Emily Dickinson Mortality

Immortality in Mortality

As it is understood in Emily Dickinson's poem, "Because I could not stop for Death", death is made out to have the attributes of a human being. In this poem, Dickinson uses personification to convey death's human like characteristics, metaphors to compare her journey to death and her afterlife, and symbolism to make the meanings in the poem more significant and deeper. Death in this poem, is a human character that represents the speakers death.The major theme of Dickinson's poem, "Because I could not stop for Death", is simply death. Throughout the poem, the speaker narrates her uncanny journey and experience with her death. With the calmness this poem presents, Dickinson paints an abnormal picture of what an experience

She refers to death as more of a kind gentleman, than a horrific monster; and ungrudgingly goes on a "ride" with him. She states," Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me"(1-2). Meaning that the speaker never had the choice of dying, and instead, death, who is perceived as another character, would kindly do the job for her. In the next two lines of the poem, the speaker joins "immortality" in a carriage, while death drives. As it says in the poem," The Carriage held but just Ourselves/And Immortality"(3-4). By saying this, Dickinson uses the carriage as a metaphor for the speaker's transportation to the afterlife. In the second stanza, the speaker willingly, gives up her previous activities to take the ride with death; since he was so courteous. "And I had put away/My labor and my leisure too, /For his Civility"(6-8). This goes on to show that the speaker's perception of death, is that "he" is very "polite" and has "good manners". Further uses of the theme, death, in this poem, to show the speaker's journey towards it, occur when the speaker changes from referring to death as "He", to saying "We". "He kindly stopped for me/ He knew no haste/ We passed the school.../ We paused before a house"(2-17). The speakers change from calling death "He" to "We", hints that she is now dying because the two have joined into,

In stanza six of, "Because I could not stop for Death", readers will realize that the speaker was speaking from beyond the grave. "Since then— 'tis Centuries— and yet"(21). The speaker's peace and calmness in this poem could be supported by the fact that she spoke from beyond the grave. Everything said in this poem, was the speaker looking back on her death day. As she describes in the poem, her death was gentle and slow, and that is why she spoke peacefully towards it. "We slowly drove— He knew no haste"(5). This, meaning her death was calm and took its time. The speaker didn’t think of her death as an end, but as more of a whole new life; afterlife that is. "Feels shorter than the Day/ I first surmised the Horses' Heads/ Were toward Eternity—"(22-24). Toward eternity, means the speakers "death chariot", or carriage, world ride on into her afterlife. Living forever, through death; immortality in