Because I Could Not Stop for Death

(reading literature: Because i could not stop for death)

By Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for death

• In this poem, Dickinson’s speaker is communicating from beyond the grave, describing her journey with Death, personified, from life to afterlife. In the opening stanza, the speaker is too busy for Death (“Because I could not stop for Death—“), so Death—“kindly”—takes the time to do what she cannot, and stops for her.

Multiple Choice

Read the following stanza and explain the following :

What figurative language did Dickinson use to reveal the message of death?

Because I could not stop for Death -

He kindly stopped for me -

The Carriage held but just Ourselves -

And Immortality.

• Simile

• Personification

• Oxymoron

• metaphor

Multiple Choice

Who are the main characters in the first stanza?

• Emily and death

• Emily only

• Emily, death and immortality

• Death only

Second stanza

• We slowly drove, he knew no haste, 

  And I had put away

  My labor, and my leisure too,

  For his civility.

• The speaker describes death as a man who is kind, slow, and civil, arriving in a carriage. He is not frightening. This creates the image of a romantic date with death.

  
  

Multiple Choice

What literary device did Dickinson utilize in the following line?

We slowly drove, he knew no haste

• alliteration

• flashback

• metaphor

• symbolism

Multiple Select

Read the following line and choose the meaning of the underlined word:

My labor, and my leisure too,

• free time

• work and efforts

• hobbies

• none of the above

Stanza 3

• We passed the school, where Children strove

  At recess, in the ring;

  We passed the fields of gazing grain,

  We passed the setting sun.

• They move along at a pretty relaxed pace and the speaker seems completely at ease with the gentleman. As they pass through the town, she sees children at play, fields of grain, and the setting sun. Pretty peaceful, right?

Multiple Choice

We passed the school, where Children strove

At recess, in the ring;

We passed the fields of gazing grain,

We passed the setting sun.

What figurative language has Dickinson utilized in this stanza?

• Allusion

• repetition

• simile

• none of the above

Multiple Choice

Read the following lines and explain the word that has been used as a symbol of death.

Or rather – He passed Us –

The Dews drew quivering and Chill

• rather

• dews

• passed

• chill

Multiple Select

What is the figurative speech used in the following stanza?

We passed the school, where children strove

At recess, in the ring;

We passed the fields of gazing grain,

We passed the setting sun.

• symbolism

• Anaphora

• simile

• Onomatopoeia

Open Ended

The subject of Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death” is clearly death, but what ideas about death is Dickinson exploring in this poem? what themes Dickinson explores in “Because I could not stop for Death”.