“Because I Could Not Stop for Death”: An Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s Style

Emily Dickinson was an exceedingly eccentric poet of the Romanticism movement, whose fascination with finish and the afterlife is incorporated in her poem Because I Could Not verification for terminal. The piece opens from the bandstand of a female speaker, who is called upon by the personified character of Death to take the voyage to the afterlife. It is evident that the poets troubled life and disillusionment with society spurred galore(postnominal) deep and insightful works about her perspective on her make beingness. Dickinson effectively uses the tools of personification and imagery to portray a souls odyssey through death.Using subtle symbol and by personifying Death as a suitor in her poem Because I Could Not copious force out for Death, Dickinson paints an image of her apprehension of the lowest departure based on her bear face-to-face experiences. Emily Dickinson was born to a middle-class family on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her father was a Yale-graduate, chief financial officer, lawyer, congressman, and an intellectual he was non very involved in Dickinsons life, albeit serving as her consumption (Spiller 810).On the other hand, she did not get along with her mother Emily Norcross was not an intellectual by nature- she barely understood much of her daughters poetry the mother was l whizly and nonliterary, (Forman n. p. ). Forman also states that Dickinson was frustrated that her rearingal horizons were special(a) as a woman, although she attended the esteemed Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (Emily n. p. ). Furthermore, her education was terminated due to her lifelong wellness complications entrusting from polio. Her family consistently failed to support her, and she felt up fettered by the life she was living.Around the age of 28, Dickinson suffered from an emotional crisis which caused her to economise prolifically she drew into herself and her profound mind, preferring to express herself mainly through lett ers and poems (Blake n. p. ). end-to-end the course of her life, Dickinson exhibited many strange tendencies. She always dressed in lily-white and remained a recluse. She refused to leave her home for any reason (Forman n. p. ). This was the direct result of her experiencing the death of two childhood friends, as well her chronic health issues Dickinson often felt disconnected to the gentlemans gentleman around her. She was inspired by a knowledge domain manifesting itself as unpredictable, violent, and terrifying. She had suspected that the world was defective for near magazine (Blake 218). Her perspective on her life, as well as her disillusionment from her surroundings, became reflected in her poems. Her workshould be seen in terms of traditions of withdrawal from the world and of her resistance to them(Wolosky n. p. ). Most notably during this phase in her life, however, Dickinson developed an logical argument with the concept of death and the possibility of an afterlife.M any of her poems have come to body her personal contemplations about mortality rate and death, particularly Because I Could Not Stop for Death, (Explanation n. p. ). Primarily in this work, Dickinson effectively uses the character of Death to convey the nitty-gritty that death is not a cruel, cold process. Death is personified, or draw in terms of human characteristics. Figuratively, this poem is about one womans date with death. Death is a gentleman, who makes a call at a home of a naive young woman. (Explanation n. p. ).By representing mortality as a kind, courteous suitor whom the vote counter seems to have been anticipating, the effect arises that Death is nothing just now an old friend who was always judge to come. It becomes an inevitability it is not unpleasant in the least. Dickinson envisions Death as a person she knows and trusts The carriage holds barely the two of them, yet the ride, as she states with politic emphasis, is a last ride together. Clearly there ha s been no guile on his part. Indeed, his graciousness in taking time to stop for her at hat point and on that day in her life when she was so busy she could not possibly have taken time to stop for him, is a mark of special politeness. She is therefore quite willing to direct aside her work (Johnson 222). The narrator welcomes Death, and although he was an unexpected caller, knows that he was limitation to come. Thus, she had put away/ Her labor, and her leisure too,/ For his civility (Dickinson 1). Dickinson also efficaciously uses symbol in this poem to bring out various feelings and emotions in the reader, change the overall mood, and therefore the meaning of the poem.By her use of specific sentence structure and diction, the poem is able to showcase the exact feelings evoked by death and immortality, as well as the feelings associated with the unconventional exposure to Death himself. In the poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death, the narrators expedition was described as a slow scenic drive, crosswise the fields of molecule and past the setting sunlight (explanation, n. p. ). The fields of grain represents society and how while alive, the fields of grain escaped the notice of the narrator, but now, while traveling with Death, she finally can appreciate the true saucer and power of nature.The setting sun reflects the end of one journey and the branch of another, just care how the setting sun ends the day and signals the start of dark (explanation, n. p. ). Dickinson uses the transformation of the setting sun to show the narrators transition from life to death. Dickinson was able to portray, through her extensive use of imagery, the ambiguity as to whether the narrator is alive or dead the fact is not like a shot stated in the poem. Rather, there is a slow transition of the narrators state of being.The narrator starts off leaving the comfort of her house, invited for what feels like a ride in the park. However, as the poem progresses, the n arrator is seen emergence cold, and her clothes fade only tippet only tulle. The light gossamer articles of change state and the coldness suggest that the narrator has indeed died, and faded into the afterlife. The whole concept of time is also manipulated to give the poem such a dream-like feel. During her journey with Death, time slows down to a point where it doesnt exist time is a human creation, and death does not follow time (Priddy, n. p. As she passes the children frolicking in the playground, she vicariously lives through her childhood again another liveliness has passed, from the youthful days of childhood to the ripening of the grain to the setting of the sun (Johnson, n. p. ).The- sense of time being inconsistent and changing allows the journey with Death to gain a truly surreal and abstract feeling. From start to finish, Dickinson masterfully creates a striking image of the human process of death, putting to full use the tools of personification and imagery, as well as subtle symbolism in her poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death. Her own personal struggles with the concept of death give Dickinson the ability to capture the mystery and possibilities of the final departure with words she was able to translate the true emotions associated with death into poetry. To Dickinson, the existence of an afterlife made death not only the end of one journey, but also the start of another death is not an evil, but rather a necessary process. The net effect of literary devices unite with Romanticist beliefs results in a work that provides monumental insight into the world Emily Dickinson built around herself, specifically pertaining to her image of Death.