Where she will end up is still a mystery. In Conclusion, as I have have shown, that personification and imagery are a very important part to this poem. With out these two techniques, my guess to what these words meant would have been pretty far fetched, and there wouldn’t be a clear enough image for myself to paint.
