Because I Could Not Stop For Death Be Not Proud Essay

Poets Dickinson, Auden and Donne all explore the theme of Death throughout their poems of Because I could not stop for death (Dickinson), Funeral Blues (Auden) and Death be not proud (Donne), all using a range of techniques of personification, underlying religious tones and tone. In Dickinson’s poem, Because I could not stop for Death it is about the death of the author and her transition throughout the stages of life, juxtaposing from this is Auden’s poem Funeral Blues because it is about the death of a relationship between the author and a lover. Divergently, Donne’s poem Death be not proud has a theme of Death but in this poem it approaches this theme with an assertive stand against Death. Contrastingly, Dickinson’s explores into the theme of death with a tone of acceptance, “My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility”, language used such as leisure and Civility conveys that the personality of Death is kinder and more gentle.
Different from Dickinson’s poem, Auden’s poem is expressing the message that he wants everyone to know how sad he is about the death of their relationship, this is conveyed in “Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead” this expresses that emotion because the message is there for everyone to see, “He is dead”. Alternatively, Donne often states “nor yet canst thou kill mee”, that death cannot kill him (the author). Donne also personifies death, “why swell’st thou then?” as he is describing death to be vain, in addition to that “death be not proud” adds onto the personification of death and his vanity. Similarly, Dickinson personifies death within that stanza concluding it with “…the Setting Sun” the setting sun represents the closing of a day and of a life