Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Emily Dickinson was a very lonely woman. She had no regrets because she was always home and never stepped out of her comfort zone to do new things. The poem, “Because I Never Could Not Stop for Death” is Emily Dickinson’s way of expressing that she is not afraid of death and that she is content with the idea.
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” was based on a woman dying while on the way to her funeral she was passing by all of her memories that she experienced in her lifetime. The major theme of the poem is that death should not be feared because it’s a part of life and everyone will experience it. The poem reveals Emily Dickinson’s calm acceptance of death. Dickinson’s view of death also reflects her personality and religious beliefs, as a Christian, she was confident about her ultimate fate and appeared to see death as a friend.   The tone that the readers get when they read the poem is a depressing, but Dickinson looks at it as a joyful and happy time because she is going to be with the Lord.   There is symbolism throughout most of the poem. For example, passing the school symbolizes the woman’s childhood, the grain stands for her growing up, the sun setting represents her time on earth, and the drive symbolizes her life passing before her eyes.   Dickinson personifies death as a kind man. Death is also the narrator of the poem. The meter of the poem alternates between iambic tetrameter, which is eight syllables, and iambic trimeter, which is six syllables. Many literary critics have noticed how many different styles of poems Dickinson writes. Also, critics see a pattern on the things that Emily Dickinson writes about, which are, death, love, religion, and nature. The variety of themes she addressed, and the range and depth she put into her poems was about the emotional struggles she experienced.
Over the years, many literary critics have been trying elaborate on their beliefs on what Emily Dickinson was trying to express in her poem, “Because I could not stop...