Start with exploring the above link about the literary device of personification. Personification means “the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.”
In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” the concept of death is personified by a man (she uses the pronoun “he”) driving a carriage that has picked the narrator up. Explore the the literary device of personification by answering the following questions. Please answer them on a separate document that you upload to Canvas.
1. What is the overall effect on the poem of personifying death as a carriage driver who takes the narrator through the town?
2. Describe how time unfolds and is experienced in the poem.
3. Describe the demeanor of “death.” What characteristics, or even personality traits, if you will, does Dickinson give “death,” and how does this contribute to the effect of the poem?
