In the allegorical poem entitled, Because I Could Not Stop for Death, Emily Dickinson describes death as a kind gentleman taking her on a journey to her death in a carriage ride.

Authors Avatar

                                                                                        Saachi Jhaveri

        Period G

        May 28th 2008

In the allegorical poem entitled, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” Emily Dickinson describes death as a kind gentleman taking her on a journey to her death in a carriage ride. Clearly, the denotation contributes to the meaning of the poem because in real life, death is not described positively. Dickinson uses a calm tone to convey the message that death should not be feared because it is not the end of life. Dickinson conveys the calm tone implicitly through many literary techniques in each of the five stanzas.

It is essential to understand how the calm tone is created in each stanza in order to express the message of the poem. In the first stanza, the speaker says “Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped it for me.” The word “he” implies that death is being personified as a gentlemen. The poets personification of death as a person, exemplifies how she is oddly comfortable with the situation. Dickinson uses diction and describes death as “kin[d].” “Kin[d],”connotes to be something that is affectionate, which conveys that the speaker views death as pleasant and loving.  Dickinson then uses imagery when she says the speaker and death are riding in a “carriage”. A “carriage” depicts an image of a vehicle that is luxurious and elegant, preferably for princesses and the wealthy, thus portraying the process to her death as a comfortable and serene one. Furthermore, Dickinson expresses that along with death as a passenger in the carriage ride, “Immortality,” is seated in the carriage as well. Immortality denotes to be an unending life, which evidently lightens up the situation of death because it implies that there is an afterlife. This reassures that people should not fear death and remain calm because it is not the end. The first stanza exemplifies the calm tone because Dickinson expresses the situation of dying, and death itself in a positive light. Dickinson’s careful description of death being positive parallels the message of the poem; death should not be feared because it is not the end of life.

Join now!

With the interpretation that death should not be feared, one can proceed to interpret how other devices in the poem cooperatively create this effect. In the second stanza the whole carriage ride seems to be relaxing. By using words such as “slow,” and “no haste,” something that is in no hurry, implies that both the passenger and death are relaxing in the carriage. The unhurried and slow carriage ride contributes to the calm tone. Moreover, the speaker says that she is willing to leave behind her life of “labor,” and “leisure,” just for deaths “civility.” Dickinson uses imagery and ...

This is a preview of the whole essay