Unlike On wondrous sea, andWater is taught by thirst, I could not stop for death deals with characters and a story to define the difference between life and the afterlife. Told in the first person, death’s passenger speaks to the reader centuries after her death recounting her journey.  It is the use of a character that Dickenson is able to construct a deeper emotional understanding of the differences between life and afterlife. On wondrous sea and Water is taught by thirst do a wonderful job at conveying the natural process by which life and eternity are apart of, Because I could not stop for death reveals the personal effect it has on an individual
            The reader is told that the character’s journey spans one day but in actuality it spans her entire lifetime as revealed in the third stanza. She uses a very calm tone recounting her passage as a lucid series of event however there is still a tone of regret and sorrow in her voice that reveal to the reader that she notes the differences in Life and death.
The orator’s attention to detail offers another haunting dimension to the poem. Dickinson at no point uses the word grave or headstone instead uses allusions as when she describes her new home in the fourth stanza and also
“ For only gossamer my gown”
The image of a woman wearing cobwebs as a gown is a chilling visual that greatly contrasts with the tone of the poem. However it nonetheless adds to the theme that death is not so much a finality but a new stage were choice and action are unavailable