PSSA Reading Quiz: “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
Because I Could Not Stop for
Death
by
Emily Dickinson
Because I could not stop for DeathHe kindly stopped for MeThe Carriage held but just OurselvesAnd ImmortalityWe slowly drove- He knew no hasteAnd I had put away
My Labor- and my Leisure tooFor his CivilityWe passed the school where children
played
At Recess in a RingWe passed the fields of Gazing GrainWe passed the setting SunOr rather the Sun passed usThe Dews grew quivering and chillFor only gossamer1 was my gown
My Tippet2- only Tulle3We paused before a House that
seemed
A swelling of the GroundThe roof was scarcely visibleThe cornice4 in the GroundSince then ’tis centuries- but
Feels shorter than a Day
I first surmised5 the Horses’ heads
Were toward Eternity.
1
spider-webbing
night-cap
3
very thin cotton
4
top-ledge of a building
5
realized
2
1. The poem is structured mostly
through
A. random flashbacks
B. chronological events
C. causes and effects
D. perfectly rhymed stanzas
LF221
2. The poet uses the sensory image
“quivering and chill” to suggest
that
A. the speaker is ill-prepared for
her journey with Death
B. the setting of the poem is winter
C. death is a cold-hearted character
D. we have no sensory awareness of
after death
LF113 & LF232
3. The phrase “gazing grain” in
stanza 3 is an example of
A. symbolism
B. alliteration
C. simile
D. hyperbole
LF252
4. The tone toward death shifts in
the poem from
A. joyful to angry
B. respectful to cynical
C. calm to fearful
D. reverent to irreverent
LF235
5. The speaker in the poem
A. is ready to die
B. is dressed appropriately for the
journey
C. is aware of a change in time
D. is omniscient third person
LF231
6. The reader can infer that the
carriage driver
A. forces the narrator into the
carriage
PSSA Reading Quiz: “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
B. hurries to his destination
C. is alone in the carriage with the
narrator
D. symbolizes death
LF211 & LF251
7. The poet exercises poetic license
by straying from the rules of
Standard English with her
unusual
A. slang
B. redundancy
C. capitalization
D. subject-verb agreement
LF224
8. The word immortality comes
from the Latin words im- and
mortis, which must mean
A. not moral
B. not dead
C. not alive
D. not afraid
LF122
9. To research what a cornice is, it
would be best to consult which
non-fictional text?
A. Mortuary Science: An Annotated
Bibliography
B. The World Almanac
C. Harmon’s Atlas of Cemeteries
D. MacGruder’s Handbook of
Architectural Terminology
LF222 & LF123
10. The rhyme scheme of stanza 1 is
A. AABB
B. ABAC
C. ABAB
D. ABCB
LF252