BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson(1830-1886)

An American lyrical poet born in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was a very eccentric, private person. She rarely left her house or had any visitors. Her poems often reflected on her loneliness, other feelings and

what mattered to her the most. Emily did not care about money or fame in fact she didn’t want

the public to read her poems. She wrote hundreds of poems but only 7 were released into the

public in her life time.

Because I could not stop for Death,He kindly stopped for me;

The carriage held but just ourselvesAnd Immortality.

This stanza reveals Emily’s calm acceptance of death.

Death is seen as kind and polite. The journey to her grave begins when death

comes calling.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,And I had put away

My labor, and my leisure too, For his civility

The drive symbolizes her physical leaving life.

He drives her slowly, which could be an expression of his consideration for her.

Having relinquished her labor and leisure for the ride, she gives death her respect and full attention.

We Passed the school, where children stroveAt recess, in the ring;

We passed the fields of gazing grain,We passed the setting sun.

Here Dickinson speaks about the different stages of her life.

…children at recess symbolizes her childhood …gazing grain, her maturity/adulthood …the setting sun, her final years and decent

into death. The atmosphere surrounding the ride begins to

change when we see the setting sun.

Or rather, he passed us;The dews grew quivering and chill,

For only gossamer my gown,My tippet only tulle.

Being passed by the sun signifies that her life went by quickly.

With the sun setting it becomes dark, damp and cold in contrast to the light and warmth of the preceding stanzas.

Her garments are more appropriate for a wedding, representing a new beginning, that for a funeral, representing an end.

We paused before house that seemedA swelling of the ground;

The roof was scarcely visible,The cornice but a mound.

The word “house” is used as a euphemism for a grave to indicate how comfortable she feels about death.

In this stanza she describes her new home (grave).

Since then ‘tis centuries, and yet eachFeels shorter than the day

I first surmised the horses’ heads Were toward eternity.

It’s been centuries since her carriage ride with Death (the time she has been dead).

But the time since, seems shorter than the day of which she was alive.

Vocabulary: Gossamer- a wedding dress (used to marry death) Tippet- a scarf for the neck and shoulders Tulle- a fine net of silk used especially for wedding veils Cornice- a horizontal molding along top of a wall Surmise- to make a guess or conjecture