Question

In "Because I could not stop for death" by Emily Dickinson, what does she mean by the following excerpt?"We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground – The Roof was scarcely visible – The Cornice – in the Ground –"

Answer 1

It compares the grave to a house, making it seem inviting.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

Emily is alluding to the "house" which was her grave. She is giving a description of her grave, like she's describing her house where she will be living.

Step-by-step explanation:

Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death", she talks of dying and how death feels like. She laid emphasis on the identity of death, personifying it as a gentleman who had come to take her in a carriage.

The lines in the question are from the 5th stanza of the poem. Here, she is alluding to her grave as a "house", which was "a swelling of the ground", just how graves are like a stump in he ground, a bit elevated. Being on the ground, "the roof was scarcely visible" and the 'cornice', a bit of hanging just below the ceiling, was also "in the ground".