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Because I Could Not Stop For Death By Emily Dickinson

Decent Essays

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson is a lyrical poem that contains six stanzas with each having four lines. This poem is about an individual that did not wait for Death, thus Death waited for her. Death, with Immortality as a chaperone, picks up the speaker and leads her through a journey of life. They slowly drive by schools, fields, and the setting sun, reminiscing the activities and trials of life. At the end, they stop at a grave. Here, the speaker realizes that centuries have passed since her death, yet it “Feels shorter than [a] Day” (Dickinson 21-22). Through various literary devices, such as tone, personification, imagery, and metaphor, the author depicts the uncertainty, the inevitability, and ultimately the acceptance with death. Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” tells a story of Death taking a woman on a journey through life, evoking a pleasant tone. In the beginning, the speaker is hesitant to follow Death, but after seeing Death’s kindness she decides to get in the carriage. She is even delighted saying she “put away/ [her] labor and [her] leisure” for Death (Dickinson 6-7). The speaker is so pleased to go with Death that she even forgets to put on appropriate clothes for the weather, for she was only wearing “… [a] Gossamer, … gown/ … Tippet – … [and] Tulle” on the rainy day (Dickinson 15-16). As the poem closes, there is a slight change in the tone. The speaker admits that when she boarded the carriage, she did not realize

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