Choose one poetic element that Dickinson uses in either "This is my letter to the world", or "Because I would not stop for Death". Describe how she uses that element to develop the theme. Your response should be at least 200 words.

In both poems, the poetic element that stood out to me the most is the use of personification.

In "This Is My Letter To The World," nature is personified as being able to speak, "The simple news that Nature told"(3) Dickinson states that she cannot see what was told, but asks that the countrymen do not judge her regardless.

In "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" she applies personification to death, who appears to be the driver of a carriage, arriving to take the speaker into the afterlife.

"Because I could not stop for Death -

He kindly stopped for me -" (1-2)

Dickinson's speaker is describing her experience with death. In the opening stanza, she was too busy for death - but Death had enough time for her - and was civil enough to stop .

"We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility –"

Death's "civility" caused her to drop everything that occupied her time before his visit, and she enjoyed the carriage ride instead.