Because I couldn’t stop for Death explores death’s inevitable nature and the uncertainty surrounding what happens to people after they die. The personification of Death as a “gentle” gentleman takes the reader along on a mysterious and mysterious journey. The poet didn’t give this poem a title like most other lyric poetry.
Dickinson has incorporated her standard form by using six quatrains. The stanzas represent different stages in the speaker’s symbol journey. It is her tendency of breaking away from patterns that makes her stand out from other aesthetics. While her contemporaries thought that the poem was spasmodic or lacked form, today we see it as a clever interplay between music and meaning. The majority continues in the same meter as the rest of the poem, but the ABCB rhymes diverge into other off-rhymes like’meimmortality’ or awayCivility, or RingSun, and a ‘chillTulle.
In British traditions, the word ‘lyrics’ is used for short, intimate verses, which are usually written first person. They express the speaker’s emotions and thoughts directly. The emphasis of lyric on individuality has led it to become more popular, especially since the Romantic period. Dickinson’s poetry is a collection of lyrics. These are short poems that have a single speaker who expresses their thoughts and feelings.
Dickinson often uses the first-person ‘I” to identify the speaker of her poems. Dickinson did remind a reader, though, that the I’ in Dickinson’s poetry didn’t necessarily mean the poet. The ‘I” in this poem addresses the reader by calling them ‘you.’ Lyrical poetry also has a distinctive style that is characterized by the emotions and moods it expresses. These emotions are often extreme. Dickinson centers the poem, in line with her previous work, around ‘Death.’ He is personified and alluding to be ‘civil’ and kind.’ Dickinson creates a kind of irony by stating that she was unable to stop because death, but Death took the time to stop kindly for her. Dickinson’s irony and transcendental humor are among the reasons for her immense popularity. Lyrics usually follow a structure that determines the form, rhyme scheme and meter. Dickinson uses the iambic measure, which is common in lyric poetry. The strong rhythmic pattern in the form contributes to its musicality and gives it a lyrical feel.
Dickinson’s poetry is lyrical, but without a philosophy. It has irresistible forms of expression.