Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Because I Could Not Stop For Death - Theory Questions

Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Dickinson, Emily. "Because I could not stop for Death." The Norton Introduction to Poetry. J. Paul Hunter, Alison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays. 9th edition. New York: Norton 2007. 531.

I chose to look at this poem by trying to see connections between Dickinson's own life and the poem. I'm not sure how well it worked out, but I thought I'd give it a shot just to see what might happen.

1. In the third stanza, why do you think Dickinson chose the images of childhood, ripe wheat, and a sunset?
2. Emily Dickinson wrote a large amount of poems in her lifetime. Do you think the title and first line of the poem reflect anything about her?
3. What do you think Dickinson's own thoughts on death were based off this poem?

1 comment:

Amy L said...

I have learned through reading many of her poems and researching about Dickinson that she often wrote about death and was, in fact, somewhat obsessed with the thought of dying. The fact that she is expressing that she would not stop for death but it obviously decided to find her is indicative of her fear of dying, yet somehow portrays that she obviously knows that it will happen.