Riding Alongside Death In "Because I could not stop for Death," Emily Dickinson personifies Death and sees him as a gentleman caller that is accompanying her on her carriage ride, presumably to her final resting place. Like many writers, Dickinson personifies Death, however, she is able to accept death as a natural part of life and something that accompanies life. In the poem, Dickinson makes use of personification, alliteration, and anaphora.

In "Because I could not stop for Death," the narrator recounts how Death accompanies her on her carriage ride. In the poem, the narrator likens Death to a gentleman caller who does not press her to hurry up, but rather is patient. Death's chivalrous nature is expressed in the first two lines of the poem, "Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me…/We slowly drove, he knew no haste/And I had put away/My labor, and my leisure too,/For his civility" (lines 1-2, 5-8). From this point, after her introduction to Death, the narrator describes the carriage ride that she takes along with...

The narrator points out various things that they pass along the journey including "the School…the Fields of Grazing Grain…[and] the Setting Sun" (lines 9, 11-12). When Death finally is able to pass her carriage, near the end of her journey, the narrator describes the chill that she felt. She states, "The Dews drew quivering and chill -- / For only Gossamer my Gown -- / My tippet -- only Tulle;" the narrator is able to feel the chill due to the fact that she is not extravagantly dressed, but rather is wearing a simple gown and tippet, or a shawl (lines 14-16). The carriage ride comes to an end when they all stop in front of a house, however, this house is not a house in the traditional sense, but rather can be inferred to be a tomb. The narrator describes this house as "A swelling of the Ground -- / The Roof was scarcely visible -- / The Cornice -- in the Ground" (lines 18-20). The "swelling of the Ground" may refer to the mounds that form over a tomb due to the displaced earth with the "Cornice -- in the Ground"…