Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death

1007 Words3 Pages

Because I Could Not Stop for Death Analysis
"Because I could not stop for Death" is a lyrical poem written by Emily Dickinson first published posthumously in Poems: Series 1 in 1890. She gives us a unique interpretation of Death—as someone kind and courteous, compassionately taking us to ‘the other side’.
“Because I could not stop for Death – / He kindly stopped for me –“
The poem begins as Death is personified, as a polite gentleman going out of his way to pick up the speaker. She is calm—as it would seem she was expecting him.
“The Carriage held but just Ourselves – / And Immortality.”
She continues, detailing that her and Death are alone in the carriage, other than the personification of Immortality. This line expresses two opposing themes: Death, or mortality, and Immortality. As we know that Dickinson was raised Christian, this would lead us to infer that she is hinting at the Christian ideology of …show more content…

This explains her calm nature, for she had been expecting Death to pick her up in his carriage at any given moment.
“And I had put away / My labor and my leisure too, / For His Civility –“
Here, we’re told that in the end of her life, she was unable to work, unable to do anything she enjoyed—but she doesn’t seem to mind much, as she continues to describe Death as civil.
“We passed the School, where Children strove / At Recess – in the Ring –“
This could be read as her reliving parts of her life, passing the child she once was. However, Dickinson’s use of the word ‘strove’ stuck out considerably, as it doesn’t quite fit with the scene of children playing. I believe this was intentional, as Dickinson may be insinuating the difficulties of life, when compared to death. In life, we must always be working—for something, or another.
“We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – / We passed the Setting Sun

