In "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson, how does the speaker of the poem personify death?

Throughout the poem, the speaker personifies death, meaning she treats the abstract concept of death as if it were a human, with a body, a gender, a voice, and a personality.

The speaker of the poem accomplishes this personification by

• referring to death with a capital letter, "Death," as if that were its first name;


• ascribing the male gender to death, referring to it with male pronouns: "him" and "he";


• describing specific actions that Death takes, such as riding in the carriage, stopping to pick up the speaker in this carriage, and viewing the sights of the town with the speaker;


• and assigning Death specific emotions and attributes, like "kindly," "civility," and lacking any "haste."

By personifying death so extensively, the speaker invites us to consider the dual nature of death: on one hand, it may appear civil, courteous, and patient, but on the other, death may be sinister and manipulative, removing us from our work and play ("labor" and "leisure") and warping our sense of how quickly time passes.