This poem's tone is very light-hearted and innocent. Some certain words in different stanzas show her interaction with Death and how gentle and kind he was. "He kindly stopped for me-" Another example includes. "We slowly drove - he knew no haste"

"We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess - in the Ring -

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-

We passed the Setting Sun"

This symbolizes her life. She sits on the wagon watching her life go by. First childhood she would play during recess, then marriage where she gets a ring placed on her finger. Next, she sees the "Fields of Gazing Grain" which symbolizes her later years may taken place at a farm, or living peacefully. We then arrive at the setting sun, which is the end of her life. It wasn't an abrupt end, it was slow, calm, and beautiful.

Emily Dickinson uses imagery a lot in this poem. Throughout it, you see the image of a carriage being drawn slowly to a grave buried deep in the ground. Imagery is used in this poem to give the reader the feeling Emily wants to show. You get the feeling of a gloomy day when you read "the dews drew quivering and chill-". She also uses imagery to resemble things, like when she uses "the Setting Sun" to resemble the end of the narrator's life. Imagery is essential to the meaning of this poem.

Emily uses personification in this poem to describe death. She says that "[death] kindly stopped". Throughout the poem, giving death human attributes is important to the poem because it lets Emily describe it better. She also uses irony to add to the poem by saying death is kind and civil. This helps the poem because you feel like she is kind of being sarcastic about death.