Page 89 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
by Emily Dickinson, page 70

Vocabulary
syntax – sentence construction; word order
recluse – one who shuns society; one who remains at home
cornice – uppermost molding
surmised – guessed; began to understand

1. In the way she writes of death in this poem, is Dickinson using simile or personification?
Explain your answer.

Dickinson uses personification since Death is presented as a character, not as a
comparison.

2. How does Dickinson characterize “Death”? Why do you think it is presented in this way?

Dickinson characterizes Death as polite, civil, and gentlemanly.

Answers may vary. Example: She is trying to show Death’s place in the natural cycle of
life, not as something to be (or that can be) avoided.

3. What is the “house that seemed/A swelling of the ground”?

The house is the speaker’s grave.

4. Rewrite the poem’s last stanza in simple prose.

Answers may vary. Example: Centuries have passed since I died and was buried, but those
centuries feel shorter than the longest day of my life: the day I realized I was dead and
heading for my grave.

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