A Stylistic Analysis of Because I Could not Stop for Death Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility –
We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – We passed the Setting Sun – Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill – For only Gossamer, my Gown – My Tippet – only – Tulle –
We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground – The Roof was scarcely visible – The Cornice – in the Ground – Since then –‘tis Centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses ‘Heads Were toward Eternity –
--Emily Dickinson, Because I Could not Stop for Death Introduction
Emily Dickinson（1830-1886）, the American best-known female poet，was one of the foremost authors in American literature. \"Because I could not stop for Death\" is a lyrical poem by Emily Dickinson. The poem is about the poet meeting a personified Death. Dickinson personifies Death as a gentleman caller who takes a leisurely carriage ride with the poet to her grave. It reveals the author's calm acceptance of death.
Analysis
Because I Could not Stop for Death is one of the most significant poem of Emily Dickinson in terms of subjects of death. The whole poem with four feet iambic and three feet iambic appears an
alternate layout, and the rhyme is not strict. This “not in s trict” rhyme, contrasting to the traditional model of the rhyme if poetry creation, reflects Dickinson`s creative rebellion and modernity. The rich use of the poem rhyme is abound of changes, increasing the beauty of the musicality of poetry to read catchy, adding the language of poetry appreciation value and giving the reader a unique aesthetic temperament and interest.
Ⅰ. At the Phonological Level Meter
In this poem, Dickinson adopted her formal pattern: common meter which consisted of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, ., four stresses in the first and third lines of each stanza, there in second and fourth:
V-V-V-V- V-V-V- V-V-V-V- V-V-V-
As a renegade in American literature, Dickinson rejected the
iambic pentameter line that had dominant poetic mode for centuries; in its stead, she employed common meter that suited the revolutionary nature of her expression.
Rhyme
In this poem, it is composed in six quatrains with the meter alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. Stanzas 1, 2, 4, and 6 employ end rhyme in their second and fourth lines, but some of these are only close rhyme or eye rhyme. In the third stanza, there is no end rhyme, but \"ring\" in line 2 rhymes with \"gazing\" and \"setting\" in lines 3 and 4 respectively. Internal rhyme is scattered throughout.
Ⅱ. At the Graphological Level Capitalization
The poet capitalized nouns like “Death”, “Carriage”, and “Eternity” or pronouns like “Ourselves” and “He”, which deviated from the conventional norm of capitalization. These unusual capitalization, its will certainly stand out and appear in front of the readers’ eyes repeatedly; slow the readers down a little, making us pause to consider the word rather than breezing though the poem. All these capital words concern about the theme: Death and Immortality.
Punctuation
Through the unconventional use of punctuation, particularly the dash. She used the dash to attract the readers’ attention to the poet’s way to eternity and imply that the poem is never
ending, just as eternity is never ending. The dashes pause the poem and leave apace to think over and to go on.
Ⅲ. At the Semantic Level Personification
The poem personifies Death as a gentleman caller who takes
a leisurely carriage ride with the poet to her grave. Death is a thing not to be afraid of but to also personifies immortality. We can know that death in body walks along with immortality in mind.
Metaphor
The poem is developed upon a basic metaphor that life is a journey. It was truly rather old a comparison, but Dickinson enriched it with her creativity and imagination: “the School, where Children strove”--young ages; “ the Fields of Gazing Grain”--productive years of one’s life; and “the Setting Sun ”--the end of day also the end of life. The “The Dews drew quivering and chill-” makes the protagonist feel extremely cold, which may mean that they are getting closer to the grave. From “I first surmised the Horses ‘Heads”, the house metaphor the tomb, implies the poet feels comfortable about the death.
Anaphora
In th e third stanza “ We passed” directly embodies the anaphra. We readers can almost hear the echo clomping of the house, thus feeling part of the journey instead of just being outside observers. From the stanza, it giving the readers a sense of life go by.
Conclusion
Emily Dickinson is a great poet with unique poetic style. She violated the language rules and developed her unique interpretation of death and eternity through her inventive employment of rhyme, punctuation and capitalization, etc. With the use of dashes and capitalized words, she liberated her poetic language from grammar and cliche and regained for it freshness and freedom. She planed and shaped her stanza in which rhymes played remarkable roles. Her style , as well as the intellectual and
artistic sophistication lies in it, has far-reaching influence on modern American poetry.
References
[1]董启明,《新编英语文体学教程》, 北京：外语教学与研究出版社
[2]闕爱金, Stylistic Interpretation of Emily Dickinson`s “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”. 浙江大学城市学院, 2012 [3]王煞晴，从文体学角度看艾米丽·狄金森的语言特征[D], PDF
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