Figurative Language (New)

Authors Note: I came across this poem in the Stories and other Readings section on School Fusion, I found it very interesting and decided to choose this poem for my new figurative language analysis.

Analysis:  The tone and mood within the first stanza is very creepy and sad since she died “He kindly stopped for me”. The metaphor “The carriage held just but ourselves and immortality” shows that she is in the afterlife and cannot die.  In the second Stanza, I feel that death is personified as a traitor, he tries the convince her to join him in his carriage “And I had put away My labor and my leisure too” which he succeeds.  The third stanza is about her looking back at her life through the carriage, the school symbolizes her childhood, and the sunset as her death . This creates a more tranquil and relaxed mood and rhythm since death isn’t mentioned at all in that stanza .  In the fourth stanza you find out her death was unexpected since she is not dressed for the occasion “For only Gossamer, my gown My tippet only tulle” which I found out is very light clothing. The changing in the two stanzas changing from the warm sun and children to becoming very cold makes the mood more serious and creepy again. In the fifth stanza, she comes across a house that seems to be described as a grave which makes you wonder if it was her grave or someone she knew who passed away, this adds on to the creepy and sad tone and mood. In the Final stanza, Dickinson writes in present tense which makes you wonder if this was written from the carriage of how she was tricked into following death. She had to guess or surmise the horses pulling the carriage were heading towards eternity which adds on to the fact she was tricked by death and didn’t know she would be stuck with death and immortality which have become her attributes.