"Because I could not stop for Death" is written in five quatrains that have a similar methodical beat that is comparable to the rhythm created by the horses hooves while they are trotting and drawing the carriage. A constant forward momentum is established throughout the second and third quatrain. For example, in line 5, Dickinson begins death's journey with a slow, forward movement, which can be seen as she writes, "We slowly drove-He knew no haste" (5).

The third quatrain seems to speed up as the trinity of death, immortality, and the speaker pass the children playing, the fields of grain, and the setting sun one after another. The poem seems to get faster as life goes through its course. In lines 17 and 18,

Similarly, the limits and limitless are united in the fourth stanza: "The Dews drew quivering and chill-- For only Gossamer, my Gown--My Tippet--only Tulle" (14 - 16).

however, the poem seems to slow down as Dickinson writes, "We paused before a House that seemed / A Swelling of the Ground-" (17-18). Dickinson also uses the form of the poem to emphasize the importance of Immortalities presence in the carriage because she writes, "And Immortality" (4) on a line by itself. Perhaps the most notable way in which Dickinson uses form is when she ends the poem with a dash, which seems to indicate that the poem is never ending, just as eternity is never ending. The poem is in common meter, alternating tetrameter and trimeter, but there is a notable exception: in lines thirteen and fourteen, the pattern is switched, with the trimeter preceding the tetrameter. This has the effect of stopping the reader because he is expecting another foot in the line and, when it is absent, the natural reaction is to pause. This imparts on the line a focus, and a heavy significance. In fact, line 13 is the turning point of the poem, where the author first begins to realize that she is not simply going on a pleasant ride. The tone of the poem changes accordingly and becomes much colder as the couple goes from passing children on a playground

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 894
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)