How Death is presented in “Because I could not Stop For Death”
“Because I could not stop for death” Is a 6 stanza poem with full rhyme and slant rhyme, and full of dashes between and at the end of lines. The obvious theme of this poem is death. So this analysis is going to be focusing on how death is presented throughout the poem. Death, being personified through the whole poem has been presented as a journey, a suitor also a figure constantly changing since the beginning.
Death is presented as a journey according to “We slowly drove-He knew no haste” can show death is a journey because had a pleasant chariot that he brought with him to pick up the speaker. Death is inevitable, so they are not in a hurry to reach their destination. Suggested by the long ‘o’s in ‘slowly drove’ , showing the slowness of the trip. He brought the speaker with him for a chariot ride, making a sort of the life long journey of a man like a passage through life. Also, “We passed the School, were Children strove At recess-in the Ring” Referring to the childhood of a man which is the first part of life.
“Stove” at recess is another idea of all of life is inherently difficult. “We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain” referring to adulthood, which is the second part of life. Gazing grain” are using alliteration and also internal rhyme of the long ‘a’ sound stretches out the field of grain. It is using personification because it suggests the the grain is doing the looking. Also, it suggests the attractive golden (metaphor) color of grain to symbolize adulthood. Finally, “We passed the setting sun” Referring to when a man is old and close to death. The three “we” at the beginning of the three lines are using repetition to show the speaker and death going pass all of the different things in the world.
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Death is personified as a suitor/ gentlemen. Death is personified as a gentlemen. According to “He kindly stopped for me” from Stanza 1 line 2, death is personified and “Kindly stopped me” is also an irony because stopping someone’s path because its time fore her to die – is not a kind thing to do.
Also, “The carriage held but just Ourselves- And Immortality.” There are a total of three things/person in this carriage – “Death” , the speaker, and personified immortality. The speaker is giving the idea of death is the beginning of immortality. This can show death is personified because he is literally rising a carriage with the speaker. And last, the usage of pronouns, referring the speaker and the death as “we” referring death as “He” also shows that death is a literal person in this poem.
Death becomes a starker prospect in the second half of the poem before shifting towards transcendence.
Death becomes a starker prospect after stanza three, according to stanza two: “We slowly drove – he knew no haste.” While showing Death is inevitable so they can go as slow as they want, Death is also a gentle and caring figure to me.
But after Stanza three: “Or rather – He passed Us – The Dews drew quivering and chill.” The use of alliteration and the whole stanza breaks the iambic rhythm makes the reader feel Cold and Quivering and the sound of the word sounds like trembling. The word “Chill” is harsh and frightening. At last, “Were toward eternity” is the idea of “eternal” After “death”. The last stanza has a Tonal shift and break of rhythmic structure indicate that something is changing here: this must be her death Final stanza which is the transcendent moment. Also, the last line’s dash at the end, meaning the journey is not over, it still carries on.
The author uses the three different ways of presenting death gave the readers different aspects to examine death; the different irony and simile used in the poem also show the fact that death is not the end, its a new beginning. The dash used at the end of the poem, showing that even the poem ends, the journey carries on, it is a perfect choice to show that for the author, death is just another beginning, its not something that is scary or something people needed to be afraid of, its just a long journey that most of us has yet experienced.
