Because I Could Not Stop For Death Flashcards
introduction
In this poem, the poet describes her experience of death, which at first seems
unusually inviting, as she travels on a journey through her life, but then seems
frightening and cold. The poem is made particularly striking by the ambivalent
portrayal of death as both benign and malign and the dramatic contrast between
images of growth and decline and the theme of time and timelessness.
paragraph topic sentences
1) Personification of Death as a courteous gentleman-caller
2) Portrayal of theme of time through use of symbolic images of growth,
peak and decline.
3) Structural and emotional heart
4) Second half of poem portrays a second side to experience of death
5) Manipulation of theme of time
paragraph 1 on death as a courteous gentleman-caller
1) “kindly” - Death is personified as polite, gentlemanly and courteous which subverts the literary convention of death as a malign, alarming force. This is the central extended metaphor of the poem
2) “I had put away my labor and my leisure too for his civility” - opposites create a compression of life showing how death is completely transcending. Universalizing imagery contrasts to the personal manner in which her death occurs, references by civility which draws attention to his politeness.
3) ballad rhyme scheme is traditional for storytelling and is linked to romance. Furthermore the metre is even (tetrameter followed by triameter) creating the impression that death is nothing to be feared.
4) hymnal structure implying that death is a quasi-religious experience thus adding to its allure
paragraph 2 on the portrayal of time through the use of symbolic images of growth, peak and decline
1) CHILDHOOD:
“school” - represents childhood and growth through learning
“strove” - suggests struggle and competition so perhaps does not remember her childhood that fondly
2) MATURE YEARS:
“fields of gazing grain” - image of high summer symbolizes the middle/peak of her life, illustrating her maturity
3) OLD AGE:
“setting sun” - image of decline but only temporary (reborn in heaven?)
4) whole life span compressed into one stanza but the carriage ride stretches out for 5 - insignificant life, afterlife that matters
paragraph 3 on structural and emotional heart of poem
1) “we passed the setting sun-“ Pause when time stops. This is the moment of death.
2) “or rather he passed us” - She realizes the nature of time and her experience of it has changed. Now dead, she is out of time. Time has stopped in her carriage but time carries on elsewhere: carriage vs outside world.
3) her death occurs at the structural heart of the poem, marking its significance. furthermore the theme of time feature. critical as returned to at end.
4) “centuries” - Our experience of time is manipulated, like hers. Felt like yesterday but time was warped by death. Experience of death made striking by manipulation of time and the portrayal of timelessness.
paragraph 4 on second half of poem to portray a second side to the experience of death
1) death is no longer just a joyride with a chivalrous man. ideas of exposure and fragility are introduced.
2) “quivering and chill” - dark imagery is scary and quivering seems unstable suggesting fear
3) “gossamer” - fine silk spun by spiders (image of fragility). cobwebs suggest death and decay.
4) “tulle” - insubstantial man-made fine silk, drawing attention to man’s fragility in the face of death
Conclusion
Overall the narrators perspective on death seems to be that it is almost welcome and pleasant. At the end of the poem in the final two stanzas the narrator seems to move on from the initially frightening moment of death, finding comfort in it. She refers to her grave as a “house” which suggests it is welcoming and comforting. Ends on the long vowel in “eternity” which slows down the pace suggesting peacefulness. Dash implies more to come, death is not the end.
