Q) How does Dickinson vividly portray the figure of death in Because I Could Not Stop For Death?
A) “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” is a poem penned by Emily Dickinson, where she delineates her graceful passage into the underworld. Through this poem, Emily Dickinson adroitly deploys metaphors and personification to depict Death as a persona, in order to vividly portray her profound sentiments of admiration towards it.
The poet makes pervaded use of personification in the poem in order to render Death as a gentleman. She accords him traits like kindness and “civility”, which are distinctly paradoxical to the orthodox conceptualization of death where it is merely undesired fate. His characteristic of being a gentleman are underlined since although Dickinson could not make time for him, “he kindly stopped” for her. The slow pace of death is portrayed by “he knew no haste” and is accentuated in “[the sun] passed us”; they are travelling so leisurely that even the sun that sets at such a slow pace seems to have passed them. This is a puzzling claim since death is usually quick and painful. Linking these attributes to death Dickinson portray her own perception of it.
The prevalent use of metaphors is crucial in developing Death as a desirable figure in the poem. The process of dying is metaphorically compared to a journey on a carriage, hence associating her passing away to a fairytale, where Death is the Prince who has come to rescue the poet. Throughout the ride, Emily Dickinson deploys imageries to describe the scenic landscape. The alliteration in “Gazing Grain” and “Setting Sun” appeals to the tongues of the readers, therefore signifying the gracefulness in her death. Furthermore, the visual images of children playing indicates that death is taking her through the good parts of life; the Recess is her joyful childhood, the Fields of Grain is her prime since grains signify prosperity and harvest and The Setting Sun depicts her transition into old age. These images not only imply that Death was courteous enough to give her a glimpse of the life she left behind for him but it also represents a romantic journey that augments the role of Death as a suitor who the poet admires so much that she lets go all her “labour” and “leisure” from a life so prosperous for him.
A sudden change in atmosphere brings the journey to an end. Tactile imagery shows that she was “quivering and chill” since she was only covered by a tippet and a tulle. The lack of garments on her connotes the intimacy between them, since women from Emily Dickinson’s time were usually well dressed in the presence of men. To shelter her from this instantaneous change of weather, Death escorts her to a house where the comfort eases the passing of time and a century “feels shorter than the day”, highlighting his hospitality and goodwill.
Although these instances render her death to be an antithesis of what readers expect for themselves, implicit details ironically show that her death was no different than ours and the positive characterization of death was perhaps her sanguine outlook on it. “He kindly stopped for me” in reality just refers to the inevitability of death; no one is ever prepared for it, hence its arrival is not really courteous. Their slow pace is a result of the futility of time in the afterlife, and not a consequent of death’s patience or gracefulness. The transition of time from day to night and her arrival at a house that is analogous to a grave, builds an atmosphere of darkness, confinement and coldness, all of which are qualities usually linked with death, signifying how her death was eventually similar to the conventional experience of it. Hence, it is insinuated that although her death was perhaps the ordinary unpleasant experience that it is believed to be and by making using personifications and metaphors to render death as a persona, she establishes a sanguine outlook on the inevitable plight termed death.
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