Analysis of Because I Could Not Stop For Death Poem by Emily Dickinson - Essay Example

?Because I Could Not Stop For Death Introduction The poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson is a portrayal of life as a journeythat does not stop after death but continues after death. Dickinson has written several poems most of which revolve around sadness and death. The main theme in this poem is death, which is clearly spelt in the title of the poem. The inevitability of demise reverberates throughout the poem. The author appears to be in a struggle to understand the journey leading to death, as well as the death itself. The speaker is conversing from beyond the grave and describing the journey she undertook with death. The speaker is now a ghost and journeys through the life before and after death together with death. Death is personified and appears to be travelling along with the speaker from life to afterlife. The setting of the poem keeps changing since the speaker and death are on a journey, which begins when the speaker is picked by death for what seems like an adventure. This paper focuses on analyzing the poem by explaining the different themes within the poem, which include mortality, immortality, love, and spirituality. This paper also seeks to analyze the different figures of speech such as personification, alliteration, and rhymes used by the author to emphasize on the themes. The poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” attempts to display the cycle of life. This statement depicts the speaker to have been too busy to notice the presence of death. The poem however analyses the cycle from behind as it starts with the death. The lines “We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground” (Dickinson, 2011, para. 5) describe the dwelling of the speaker, which shows that she is already dead and buried. The Statement “The Carriage held but just ourselves –/ and Immortality” (Dickinson, 2011, para 1) is used to depict a period or loneliness and isolation from the world. In this statement, the immortality is personified such that it appears to be accompanying the author. The author also attempts to demonstrate the loneliness that death brings. She then moves to the stage of childhood when she says “At Recess – in the Ring.” (Dickinson, 2011, para.3) This depicts the author is recalling and describing the prime years of life. After this stage of delight, a stage full of uncertainty follows which the poet describes as he “Dews drew quivering and Chill –For only Gossamer, my Gown” (Dickinson, 2011, para. 4). Some of the uncertainties characterizing this stage include unfulfilled needs. The speaker’s gown is not sufficient to protect her from the cold. “We slowly drove- He knew no haste” (Dickinson, 2011, para. 2) depicts death as a forward but slow process, which is like a long journey. Personification is used to emphasize the slowness of death. The main themes discussed in this poem include mortality, immortality, spirituality, and love. The theme of mortality gyrates throughout the poem since the poem is a depiction of the speaker’s attitude towards death. The speaker talks of “A Swelling of the Ground-” (Dickinson, 2011, para.5) indicating presence of a grave. The theme of immortality become evident as the speaker is already dead and yet revisits her before death, which indicates existence of afterlife. The line “Surmised the Horses’ Heads- Were toward Eternity –” (Dickinson, 2011, para.6) shows belief in life after death. The word Eternity is capitalized to indicate the place the author is travelling towards in her journey. The theme of spirituality in the poem is portrayed by use of a ghost speaker. Thus, the author must have been religious. The theme of love is evident when the speaker appears to be on a date with death though the theme is not clearly spelt. The author has utilized figurative language such as alliteration, repletion, symbolism, anthropomorphism, personification, paradox, and metaphor to accentuate the different themes. “And Immortality” in stanza one line four is an example of anthropomorphism. Personification is manifested in many lines within the poem, in the first line of stanza four when speaker says “or rather, he passed us.” He is used to describe death. The line “Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me” (Dickinson, 2011, para.1) shows how death can be deceiving as it pretends to be kind. The death appears to be courteous such that he picks the speaker in his carriage. Another example of personification is “We paused before a house which seemed – A swelling of the ground.” (Dickinson, 2011, para.5) Death, as well as the speaker’s grave, is personified. The author uses alliteration in the fourth stanza -“Gossamer,” “gown”, “tippet,” and “tulle” (Dickinson, 2011, para 4) to emphasize the inability of the gown to keep her warm. Another example of alliteration is in lines nine to twelve “At Recess-in the Ring-We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-We passed the Setting Sun-.” Alliteration portrays continuity of events thus helps lay emphasis on the endlessness of life, hence, theme of immortality. The poet depicts a stage of life characterized by unpreparedness. The life that was full of contentment turns cold. In the last stanza, the poem is in present tense as the poet narrates on how the voyage “Fells shorter than the Day” (Dickinson, 2011, para. 6). This stanza emphasizes the increase in life uncertainties. Another figure of speech used in the poem is paradox in the sixth stanza “And Yet, feels shorter than the day” which explicates on the fact that the speaker had been dead for a long time. This exemplifies on the authors belief in life after death. The depiction of death as an abstemious suitor, who picks the speaker in a cottage to go for a ride to eternity is ironic. The line “Or rather- He passed us-” (Dickinson, 2011, para.3) indicates an abrupt variation in mood. Earlier, the life happenings appeared relaxed and pleasant but a sensation of chill and gloom sets in and an atmosphere of sadness. Swelling on the ground is used to symbolize a grave. Repetition is another figure of speech used in the poem. The author uses the words “We passed” three times in lines nine, eleven, and twelve to emphasize on the fact that the speaker is passing through a life she had previously lived. Rhyme is also used in lines two and four where the words “me” and “Immorality” rhyme. In conclusion, Dickinson skillfully uses different figures of speech to emphasize on the different themes in the poem. Wordle Analysis of “I Hear America Singing” The visual image of wordle on the poem "I hear America Singing" by Whitman presents descriptive images of Various Americans working. The imagery in the poem depicts the daily activities performed by various working classes of Americans, which have become common and continuous just like a song. It shows the changes in apparition through time. The wordle analysis image was somehow similar to my impression on the poem. However, the analysis is imagery. I learnt that the wordle analysis is an important tool since it is faster in the analysis and gives visual image, which can be used by people with little understanding on poetry for analysis (Dickinson, 2011). Sonnet analysis of “I will put Chaos into fourteen lines” The sonnet "I will put Chaos into Fourteen Lines," by Edna St. Vincent Millay is a petrarchan type of sonnet which has octave of two quatrains. An eight-line stanza and a six-line stanza also called sestet. It is different from other sonnet since it focuses on a subject not commonly found in sonnets. Sonnets mostly focus on sex, grief, or subjects of deliberation. This sonnet however focuses on controlling the unruly world. Another difference is the simplicity of this sonnet as no allusions are used. The personification of the first line makes the sonnet take the appearance of a human. The term sonnet is personified within the poem; it is used as one of the characters in the poem. The sonnet appears different from other sonnets since it looks like a description of a sonnet (Millay, 2009). References Dickinson, E. (2011). Because I Could Not Stop For Death. Retrieved from http://yesitsyomoma.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/because-i-could-not-stop-for-death-by-emily-dickinson-franklin-479/ Millay, E. (2009). I Will Put Chaos Into Fourteen Lines. Retrieved from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-will-put-chaos-into-fourteen-lines/ Whitman, W. (2012). I Hear America Singing. 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