The Manifestation of Death in Poetry
1219 Words | 3 Pages
Dickinson sets the slow pace and intimate feel of her poem almost immediately encouraging closeness between death, the narrator and the reader. In the first stanza, Dickinson gave death a human embodiment as carriage driver and a gentle quality to his character. Together the narrator and death begin a journey alone within the carriage. The second stanza is where Dickinson begins to cultivate the slow feel of this poem by stating, “We slowly drove—He knew no haste” (Dickinson line 5) and when coupled with the following lines “And I had put away/My labor and my leisure too” (Dickinson lines 6-7) the poem begins to take on its true meaning, this poem is the description of the narrators funeral procession.
Read More
because i could not stop for death
681 Words | 2 Pages
In this poem, the woman did not just die but she has been dead. She is communicating from beyond the grave, by describing her journey with death. Death is portrayed as a gentleman who takes the speaker on a ride to eternity. Dickinson wrote this poem in a way that the reader is able to feel what the woman is going through. In this poem, death is seen as a passive and not as being something bad. Dickinson’s form and tone enables the reader to have an understanding of the message she is trying to convey. In this poem, each verse paints a piece of a picture for the reader and as you get to the end of the poem the picture is completed.
Read More
Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death
727 Words | 2 Pages
When Death stops for the speaker, he reins a horse-drawn carriage as they ride to her grave. This carriage symbolizes a hearse of which carries her coffin to her grave a day or two after her death. As they ride, they pass, “the School… / the Fields of Gazing Grain— / [and] the Setting Sun—” (lines 9-12). These three symbolize the speakers life, from childhood in the playgrounds, to labor in the fields, and finally to the setting sun of her life. When the speaker and Death arrive at the house, it is night.
Read More
Differing Experiences of Death in "I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died" and "Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Dickinson,
1861 Words | 4 Pages
In the beginning of the poem, Dickinson writes, "Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me." Not only does Dickinson portray death as a man, but she does so in a way that the man is not perceived in a negative way. She writes as if the man is her lover, kindly stopping in a way as if he was to suit her. Death is not our enemy, but instead is our companion. In the next two lines, in lines three and four, Dickinson then uses a metaphor to compare a carriage to death.... ...
Read More
Great American Poet Emily Dickinson
701 Words | 2 Pages
“Because I could not stop for death” was one of Dickinson’s masterpieces and just as any other masterpiece there are many different interpretations. In the first stanza it say “Because I could not stop for death he kindly stopped for me” hinting here that death is a kind being. In the last words of the first stanza Dickinson made a mention to the carriage holding only her, death, and immortality. No human has ever reportedly been immortal, humans use this term to referencing to eternal fame and glory, just like in Odysee when Achilles was charmed into going to war for its promises of eternal glory long after his death. In an article written by Abbott Collamer it goes on to reinforce this point by stating that humans take the word “Immortality” at face value (Collamer1). The reference to immortality could also be a hint at the literary icon Dickinson knew she would become after her death, in a letter she wrote to a man named higginson she would go on to say,
Read More
Analysis of Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson
1993 Words | 4 Pages
Emily Dickinson is one of the numerous poets who uses death as the subject of several of her poems. In her poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," Death is portrayed as a gentleman who comes to give the speaker. a ride to eternity. Throughout the poem, Dickinson develops her unusual. interpretation of death and, by doing so, composes a poem full of imagery that is both unique and thought provoking.
Read More
Emily Dickinson and Charles Wright
1684 Words | 4 Pages
Dickinson employs vivid impressions of death in this poem. In the first line, she employs the analogy between sleep and death; sleep is silent but death lives within silence. She uses the word “it” to help identify something other than human. She declares that “it….will not tell its name” as thought it refuses to speak and then resents the dead for its stillness and laziness. Then she acknowledges the attraction she has to death by doubting its “gravity”. In the third stanza, she expresses that she would not cry for the dead because not only is it offensive to the dead but it might panic the soul to return to dust. Christians believe that from the earth we are made and once we die, we return to the dust of the earth.
Read More
How Did Henry David Thoreau And Emerson Influenced My Life
1740 Words | 4 Pages
In November of 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, I entered the world as the child of Abigail May and Bronson Alcott, about a year after my sister Anna had been born. In addition to Anna, I had two younger sisters, Elizabeth and May. At the time, my father “was one of the most respected and sought-after men in Boston” (Cheever 6). He had opened a progressive elementary school named the Temple School in which the basis of learning was through exploration of stories and poems by analyzing the meaning of the words; typical education of the time included primarily reading, writing, and arithmetic (“Education”). He and my mother were both committed to educational reform by way of progressive education, a similarity in their morals which brought
Read More
Dickinson and Her religion
1059 Words | 3 Pages
Dickinson’s Christian education affected her profoundly, and her desire for a human intuitive faith motivates and enlivens her poetry. Yet what she has faith in tends to be left undefined because she assumes that it is unknowable. There are many unknown subjects in her poetry among them: Death and the afterlife, God, nature, artistic and poetic inspiration, one’s own mind, and other human beings.
Read More
Literary Analysis of Emily Dickinson's Poetry
1056 Words | 3 Pages
