Personification:
* Death as a Carriage Driver: Dickinson personifies Death as a courteous gentleman, driving a carriage. This humanizes Death, making it less terrifying and more relatable, and emphasizing the inevitability of death.
* The Horse as Time: The carriage's horse is also personified, symbolizing time and its relentless forward movement.
Metaphor:
* The Carriage Journey as Life: The entire poem is a metaphor for the journey of life, with the carriage symbolizing the passing of time and the destination being the afterlife.
* The Passing Landscape as Life Stages: The landscapes that Death and the speaker pass through represent different stages of life: the fields of grain, the setting sun, and the house, perhaps symbolizing youth, maturity, and the final resting place.
Symbolism:
* The "We" in the poem: The "we" refers to the speaker and Death, highlighting the intimate and inevitable relationship between the two.
* The House as the Grave: The house they approach at the end symbolizes the grave, the final destination of all.
Imagery:
* Visual imagery: Dickinson uses vivid imagery of the passing landscape, the carriage, and the houses, creating a picture of the journey.
* Sensory imagery: She also evokes the senses of touch (the "slow" drive), sight ("the setting sun"), and hearing ("the bells of the passing church").
Irony:
* The "Kindness" of Death: Death is portrayed as a kind and courteous figure, despite the fact that he is the ultimate destroyer.
* The Speaker's "Stopping" for Death: The speaker initially claims that she could not stop for Death, but it is Death who has stopped for her, emphasizing the inevitability of death.
Other Devices:
* Repetition: The use of repetition in lines like "We passed the fields of Gazing Grain – / We passed the Setting Sun –" emphasizes the passing of time and the continuity of life.
* Meter and Rhyme: The poem uses a regular ABAB rhyme scheme and a four-beat meter, adding a rhythmic quality to the poem that further enhances its elegance and sophistication.
By using these literary devices, Emily Dickinson crafts a poem that is both profound and deeply moving, capturing the complex relationship between life, death, and the inevitability of the latter.