Because I Could Not Stop for Death

526 Words3 Pages
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” Though death is universal, nobody ever seems to expect it. The obviousness and darkness of such a statement is fully reflected in the Emily Dickinson poem, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” which builds upon the fact that when death comes, it will not do so based upon our own convenience. Although supernatural themes are common in many Emily Dickinson poems, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” is unique because of a style of narration which places a mockingly lighthearted perspective on “who” we consider death to be. A continually repeated image throughout, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” is the personification of death as a kindly gentleman, who “kindly stopped” and escorted a lady into his carriage, a literal symbol of an ending life. This image, a sharp contrast to the typical image of death as a fearful and mysterious figure, allows for the narrator’s retelling of her death to be civilized and sound almost leisurely. Death being a literal carriage ride through the afterlife is a frequently repeated image throughout the poem, and becomes increasingly pronounced when the narrator states that “the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality,” and finally “the horse’s heads were towards immortality.” As the narrator passes symbols of her former life in the form of a school and a field, her final acceptance of death and even contentment and peace in her state seems to appear. Eventually, the realization of how long eternity is, a concept practically unfathomable in the human mind, occurs to the narrator, as she experiences the length of centuries in what feels like only a day. The concept of not fearing, but instead embracing death, is a consistently present theme in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” While passing through and observing the life that she was once part of, the narrator maintains a
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