Embracing Death: A Study of Emily Dickinson's Poem

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The poem “Because I could not stop for death” is by Emily Dickinson. Death is personified in this poem as a nice and pleasant coachman. The journey to the grave begins in stanza 1. Throughout the poem Dickinson creates this image of death that is not afraid or ferocious, but a comfortable stay for her. Death takes the speaker to their new home. Death in the poem arrives in a fashion of infirmity that kills. In the final stanza, we find out the speaker’s ride with death transpires centuries ago. “Eternity” directs the passage from life to death to the great beyond. The poem illustrates how you should be ready to accept death when it comes, rather than run from it. The speaker of the poem is dead and death is presented as a man in his carriage/(hearse). Throughout the poem Emily Dickinson’s persona reflects back on all her past experiences of when her earthly body was alive. With the speaker being so nice and gracious, he kindly stops Dickinson so she is able to reflect, after once being so active and occupied. In the poem I predict that she may had been in her mid age since she was always busy and working. The speaker in this poem may have died at a …show more content…

She is dead but to her it seems like it just happened yesterday ”feels shorter than the day.”(21) We can clarify now that the speaker is dead. In the final lines (23-24) we further see “I surmised the horses’ heads Were toward Eternity”(23-24) she is showing that when she first appointed the horse drawn carriage she felt they were more than just traditional horses, this conveys her journey to afterlife. Dickinson uses “horses” in line 23 to figure dignity and sovereignty The poet is showing that death is not the end of life, but it is the creation of a new life. Dickinson believes that death should not

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