Personification In Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Portrayal of death through the arts in the nineteenth century was commonly done with an air of fear and trepidation. However, poetic recluse Emily Dickinson viewed death in a manner contrary to her time, as she was fascinated with the unknown regarding the passing from this world into the next. Dickinson expresses her attitude towards death and the afterlife in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” through personification, symbolism, and form.
Dickinson expresses her outlook on death through personification. Death is described as a gentleman, “kindly stop[ping]” for the narrator when it is her time to die (2). He “knew no haste,” and is not in any rush to seal the narrator’s eternity, but rather seems to stop beside her and walk through the end of her life with her (5). Thus, the narrator is given time to process and understand what is happening. She is described as wearing “only Gossamer, my Gown-/ My Tippet- only Tulle,” showing that she was unprepared for death’s arrival (15). Therefore, death’s patience and willingness to move slowly is soothes the narrator
The characters riding in the carriage include the narrator, death, “And Immortality” (4). As death is portrayed as a courteous gentleman to the narrator, Immortality is presented as a chaperone in their expedition into the night. As both death and Immortality are riding with the speaker, the poem suggests that death is an eternal journey, leading to an immortal existence. Additionally, “Gazing Grain” is personified in the poem (11). The narrator looks at the scenery passing her by on her journey onward, and at the same time, the scenery looks back at her. As the scenery symbolizes her mortal life, the “Grazing Grain” represents those who remain behind, reflecting upon the narrator’s life (11). By not only personifying death, Dickinson adds a deeper level of significance throughout her