Theme Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death

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Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is a poem in which the speaker describes the day of her death and her passage from the living world to the afterlife and eternity. It personifies Death and Immortality in a way that establishes the overarching theme: Death is not something to be feared, but rather an inevitable change from one state of existence, our current physical reality, to another, that of the afterlife and immortality. Dickinson makes rich use of rhythm and imagery in order to convey this theme along with several underlying emotions and musings tied up with the notion of death. “Because I could not stop for Death” does not follow any strict rhyme scheme, nor does it fall into a traditional form. The poem is six …show more content…

This is evident from the first line of the poem with the capitalization of Death, clearly a prominent figure throughout the poem and deserving of distinctive portrayal. She also uses abnormal capitalization in the third and fourth stanzas to highlight her use of alliteration. In the third stanza this alliteration heightens the metaphor for each stage of life. The “r” sound has a rather energetic and excited to get going feel, while a “g” is much more solid and lends a more lasting impression. The “s” in Setting Sun is easily viewed as a sigh of old age giving way to Death. The alliteration in the fourth stanza has a similar heightening effect, but in line with the tone change this effect is eerie and puts the reader on edge about …show more content…

This idea is a departure from the typical sinister reaper coming to take one away from the living world. So while Death is a key theme in “Because I could not stop for Death”, it is in a way different than traditionally thought due to Dickinson’s deliberate intertwinement of Death with immortality. Immortality and Death appear together in the first stanza, “The Carriage held but just Ourselves – / And Immortality”(3-4), yet there is no further mention of Immortality until the final line where the speaker asserts that Death’s carriage took her to Eternity. This leaves the characterization of Immortality very shrouded, yet lends it importance beyond that of Death. Death is a means, and Immortality the end, but what is Immortality? Immortality in Dickinson’s “Because…” is clearly a continuation of the speaker’s consciousness, as she remembers the day of her death and has an idea of the passing time since then (“’tis Centuries”(22)). Yet the speaker gives no clues as to what Immortality holds, or what one might do in Eternity. The mysterious nature of Immortality leaves readers still uncomfortable with the idea of death, particularly when coupled with the anomalous fourth stanza. While Death himself may take the form of a kindly gentleman, the act of dying holds more disquieting emotions of fear and discomfort as “The Dews drew quivering and chill –

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