Abstract
Emily Dickinson was an American poet, born in 1830. Apart for her writing, she is also known as having a very reclusive live, with little social contact. At this time, it was not so common for a woman to be a writer, which stands her out even more.
Because Death could not stop is Emily's Dickinson's most famous poem. She here gives a very unique view on Death, the way she sees it, and personifies it.
Extract
[...] The whole poem, which is the passage from life to death, is represented as a journey: the characters are in a Carriage, which makes us think about the bark of Charon in the Greek mythology to reach the Underworld; the verb "drive" is used as if dying could be geographically located, there is a physical transportation to entitle the soul transportation. The verb "pass", when the carriage drives in the school, is interesting as it reminds us of the expression "passing away". It is interesting to point out that the journey starts by passing by a school, which is the representation of the beginning of life, childhood, and memories in general. To conclude, we can state that in her poem Because Death could not stop, Emily Dickinson is painting her vision of perishing, through the metaphor of a journey. [...]
[...] With hindsight, this poem can make the reader feel a little bit uncomfortable: one hand the tone of calm and quiet used reflects peace and serenity, but, on the other hand, it is a little bit worrying to have this attitude towards death, which is something dreaded. There are a lot of artists who depicted Death as a journey in books, movies, paintings, thus it might be interesting to compare the work of Dickinson with what her peers have been doing, at the same period of time or in different eras. [...]
[...] The poem is written in prose, which was not very common at the end of the 19th century. The general structure, at first look, looks classic: six strophes, four verses each, however we do not find the rhymes that we are used to encounter in American poetry at this time. In this poem, Dickinson gets round the punctuation in general: in the whole poem, only one point, moreover, at the end: it feels like the first paragraph was an introduction to the following story. [...]
[...] Because I could not stop for Death - Emily Dickinson (1890) Emily Dickinson was an American poet, born in 1830. Apart for her writing, she is also known as having a very reclusive live, with little social contact. At this time, it was not so common for a woman to be a writer, which stands her out even more. Because Death could not stop is Emily's Dickinson's most famous poem. She here gives a very unique view on Death, the way she sees it, and personifies it. [...]
[...] We have no clue about who the narrator is: it could be Emily Dickinson, someone she knew, or just any random individual. What we know is the feeling and perception of this person, and it is, before anything else, respect for Death. The narrator is inclined to obey whatever Death is expecting from it, without even having to ask for it. The fatality aspect is once again visible: there is no question, no doubt, just an acceptance of the happening. [...]
