The Transition from Life to Death in “Because I Could not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson

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“Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson is a story about the transition from life to death. It begins with death stopping to accompany her on her journey to the afterlife. Throughout this poem the reader follows the speaker through different stages of life, through death, and into the other side where she looks back upon her journey. Each of the stages have purpose, and a well defined meaning.
The first reference to death is made in the first line in which she refers to death in the physical form. “Because I could not stop for death” (Dickinson 1:1) implies that death is chasing her or at very minimum following the carriage. The implication is that the speaker is in too much of a hurry to make time for death. The interesting observation is that she does not paint the picture of death as others have. She portrays death as being non-threatening, for he (death) accompanies her in her carriage. She than continues to describe a third person in the carriage, immortality.
Another interesting observation is her use of three. Three people in the carriage, her, death, and immortality, also signify the three stages of life, and the three types of immortality. Immortality has three definitions, the first being immortal, or, without death. (Marcellino 102) This first definition refers to the afterlife, or the next stage in a life passing. The second definition is fame, or to live on through an action. The third definition is to have an eternal resting here on this plane. Her physical body will remain here in a grave and not pass into the afterlife.
To understand why Ms. Dickinson may have used such gentle terms for death, one must first understand her background. She was a Puritan Calvinist (Polanski 39), and therefore belie...

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...than the day” (Dickinson 6:21-22) gives the idea that she is looking back on the scene as if it had been quite some time since it had happened. As she transitions to the next sentence, feeling shorter reminds us that we ourselves look at the past and see a shorter lapse that there truly was. What happened years ago appear as if it happened just last week, and so on. Again, this refers back to the journey of life or the passage of time. This entire poem was a thoughtfully played out journey and is finalized in her last two lines. “I First surmised the Horses’ Heads / Were towards Eternity” (Dickinson 6:23-24). The horses were the driving factor. They carried the story as it played out, and brought the speaker through the passage from life to death. It is only appropriate that she refer to them looking towards eternity for that was the direction she was being carried.

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