Death Vs. Marriage

Poetry is a work of art that can be found all over the world, whether is through words or actions. For example, poetry is found through television, music, theatre, movies, poems and many more. Depending on how a poem is read, it can include many different emotions. For instance, it can bring joy, fear, tragic, confusion, etc... In some poems there can be good things and bad things happening. For example, some characters may die and other may commit a crime. It all depends on what the writer wants. Death is an example that was read, and the writer chose to compare it with marriage. In Emily Dickinson's poem, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death", she shows that death comes to someone in the same manner as marriage does through comparison, personification and tone.

Throughout this poem, Dickinson has compared many things from beginning to end. The most used comparison is death. It is compared to marriage in many different ways. Dickinson uses peaceful, light things and compares them with dark things. For example, she compares a coffin to a carriage. The speaker, of the poem, says, "The Carriage held but just ourselves" (Dickinson 3). The carriage is the thing that carries her body to her new life. The speaker also mentions the attire that she is wearing in lines 15 and 16. This attire is compared to a wedding attire of a bride. She refers to her gown as "Gossamer" (15). According to Dickinson the "Gossamer" is defined to be a material of the gown that she is wearing. A "Gossamer" is a sheer material, and most wedding dresses are thin, sheer pieces of material. The speaker also mentions a cape that she is wearing. This cape represents a shawl that a bride wears (16). Another thing that is being compared in the speaker's new home. She briefly describes what her new home looks like in lines 17-20. She describes the roof, mentioning that it is "scarcely visible" (19). As they carriage carries the speaker to her new home it had "pause before a House that seemed / A Swelling of the Ground" (17-18). This new house that the speaker mentions is the graveyard. Throughout the poem there are many things that are being compared to different things, but the most important comparison is that death is being compared to marriage. Marriage is the end of a young girl's life and into adulthood, where as, death is the end of ones life onto the after life.

Personification is an important element in this poem that shows how easy death comes to someone, as marriage does. The major way that Dickinson uses personification is that she refers to death as a male. She begins the poem with personification by starting with the line, "Because I could not stop for Death - / He kindly stopped for me" (1-2). When the speaker says he, she is referring to death. Another example that the speaker uses personification is when she says that, "The Carriage held but just ourselves - / And Immortality", meaning that her coffin held her, her death and her immortality (3-4). The speaker also mentions the word "we" a lot. Whenever this word is mentioned, she is referring to herself and her death. A couple examples of these are found in lines 5, 9, 11, 12, 17. The last major thing that Dickinson personifies if the "Setting Sun" (12). As the carriage was carrying her and her death to her new home she mentions that, "[they] passed the Setting Sun - / Or rather - He passes Us" (12-13). In this line, [they] is being referred to the speaker and her death, and also the he is being referred to the setting sun. In the poem personification shows that death comes in the same manner as marriage because the speaker refers to death takes care of her like a person would, and a man takes care of his bride on her marriage day.

The last element that is shown in this poem to show that death comes in the same manner as marriage is tone. Tone and marriage share pretty much the same emotions between family members. These emotions include sadness, joyfulness, hopefulness and many more. With marriage and death, the attention is on the person getting married or the one who is dying and their family. For instance, on the wedding day, most people are concerned with the bride. They are concerned with what she looks like?, How she is doing?, and ever if she is nervous. Along with a marriage, the death is the same, but it is the family of the dead person that is getting concerned with. A major tone/feeling that Dickinson has the speaker express is happiness. The speaker refers back to the "good ol' days". Her lights had flash before her eyes as she passed the school yard. As the carriage take her to her new home, "[they] passed the school, where Children strove / At Recess - in the Ring" (9). The tone of poem has a lot of effect on a person when it comes to sentimental times such as death and marriage, especially towards families.

Poetry is used all over this world today, and it is very emotional and sentimental in people's lives. Poetry is found through many different elements such as television, music, theatre, movies, poems and many more. Emily Dickinson's poem, "Because I could not stop for Death", shows that death appears in the same behavior as marriage through three different elements. These elements include, comparison, personification and tone.

Work Cited

Dickinson, Emily. "Because I could not stop for Death". Course Handout. English Composition II. University of Saint Mary. Leavenworth, KS. 20 March 2007