Explication Of "Because I Could Not Stop For Death

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Omar Zaid Professor Sievers English 1118 4.2.2012 Explication of “Because I could not stop for death-“ Death is not something thought about very often, for many different reasons. The main reason probably being fear of it, and not wanting to leave the life of this world. Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for death-” not only talks about death, but also in a very unique way. Dickinson uses aspects of many different poetic elements including the speaker, setting, theme, personification, and irony to help create meaning in this poem; essentially that death is not something to worry about or be afraid of, and is just a normal part of life. The speaker plays an important role in the poem in that he/she is the one who has or is facing death. The first line “Because I could not stop for death-” is a clear indication that everything is happening to the speaker, and one can assume that the speaker is already dead. After reading the whole poem, the reader realizes that the speaker has in fact been deceased for centuries, and is merely reflecting on what happened on the day of their death. The speaker also relates the story of her death in a very casual way, conveying the message that it was a rather pleasant and normal experience. The setting of the poem is also an important factor in the poem. It changes throughout the story, starting with Death picking the speaker up at the time of her death. They then ride past a school yard, past fields of grain, and eventually to her burial site. The trip takes a while, the line “We slowly drove-He knew no haste/ We passed the setting sun” (line 5) makes it clear that the trip starts when there is light and ends in darkness, and the speaker is very relaxed throughout this trip. This contradicts the commonly referred to idea of life quickly flashing before one’s eyes at the time of death. Rather, in this poem death
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