Emily Dickinson's depiction of death is ironic because of how gentle and genteel it is compared to the usual presentation of death in the arts. Most cultural depictions of death are unpleasant. They stress the finality of death and how much humans fear it. Take for example the traditional depiction of death as a hooded figure wielding a scythe. Dickinson does not go this route, however. She chooses instead to present death as friendly and courteous, making it something not to be feared but respected and even desired. The speaker depicts death stopping for her, not as a cruel disruption of her life but as something kindly and akin to doing her a favor.

The way Dickinson depicts the speaker's reaction to death is also ironic. Most people fear death and react to it with a struggle, as seen in the famous poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night." However, the speaker in Dickinson's poem reacts calmly, even dryly, to the knowledge of her incoming demise. She even appears grateful that death has come to pick her up. This prevailing irony regarding death gives the poem a gentle tone as a whole, offering the reader a different view of the end of life than is normally presented in poetry.