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Mayra S. Jimenez Maritnez

Ms. White

Ap Literature and Composition

19 November 2020

The significance of Change

In “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, the theme that tolerating or

having patience helps one comprehend the overall changes that life leads a person through by the

capitalization of specific words as well as the metaphors presented.

The capitalization of certain words throughout the poem leads to the overall examination

of the mortal life as well as the afterlife. In the fifth stanza, the capitalization of the word

“Swelling” indicates the attentiveness of the speaker towards the surroundings. In the same

stanza she mentions that there was Cornice in the ground. Cornice is typically an architectural

feature or a structure that is placed on top of said building. With the speaker having pointed this

out, it is inferred that the house is falling apart because of the cornice on the ground. With

“Swelling” being capitalized and there being cornice on the ground give the house this old,

tarnishing image. The speaker overall emphasizes the ideas of a mortal as well as the afterlife, in

this case, and in this case it is seen that the speaker is already in the afterlife. The descriptions

that the speaker provides as to the house being old and ragged helps identify the overall idea that

being in the afterlife gives a different perspective than to being in the mortal part of life.

Although the speaker is giving the house a saddened description it is not known as to why the

speaker now sees the house the way it is: a dreadful and old house. With this vision of the

afterlife the speaker is said to be recalling all of the amazing things that life once offered. The

speaker stood in the perspective of seeing that not all that was done was work but that those little
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moments had to be counted as the biggest ones. The way the speaker reminisces about life and

the house that was once a beauty shows that everything changes in perspective once the things

that are once so undervalued are lost.

With all the metaphors that the speaker presented throughout the poem, it can be

determined that the life that is left as well as the limited amount of time is very crucial to the

overall afterlife journey. In the first stanza, the lines “ He kindly stopped for me/ The Carriage

held but just Ourselves/ And Immortality” introduces the idea of death. The carriage is a four-

wheeled passenger vehicle pulled by two or more horses. This carriage overall was a metaphor

used to illustrate the journey of the speaker from mortal life to the afterlife. It signifies their first

class trip with “Immortality” . When reaching the afterlife state it is suggested that the speaker is

going in an endless circle around the things that were once there as well as the chings that were

never appreciated because now it is an endless cycle with no room to be something else. In the

third stanza, the lines “ We passed the School, where Children strove/ At Recess- in the Ring/

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain/ We passed the Setting Sun”. This stana introduces

another form of a metaphor through the use of alliteration. The occurrence of the same letter

repeatedly provides an emphasis on all the locations that the carriage had taken the speaker on.

The carriage was overall a place of recollection and in this case showed the speaker the many

places that were going to be missed. All of these places are used metaphorically in the sense that

because the carriage is this place where there are recollections of thoughts the carriage also

signifies the setting of the sun, or the end of life. The alliteration within this stanza just draws

the attention from the carriage to the fact that the reader is succumbing to death.

Although the narrator’s overall theme is that of bleakness, sadness, and the could have

beens in life they all display the value life needs to be given. Like the speaker in “Because I
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could not stop for Death”, the realization of slowing down on the day to day life is essential so

that the regrets that the speaker presents aren’t repeated once again. The changed perspective that

one has overlooking their life is saddening and forever haunting. When the individual is able to

understand that change is something vital in a person's day to day life, they are able to better

their lives and the ones of everyone around them.