Effective Use Of Symbolism In Emily Dickinson's Poems

Poet Emily Dickinson is still an “iconic figure in the popular American imagination” (Bouson 3). Dickinson uses dashes in her poems to show a missing word or to replace a comma or period. Many times, poets symbolize an event or something hidden. Dickinson uses many examples of symbolism, which is a method to explore and to understand something great and offered intangible by using something known, in her poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” to try and reveal hidden meanings behind death. The first use of symbolism would be in the beginning lines of the poem where it says, “He kindly stopped for me- The Carriage held but just Ourselves” (2-3). In saying this, Dickinson uses the word “He” to symbolize an actual man. In the carriage, she states she, “was accompanied by Immortality as well as Death” (Robert). That statement, alone, says that Dickinson considers Death and Immortality to be, “fellow travelers” (Robert). The symbols used here are about a “man” who is not an actual man, but

It is talking about how she does not mind that Death has interrupted her tasks because of how polite Death was. She says, “We slowly drove – He knew no haste” (5). This symbolizes the speaker’s death as being long and slow, not quick. This could mean that she was suffering from a “long illness, or slowly dying of old age” (Bouson 110). The poem does not say for sure, but the reader can make educated guesses with what evidence is provided. The reader can also assume that the speaker’s death was not painful and that they did not struggle because of how the speaker continues to refer to Death as having “civility” (8). “The Dews drew quivering and chill – For only Gossamer, my Gown – My Tippet – only Tulle” (14-16), symbolizes how unprepared the speaker was with her attire. She had on thin clothes on a cold, chilly night. The clothing worn is a death gown, which was typical for the 19th