In Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," she uses various types of figurative language and imagery (personification, metaphor, and symbol) to portray the idea that death is not a dreadful event, but actually a pleasant experience. .
Emily Dickinson uses personification, giving human like qualities to an object or idea. In this poem, death is seen as a gentleman caller. Death is coming to pick her up for a date in a carriage. "He kindly stopped for me-" is ironic because it shows she would rather not go, but since he is a kind, polite man she will go.
A metaphor "transfers the sense of one word to another" (Barton/Hudson 99). Dickinson relates a house to a grave:.
We paused before a House that seemed.
A Swelling of the Ground-.
The Roof was scarcely visible-.
The Cornice-in the Ground-.
The "Swelling of the Ground" is her new house, her grave. "The Roof" is the new dirt that was dug up and relocated on top of her, and "the Cornice" is the new tombstone molded into the ground.
Symbolism is the use of "an image intended both to stand on its own right and attract meanings to itself" (Hunt 1579). This is maneuvered in stanza three:.
We passed the School, where children strove.
At Recess-in the Ring-.
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain- .
We passed the Setting Sun-.
As a whole, the speaker is visualizing her life flashing before her eyes. The school symbolizes youth, which is short and fun. "Fields of Gazing Grain" is a symbol for adulthood or the long middle part of life. And "the setting sun" contributes to old age or near death. Besides symbolism, "We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain" involves personification and visual image. "Gazing Grain" gives the impression that the grain is gazing or looking and following the sun patterns. The audience can actually imagine the grain grabbing at the sun across the sky.
The best image Dickinson reveals is the sense of touch.
Or rather-He passed Us-.
