How Did Emily Dickinson Use Personification In Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Emily Dickinson, one of America's greatest and most original poets of all time, wrote the poem,"Because I Could Not Stop For Death." Dickinson has been known for her unique style of writing and being a recluse for most of her life. She chose to write about the topic Death because she experienced great isolation, loss, and reclusion from her family who did not understand her. This poem is about to speaker's journey to the inevitable death. She uses many techniques through out the poem that each have great meaning. Dickinson uses personification, symbolism, and imagery to convey the journey to accept death. Dickinson uses personification through out the poem to give human attributes to Death. She starts off her poem with ,"Because I could not stop for Death he kindly stopped for me." (lines 1 & 2) This is one of the many examples of personification because Death cannot actually stop. Another example of personification is when she writes, "The carriage held but just ourselves and Immortality." ( lines 3 & 4) This gives human characteristics to a non-human object because the carriage did not actually hold the speaker. "A swelling of the ground," ( line 18) is another personification example. This is personification because

She uses symbolism to tell the different times of the day and how the speaker is on their journey. For example, the poem says,"We passed the school where children played." ( line 9) This symbolizes the morning of life and energy because of the kids. The grain is another major symbol. Dickinson wrote," We passed the fields of gazing grain." ( line 11) This is symbolism because it represents the midday of life and the working years. A final example of symbolism is in the quote, "We passed the setting sun." ( line 12) This symbolizes the end of the day, the evening of life, and the death of life. Overall, symbolism plays a major role in the speakers