Figurative Language In Because I Could Not Stop For Death

“Because I could not stop for death” by Emily Dickinson, displays poetic excellence because, it is not didactic, it contains no sentiment, and uses figurative language excellently. The theme of the poem is, when people die, they go into a new life of eternity and have a new beginning. The poem is about a woman who nears death and sees death as something pleasant because her life has become sorrow, which is symbolized with the broken down house. Death is personified as a gentleman caller to show that death can be a sweet thing and not such a sad depressing thing. Instead of lecturing about death, the speaker conveys her message through a story; the speaker is on a date with a gentleman caller. During, the date they travel past a school a field …show more content…
Dickinson, as the great poet, she is, avoids being didactic choosing rather to tell a story with her poem. Telling a story allows the reader to better imagine and take away what they get from the poem, rather than lecturing about why this is important. Dickinson tells the story of a person in despair who wishes to be dead, but cannot come to do it herself. Rather she waits till her death comes to her and till then her only hope is reaching eternity or immortality. Dickinson avoids being didactic, rather she tells a story that draws the reader into the poem and helps them take away more from the poem. When dealing with death it’s very easy to be overly sentimental, however, Dickinson avoids sentimentality which makes the poem stronger. Dickinson avoids high diction, rather her word choice is at a level where the poem can be reads decades and decades from the time it was originally written. She also avoids adding to much emotion into her poem, when you read the poem it almost has a neutral or a monotone feeling to it. Dickinson avoids the overuse of figurative language; rather she uses the right amount to make the poem more imaginable and easier to read. Dickinson uses symbolism and metaphor to help draw the reader in and help take away from the poem. An example of metaphor would be, “Death but the/Drift of Eastern Gray, /Dissolving into Dawn away, /Before the West …show more content…
'Tis so much joy!” by Emily Dickinson, displays poetic excellence because, she avoids the three errors of decent poetry (very didactic, overly sentimental, and over use of figurative language). The theme of the poem is; when people, they can always get back up and keep trying until they accomplish what they set out to pursue. This poem is more on the lighter side of Dickinson’s usual dark poetry (as I’ve showed you with the previous two poems). The meaning off the poem is more motivation and inspiration, rather than depression and death; Dickinson is trying to tell us that even if we fail we can always get back up and try again until we succeed. She also tells us to have hope and faith; because you never know what could happen if you take that gamble, something positive might come of it. In the first stanza, the speaker is excited and very glee over something. The speaker has decided to take a gamble on a “throw”, stating if she fails she loses everything and becomes poverty. However, she is ecstatic and confident that she throws caution to the wind and decides to venture on this risk. And to win is victory, happiness, and glory; at first she was hesitant about risking it but now she is certain about what she is doing (which is risk everything). In the second stanza she begins with, “Life is but life, and death but death! Bliss is but bliss, and breath but breath!” Meaning that everything is simple, there is no intricate meaning to anything just