Because I Could Not Stop for DeathBY EMILY DICKINSON

Because I could not stop for DeathHe 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 played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Poem Analysis
A. Title of Poem
Because I could Not Stop for Death
B. Authors Profile
Emily Dickinson was born December 10th, 1830 in Amherst,
Massachusetts. Her father was well known as he was a lawyer,
treasurer of Amherst College and as well as served in the United States
Congress. Dickinson was educated at Amherst Academy (1834-1847)
until she was later admitted to Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in
1847 where she stayed till 1848. Around 1850 she began writing
poetry in a fairly conventional style, but after ten years she began her
own signature style. After the Civil War, Dickinson secluded herself
inside a room only to contact others by mail. On the rare occasions
Dickinson did have visitors, she dressed only in white. Her seclusion
however did not limit her knowledge of fellow writers such as John
Keats and Sir Thomas Brown. Nor did it confine her from having a
disappointing love affair with Reverend Charles Wadsworth, whom she
often contacted or Samuel Bowles, the editor of the Springfield
Republican, whom she addressed many poems. Emily Dickinson died
May 15th, 1886 from Bright's Disease. Her death brought fame as her
sister co-edited three volumes of poems from 1891-1896. However, the
complete and accurate text of all Dickinson's poems was not seen until
1955 when Thomas H. Johnson took the honor of publishing her works.
Many believe Dickinson's seclusion of the outside world helped her
understand life by backing away from it. The quarantine helped her
deduce human existence and write about such intimate experiences.

C. Elements of Poetry

1.1 Speaker
The speaker is dead and speaking about her journey
with Death

1.2 Content
Death, in the form of a gentleman suitor, stops to pick
up the speaker and take her on a ride in his horsedrawn
carriage.
They move along at a pretty relaxed pace and the
speaker seems completely at ease with the gentleman.
As they pass through the town, she sees children at
play, fields of grain, and the setting sun. Pretty
peaceful, right? As dusk sets in our speaker gets a little
chilly, as she is completely under-dressed only
wearing a thin silk shawl for a coat. She was
unprepared for her impromptu date with Death when
she got dressed that morning. They stop at what will be
her burial ground, marked with a small headstone. In
the final stanza, we find out the speaker's ride with
Death took place centuries ago (so she's been dead for
a long time). But it seems like just yesterday when she
first got the feeling that horse heads (like those of the
horses that drew the "death carriage") pointed toward
"Eternity"; or, in other words, signaled the passage from
life to death to an afterlife.

1.3 Theme
Mortality is probably the major theme in this poem. It's
all about the speaker's attitude toward her death and
what the actual day of her death was like. Dickinson
paints a picture of the day that doesn't seem too far

from the ordinary (that is, if you're used to having a

guy named Death take you out on dates). The speaker
isn't scared of death at all, and seems to accept it.
1.4 Mood
The mood is In regards to death contrasts with that of
her time period

1.5 Structure
Rhyming

1.6 Rhyme Scheme Pattern

In each stanza, the first line has eight syllables (four
feet); the second, six syllables (three feet); the third,
eight syllables (four feet); and the fourth, six syllables
(three feet). The meter alternates between iambic
tetrameter (lines with eight syllables, or four feet) and
iambic trimeter (lines with six syllables, or three feet).
In iambic meter, the feet (pairs of syllables) contain an
unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The
rhyme scheme is ABCB

1.7 Figure of Speech Used

Alliteration
Because I could not stop for Death (line 1)
he knew no haste (line 5)
My labor, and my leisure too (line 7)
At recess, in the ring
gazing grain (line 11)
setting sun (line 12)
For only gossamer my gown (line 15)
My tippet only tulle (line 16)
toward eternity (line 24)

Anaphora
We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun. (lines 9-12)

Paradox
Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads (lines 21-23)

Personification
We passed the setting sun.
Or rather, he passed us (lines 12-13)
Comparison of the sun to a person
Death is personified throughout the poem

1.8 Message
The poem seems to be that death is not to be feared
since it is a natural part of the endless cycle of nature.