Imagery is a big component to most works of poetry. Authors strive to achieve a certain image for the reader to paint in their mind. Dickinson tries to paint a picture of ?death? in her own words. Thomas A. Johnson, an interpretive author of Dickinson's work, says that ?In 1863 Death came into full statue as a person. ?Because I could not stop for Death? is a superlative achievement wherein Death becomes one of the greatest characters of literature? (Johnson). Dickinson's picture to the audience is created by making ?Death? an actual character in the poem. By her constantly calling death either ?his? or ?he,? she denotes a specific person and gender. Dickinson also compares ?Death? to having the same human qualities as the other character in the poem. She has ?Death? physically arriving and taking the other character in the carriage with him. In the poem, Dickinson shows the reader her interpretation of what this person is going through as they are dying and being taken away by ?Death?. Dickinson gives images such as ?The Dews drew quivering and chill --? and ?A Swelling of the Ground --? (14, 18). In both of these lines, Dickinson has the reader conjure up subtle images of death. The ?quivering an chill? brings to the reader's mind of death being ...
Read More
Emily Dickinson's Obsession with Death
2687 Words | 6 Pages
This allowed her to spend her time writing and lamenting, instead of seeking out a husband or a profession. Eventually, she limited her outside activities to going to church. In her early twenties, she began to pray and worship on her own. This final step to total seclusion clearly fueled her obsession with death, and with investigating the idea of an afterlife. In “Because I could not stop for Death”, Dickinson rides in a carriage with the personification of Death, showing the constant presence of death in her life.
Read More
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
619 Words | 2 Pages
Life and death are but trails to eternity and are seen less important when viewed in the framework of eternity. Emily Dickinson’s poem Death is a gentleman taking a woman out for a drive.” Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me” (Dickinson 1-2). Emily describes being a busy woman who is caught up with everyday situations. When it comes to death, no one plans on a time or date to die; what Emily is identifying as a tragic event is translated to being a casual experience. Emily writes, “The carriage held but just ourselves, and immortality,” (3-4). Emily describes her ride with death, but affiliates a third rider Immortality. “Davidson does not emphasize what is gained after death; she emphasizes what is lost because of death,” (Privatsky 35). Emily’s third passenger has a wide variety of interpretations. Normally, one doesn’t think about death, yet Emily’s approach to death is similar of the approach to immortality. My viewpoint is Emily construes her belief in a soul that does not die but live on till eternity. “The idea of immortality is confronted with the fact of physical disintegration. We are not told what to think; we are told to look at the situation,” (Tate 26). According to Dickinson’s words, He slowly drove He knew no haste (5-6). Emily describes a relaxing slow pace towards an unknown destination. On the way she enjoys the peaceful scenes. “We passed the school, where children strove, At recess – In the Ring-“(Dickinson 9-10). Emily is reflecting in her past, this may also be seen as the beginning of a life cycle. Emily then goes on to say, We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain- (11). The phrase that she decides to use is judicious because she is not the observer, but instead she is the observed. At that point, she further goes on to describe “Setting Sun-“ as the last scene in her ride.” All three of these images suggest phases of the life cycle that the speaker has passed and is passing through and clue us in on her experience…Time has stopped for her, and the fields of grain do the gazing, not her,” (Semansky 34-35).
Read More
Poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death
1457 Words | 3 Pages
It now seems that she wanted to die sooner but couldn’t, and death came to her but in slow form as if she was ill. She doesn’t realize where she is headed as he drives the carriage away slowly, with no hurry – this means that she is already dead, and being taken in a hearse. She sees her life as a movie being played in front of her as they pass the school, the fields of grain, and the setting sun.
Read More
Because I Could Not Stop For Death By Emily Dickinson
1200 Words | 3 Pages
In poetry, death is referred as the end of literature and it is associated with feeling of sorrows. However Emily Dickinson demonstrates that death is not the end of literature or feeling of sadness but death is a new element of inspiration in poetry and is the beginning of a new chapter in our life. In the poem ‘’Because I Could Not Stop for Death’, she discusses the encounter of a women with death, who passed away centuries ago. Dickenson uses metaphors and similes to show that the process of dying can be an enjoyable moment by appreciating the good moments in life, and by respecting death rather than fearing it. Also Dickinson portrays death in a humorous way as she compares it to man seducing her to go to her death as well, to childhood games that show the innocence of this encounter (Bloom). The poem is a reflection of how unpredictable death can be. Death is a scary process in life that should not be feared because it should be celebrate as new start.
Read More
The Theme of Death in Poetry by Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath
903 Words | 2 Pages
In conclusion, Plath is successful in the poetry because she managed to express certain things such as death in the variety of ways. She views death as being something horrible, a condition at which people are de-humanized and lack all th emotions and feelings. At the same time Plath connects death to life and makes an assumption that it is impossible to understand life without knowing that death exists. Dickinson, on the contrary, depicts death as something humans are both afraid of and at the same time are waiting for all their lives. Death in the poetry of Dickinson is not so horrible as in the writing of Plath. Dickinson views death as being a perfect condition when person gets freedom from all the troubles and can have eternal life.
Read More

Open Document

Wait a second!

Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death

The Manifestation of Death in Poetry

because i could not stop for death