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

Analysis of Because I Could Not break for Death by Emily DickinsonThe poets of the nineteenth century wrote on a variety of topics. One oftentimes used topic is that of death. The theme of death has been approached inmany different ways. Emily Dickinson is unrivalled of the numerous poets who usesdeath as the subject of several of her verse forms. In her poesy Because I Could NotStop for Death, death is portrayed as a gentleman who comes to give the speakera ride to eternity. Throughout the rime, Dickinson develops her unusual variation of death and, by doing so, composes a poem full of imagery thatis both unique and thought provoking. Through Dickinsons precise style ofwriting, effective use of literary elements, and vivid imagery, she creates apoem that batch be interpreted in many different ways.The precise form that Dickinson uses throughout Because helps conveyher message to the reader. The poem is written in five quatrains. The way inwhich each stanza is written in a quat rain gives the poem unity and makes iteasy to read. I Could Not Stop for Death gives the reader a feeling offorward movement through the second and third quatrain. For example, in line 5,Dickinson begins deaths journey with a slow, forward movement, which can beseen as she writes, We slowly drove-He knew no haste. The third quatrainseems to speed up as the trinity of death, immortality, and the speaker pass thechildren 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. Inlines 17 and 18, however, the poem seems to slow down as Dickinson writes, Wepaused forrader a House that seemed / A Swelling of the Ground-. The reader isgiven a feeling of life slowly ending. Another way in which Dickinson uses theform of the poem to convey a message to the reader occurs on line four as shewrites, And Immortality. Eunice Glenn believes that the word Immortalityis given a line by itself to show its importanc e (qtd. in Davis 107). Perhapsthe most notable way in which Dickinson uses form is when she ends the poem witha dash. Judith Farr believes that the dash seems to indicate that the poem isnever ending, just as eternity is never ending (331). In conclusion,Dickinsons form helps the reader begin to comprehend the poem.Figurative language is one of the literary elements that Dickinson usesto help convey cabalistic messages to the reader.