"Because I could not stop for Death --"

In this poem, Dickinsons speaker is communicating from beyond the grave, describing her
journey with Death, personified, from life to afterlife. In the opening stanza, the speaker is too
busy for Death (Because I could not stop for Death), so Deathkindlytakes the time to
do what she cannot, and stops for her.
This civility that Death exhibits in taking time out for her leads her to give up on those things
that had made her so busyAnd I had put away/My labor and my leisure tooso they can just
enjoy this carriage ride (We slowly drove He knew no haste).
In the third stanza we see reminders of the world that the speaker is passing from, with children
playing and fields of grain. Her place in the world shifts between this stanza and the next; in the
third stanza, We passed the Setting Sun, but at the opening of the fourth stanza, she corrects
thisOr rather He passed Us because she has stopped being an active agent, and is only
now a part of the landscape.
In this stanza, after the realization of her new place in the world, her death also becomes suddenly
very physical, as The Dews drew quivering and chill, and she explains that her dress is only
gossamer, and her Tippet, a kind of cape usually made out of fur, is only Tulle.
After this moment of seeing the coldness of her death, the carriage pauses at her new House. The
description of the houseA Swelling of the Groundmakes it clear that this is no cottage,
but instead a grave. Yet they only pause at this house, because although it is ostensibly her
home, it is really only a resting place as she travels to eternity.
The final stanza shows a glimpse of this immortality, made most clear in the first two lines, where
she says that although it has been centuries since she has died, it feels no longer than a day. It is
not just any day that she compares it to, howeverit is the very day of her death, when she saw
the Horses Heads that were pulling her towards this eternity.

Analysis
Dickinsons poems deal with death again and again, and it is never quite the same in any poem. In
Because I could not stop for Death, we see death personified. He is no frightening, or even
intimidating, reaper, but rather a courteous and gentle guide, leading her to eternity. The speaker
feels no fear when Death picks her up in his carriage, she just sees it as an act of kindness, as she
was too busy to find time for him.
It is this kindness, this individual attention to herit is emphasized in the first stanza that the
carriage holds just the two of them, doubly so because of the internal rhyme in held and
ourselvesthat leads the speaker to so easily give up on her life and what it contained. This is
explicitly stated, as it is For His Civility that she puts away her labor and her leisure, which
is Dickinson using metonymy to represent another alliterative wordher life.

Indeed, the next stanza shows the life is not so great, as this quiet, slow carriage ride is contrasted
with what she sees as they go. A school scene of children playing, which could be emotional, is
instead only an example of the difficulty of lifealthough the children are playing At Recess,
the verb she uses is strove, emphasizing the labors of existence. The use of anaphora with We
passed also emphasizes the tiring repetitiveness of mundane routine.
The next stanza moves to present a more conventional vision of deaththings become cold and
more sinister, the speakers dress is not thick enough to warm or protect her. Yet it quickly
becomes clear that though this part of deaththe coldness, and the next stanzas image of the
grave as homemay not be ideal, it is worth it, for it leads to the final stanza, which ends with
immortality. Additionally, the use of alliteration in this stanza that emphasizes the material
trappingsgossamer gown and tippet tullemakes the stanza as a whole less sinister.
That immorality is the goal is hinted at in the first stanza, where Immortality is the only other
occupant of the carriage, yet it is only in the final stanza that we see that the speaker has obtained
it. Time suddenly loses its meaning; hundreds of years feel no different than a day. Because time is
gone, the speaker can still feel with relish that moment of realization, that death was not just death,
but immortality, for she surmised the Horses Heads/Were toward Eternity . By ending with
Eternity , the poem itself enacts this eternity, trailing out into the infinite.
.......Because I Could Not Stop for Death reveals Emily Dickinsons calm acceptance of death. It is
surprising that she presents the experience as being no more frightening than receiving a gentleman caller
in this case, her fianc.
.......The journey to the grave begins in Stanza 1, when Death comes calling in a carriage in which
Immortality is also a passenger. As the trip continues in Stanza 2, the carriage trundles along at an easy,
unhurried pace, perhaps suggesting that death has arrived in the form of a disease or debility that takes its
time to kill. Then, in Stanza 3, the author appears to review the stages of her life: childhood (the recess
scene), maturity (the ripe, hence, gazing grain), and the descent into death (the setting sun)as she
passes to the other side. There, she experiences a chill because she is not warmly dressed. In fact, her
garments are more appropriate for a wedding, representing a new beginning, than for a funeral,
representing an end.
.......Her description of the grave as her house indicates how comfortable she feels about death. There
after centuries pass, so pleasant is her new life that time seems to stand still, feeling shorter than a Day.
.......The overall theme of the poem seems to be that death is not to be feared since it is a natural part of the
endless cycle of nature. Her view of death may also reflect her personality and religious beliefs. On the one
hand, as a spinster, she was somewhat reclusive and introspective, tending to dwell on loneliness and
death. On the other hand, as a Christian and a Bible reader, she was optimistic about her ultimate fate and
appeared to see death as a friend.

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