Because I could not stop for Death: Key Poetic Devices

Allegory

An allegory (AL-uh-GO-ree) is a term used to describe a narrative that can be interpreted to reveal two distinct but correlated levels of meaning. A common example of allegory is Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. This narrative tells of a man named Christian who travels from the “City of Destruction” to the “Celestial City.” A reader can enjoy Pilgrim’s Progress solely for the adventure that unfolds as Christian makes his way in the world. However, a reader can also interpret a second level of meaning, where Christian is an allegorical figure who stands in for all Christian believers. Understood in this way, his journey to the Celestial City allegorizes every Christian’s spiritual journey toward God. A similar allegory appears in the poem’s third stanza (lines 9–12), where the speaker recounts the carriage ride she takes with Death:

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

These lines describe an allegorical landscape that symbolizes the full arc of life. For instance, the children playing at recess represent youth and the hopeful excitement of that time of life. By contrast, “the Fields of Grazing Grain” represent the time of mature adulthood, when the promise of youth comes to fruition. Finally, “the Setting Sun” represents death.

Alliteration

Alliteration (uh-LIT-ter-AY-shun) refers to a situation when two or more words that are close together begin with the same letter. Generally speaking, alliteration serves to emphasize connections between words. This is often true in “Because I could not stop for Death,” where Dickinson uses alliteration for the purpose of linking words. At times the links between words are concrete and straightforward, as when the speaker describes her clothing in lines 15–16:

For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

Here, the repeating G and T sounds emphasize the links between garments and the different materials from which they were made. Other times, the links between words are more abstract, as when the speaker discusses how death requires her to give up the basic principles of living (lines 6–7):

And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too

Here, the speaker draws a connection between “labor” and “leisure,” which are conceptually linked as opposing ways to spend time in the realm of the living. Because death represents a timeless eternity, the speaker must “put away” these time-based activities. Finally, and on a more general level, Dickinson’s use of alliteration throughout the poem subtly enhances the propulsive rhythm of the meter, underscoring it with a quietly percussive beat.

Enjambment

The term enjambment (en-JAM-ment) refers to the technique in which one poetic line flows continuously to the next without stopping. Dickinson’s use of enjambment has special significance in this poem. That claim may at first seem confusing, since most lines in the poem appear to be end-stopped. But a closer look reveals unexpected ambiguity. Fifteen of the poem’s twenty-four lines end with a dash (–). Visually, a dash at the end of a line indicates the need for a brief pause before proceeding to the next line. Grammatically, however, the dash often interrupts what would otherwise be a continuous thought. Consider the opening stanza:

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

If these lines were rewritten in ordinary prose, it might look something like this:

Because I could not stop for Death he kindly stopped for me. The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.

As seen here, whereas the dash after the second line indicates a grammatically necessary pause, the other two dashes are less obviously needed. The ambiguity of these dashes has suggestive implications for the poem as a whole. Death is often figured as an event that brings a decisive end to life. Yet in the poem, the speaker’s consciousness seems to flow continuously past the end of life and into the afterlife.

Personification

Personification refers to instances where a poet invests an inanimate object or abstract concept with human-like attributes or feelings. This literary device is central to Dickinson’s poem, which personifies the concept of death as a human-like figure whom the speaker refers to as “Death.” The personification of death has a long history in literature and popular culture. This tradition frequently depicts death as a brooding figure in a long black cloak, with a hood that partially conceals a skeletal face with glowing eyes. Death is also often seen bearing a scythe, which consists of a long, curved blade used for harvesting crops. In contrast to this traditional iconography, Dickinson personifies death as a wealthy gentleman with a finely wrought carriage, which he courteously employs to escort the speaker to her final resting place. Though Dickinson departs from the usual depiction of death as a cloaked figure, she hints at this image when the speaker mentions “Fields of Gazing Grain” (line 11). These fields symbolize old age. When the grain is ready for harvest, the farmer reaps the grain with his scythe, just as Death reaps the souls of those whose lives are coming to an end.

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