Analysis Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Emily Dickinson was an influential and powerful writer of the 19th century, her poems focusing on life and death itself. Her two poems, “Because I Could not Stop for Death” and “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died” compare the differing perspectives on death and the afterlife. Using figurative language, tonality, and slant rhyme, the author controls the reader’s feelings and contemplations on the mysterious being of death itself. “Because I Could not Stop for Death” portrays the patience and good-nature of death itself, which the author personifies as a gently carriage driver. The character is worked away by the duties of the life at hand that when, “I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me.”. When Dickinson personifies death, she explores with diction such as “Civility” and “kindly” that he is not a tall, ominous, dark figure with a hood and scythe, but that he instead is a welcoming person, who gently takes the character onto the carriage ride of death. As the character contemplates on her scenery around her, such as the children at recess or the setting sun, she gets so overwhelmed and caught up in her thoughts that she doesn’t realize that she has already arrived at Eternity. While the poem expands on the meaningful idea of death, it somehow portrays the comforting mood of the setting around her. For example, the children at recess are exemplifying a playful attitude, perhaps a childlike and innocent vibe. She also uses the word “strove”, which gives off the