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Because I could not stop for Death Because I could not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson is a work of art which speaks of death through a woman's voice. Death itself is personified as a kind carriage driver, and shown as if forthcoming and appears to be in the figurative wisdom of a gentle, sympathetic man, who is arriving to take the speaker on her special expedition. This special journey takes her through various stages of life all the way to her eternal death. Dickinson's representation of Death as being gentle reduces the fear of death. The voice of the poem visibly articulates Dickinson's idea of death. Dickinson accomplishes to reveal an essential message to her readers within only six stanzas which include grammatical structure, metaphorical idiom and poetical patterns.
This poem has of six stanzas. Each stanza depicts a considerably dissimilar attitude of the speakers voice. Each has tone and rhythm; for example, the horses are galloping in the third stanza yet this change by the forth stanza when the speaker comes to a halt. The rhythm creates the sound of horses galloping on the ground.
The last word of line 1 has the word Death while the first stanza ends with the word immortality and by the last stanza we see it ends with the word Eternity representing the speaker's certainty in living forever, even after death. The poem has no continuous verse yet the first and third line in every stanza has an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. The word Death appears only once, thus specifying that it will come nevertheless so why draw attention to it, but the word passed appears four times, specifically putting emphasis on the passing of each stage in life cautiously, i. e. : portraying diverse procedures within a humans lifetime.
The poet varies the tenses from past to present by the use of the word feels in the last stanza, putting a significant prominence on her thoughts of immortality and eternity. The word surmised suggests that the speaker imagines she will go to an eternal life after her death. In the last stanza there is no punctuation thus, denoting Dickinson's belief in the hypothesis of eternal life after death? The first stanza is the creation of Dickinson's journey with the gentle man whom is actually death. The voice behind the first line, Because I could not stop for Death, asks why she could not stop for death.
It is obvious that she was lost in thought in her own world that she could not even reflect on death. She expresses that death is expected but not something to fear, as she says: "He kindly stopped for me" The word "Immortality", proposes that the consciousness of life is valued and that she might be given the gift of an everlasting life so she should not be afraid. The speaker and the driver of death begin their journey with no rush because they now have infinity. Thus, we can see in the second stanza, Death is taking her calmly and slowly away "We slowly drove"He knew no haste" Now she has ceased all her probable tasks she says that she needs not care for them anymore. The speaker has calm down, "And I had put away"My labor and my leisure too" Consequently, the speaker and death can go onto their journey of seeing different stages in life.
This journey starts with babyhood, then adolescence, and then the final years of life. The poem speeds up in faster progress as they go from beginning to end in life. Alliteration is seen in the third quatrain We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess-in the Ring- We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain- We passed the Setting Sun- The speaker is thinking about her life in stanza four, and comprehends a considerable chilliness due to the dews. The pace here is fast but by stanza five, it slows down "We paused before a house that seemed" The speaker now can see her own grave: The Cornice-in the Ground She portrays it as a house, her grave; given that now this will be her home. Now, the speaker realizes that this is her death. The word ground is purposely repeated in order to put prominence on the reality that it is actually a grave in the ground and not a house, the repetition of ground is the last rhyming of words.
The speaker now knows that she must not fear death. By stanza six the speaker loses track of time, not knowing how long that has past yet surmised now she has started her journey unto infinity: Since then- tis Centuries- and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses Heads Were toward Eternity- The mood of the poem seems assorted, altering in each stanza: the first stanza is tranquil, the second stanza is pleasing, third stanza the mood is joyous, yet by the fourth stanza it becomes nervous and worried, the fifth stanza shows agony and the last stanza calms down again and is depressing the moment the speaker distinguishes her destiny: the expedition taking her to her death. The dash after the last word of the last stanza pointing out that this thought and concept of eternal life after death will live on and must be real. The poem expresses the theme of life after death. Death does not come at a suitable time therefore the speaker wants to reveal experiences throughout different periods in life, which happened many centuries ago, going through the different stages in her life, now she is capable to resolve her past and prolong onto death peacefully. I presume that Dickinson was fascinated or obsessed rather than afraid of the idea of Death.
The poem Because I could not Stop for Death is a special poem. Dickinson uses metaphorical language and poetical patterns to show her personal sensation. Dickinson shared her feelings of not being afraid of death, which is a normal but fearful experience that many humans fear; she succeeds in taking us on a calm and peaceful journey to see death. Dickinson's elucidation of Death as being gentle eradicates the fear of death. Dickinson makes death seem natural and comprehensible, helping the reader visualize a substantial interpretation of death
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