Question

1. How does this poem fit the ballad form? Cite evidence from the text to support your response. 

2. How would you describe the speaker and her relationship with the character Death?

Answer 1

1. A ballad is a style of verse - usually a musical narrative. The poem "Because I could not stop for Death," by Emily Dickinson, fits into this category due to the combination of iambic meter lines of three and four feet or stressed syllables, which create a hymn-like poem. For example:

Because I could not stop for Death (4 sylables)

He kindly stopped for me (3 syllables)

The Carriage held but just Ourselves (4 syllables)

And Immortality.  (3 syllables)

2. The speaker has a flirting relationship with the character Death, which takes the shape of a courteous admirer. She feels very comfortable with him, although she is undressed, since the date with Death took her by surprise that morning.

Answer 2

Answer:

The poem discusses a somber theme and has a simple end-rhyme scheme. The poem has a more or less set meter of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, as is common in typical nineteenth-century ballads. Here’s an example from the poem (the x marks the unstressed syllables and the / marks the stressed syllables):

x       /  x       /  x       /  x       /

The Car| riage held| but just | Ourselves

x       /

x       /

x   /

And Im| mortal| ity.

Explanation: Sample answer