“Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson 

 

Because I could not stop for Death –

He kindly stopped for me –

The Carriage held but just Ourselves –

And Immortality.

 

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility –

 

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess – in the Ring –

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –

We passed the Setting Sun –

 

Or rather – He passed Us –

The Dews drew quivering and Chill –

For only Gossamer, my Gown –

My Tippet – only Tulle –

 

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –

The Roof was scarcely visible –

The Cornice – in the Ground –

 

Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses’ Heads

Were toward Eternity –

 

In her poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, Emily Dickinson describes in detail a woman on her journey to death, to explore the ambiguity of it and what occurs after. By doing so she shines a more positive light on death, as the idea that life continues after death is noted. 

In line 1, the speaker opens with, “Because I could not stop for Death — He Kindly Stopped for me —”, where she personifies Death as a person, shown by the capitalization of the word along with the word “he”. The first half of the sentence alludes to the speaker’s feelings about death—she is not seeking death or looking for it, which many people do not. Though she does not want death, she is accepting of that fact that it is her time to go, as she enters the carriage of her own free will. The idea that death is inevitable and no one can escape is also shown in this line, as when the speaker could not go to death, he came to her instead. Additionally by choosing to describe Death’s stopping for her as “[kind]”, the connotation of the word death shifts to a positive one, suggesting the fact that both Death the person and the event in life, are peaceful. The “Carriage” in the next line is used to symbolize the journey of life until death (shown later in the poem), and shows that it is a cyclical one as it is the first mention of many circle shaped objects (also shown later in the poem). Combined with the new figure “Immortality”, this makes sense as this alludes to the idea that there is life after death, so the cycle of life never really ends.

The next stanza also speaks to the fact of death, and that it is inevitable. This is demonstrated by the leisurely diction, or the words “slowly” and “no haste”, when describing the rate that the carriage is moving through the speaker’s life. It’s as if Death is allowing her to reminisce about her life, until she is completely ready to die, because no matter what it is going to occur the speaker will die. The idea of Death being in control is furthered by the shift from “We” to “He”. The speaker, Death, and Immortality might all be in the carriage, but it is Death who is controlling the speed of the journey—and ultimately when the speaker dies. The speaker quickly reveals her readiness to die when she abandons what was left of her old life. Her “labor” and “leisure”, also pose as an interesting contrast, but relate to the different parts of her life; “labor” meaning work and “leisure” her free time. One should also note the last part of this stanza, since the speaker is no longer just accepting death, she is welcoming it with open arms or maybe running towards it, as it essentially says that she is doing this for Death—the person, not the event.

In the next stanza, each line represents a time in the speaker’s life, the first one being her childhood where they pass the children at the school—which could be an image from the speaker’s early life. It’s also important to note that Dickinson chose to use the word “strove”, which defines to making great efforts to achieve or obtain something, instead of play when describing the children. Children typically are carefree and don’t have to worry about or try for anything, but the word choice implies something different—perhaps to the idea that life is a game, if the ring were to represent life, which it does as this is the second mention of a circle. Next the fields of “Gazing Grain” represent the speaker’s adult life. Grain is a crop and with each year it grows, much like humans do every year, so this symbolizes her continuous growing after her childhood. Finally, when  they pass “the Setting Sun” they are reaching the death of the speaker. Sunsets represent the end of the day and the beginning of a time of darkness, though in this case it represents the end of a life and the beginning of death. Looking closer at the words specifically, take note that alliteration is used for each stage of life, with all different letters, most likely used to help distinguish each stage from each other. 

It is in stanza 4 where the tone of the poem shifts; the reality of death has finally hit the speaker. The sun has gone down, and now the world is dark, possibly implying the fact that death is dark and cold, not happy as suggested earlier in the poem. The “Dews drew” from the coldness of the night which the woman is starting to notice because of what she is wearing. The alliteration used to describe her outfit reveals how thin her clothes are, as her “Gossamer, [her] Gown” and “Tippet – only Tulle –” paint an image of delicacy. Her understanding of her attire now—and how it is unsuited for this particular situation—demonstrates the shift in the speaker’s view of death. At the beginning of the poem she was quite comfortable and enamored with Death whereas now she is not. 

Death has finally led the speaker to her death in this stanza as the carriage has reached its final (and only) destination—the speaker’s death. Notice that the carriage has only come to a stop two times, once to pick up the woman, and the other to bring her to her grave, reinforcing the purpose of this journey. When describing the grave though, Dickinson refers to it as a “house”, which again, acts as a way to create a positive connotation of death. She chose a word that brings comfort to many— instead of one that brings misery like grave or burial spot—to depict where the woman is going to spend the rest of her life, or death rather. The rest of the stanza reiterates the location they are at, is in fact a grave;  “A Swelling of the Ground” refers to the fresh dirt covering the gravehole, “the Roof” refers to the headstone, and “the Cornice” most likely refers to the coffin. 

In the next line, the reader learns that the speaker has been dead this whole time—in fact she has been dead for “Centuries”—and this poem is a rememory of her death. However, though she died very long away she remembers it like yesterday, further proving that idea that life and death are cyclical; the speaker is able to recall so many details from her life, that she is essentially reliving both her life and death. The “Horses’ Heads” in the next line refer to the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” written in the bible which represent the end of time—especially as one of the horsemen is thought to represent Death. The final line acts as a transition from the speaker’s life to her death, as the “Horses’ Heads” are faced “toward Eternity”, meaning that the horses are taking the woman in that direction. Overall in her poem, Emily Dickinson is able to explain death throughout her poem, as something not to be scared of, because there is “Eternity” to look forward to.