Emily Dickinson

The poem 'Because I Could Not Stop for Death' by Emily Dickinson expresses the speaker's reflection on death. The poem focuses on the concept of life after death. This poem's setting mirrors the circumstances by which death approaches, and death appears kind and compassionate. It is through the promise of immortality that fear is removed, and death not only becomes acceptable, but welcomed as well.

'Because I could not stop for Death—,' A Poem of Both Marriage and Death When thinking of marriage and death, the word “eternity” comes to mind. Marriage is looked at as a symbol of eternal love, and death is looked at as a state of eternal rest. Also, Christians consider life after death as an eternal state. In “Because I could not stop for Death—,” Emily Dickinson portrays death by describing an eternal marriage(Boruch, 863). On the literal level, the speaker remembers a time where she was carried off and eloped with a man called Death and his partner in crime, Immortality. Not realizing that going with Death meant that she would have to leave this world and live with him in his house forever, she shows herself as being immature at that time. As she leaves to go with Death the speaker states, “We slowly drove—He knew no haste/and I had put away/My labor and my leisure too, /For his Civility--” (5-8). In these lines, she shows how she must leave her household to work for her new husband. On the way to Death's house they “passed the school, where Children strove/At Recess—in the Ring—“(9-10). The fact that she mentions the kids fighting and playing at recess also shows how she must leave her life of leisure for a life of work. She must go work for her husband Death at his household. The next quatrain is when the speaker finally realizes that she is leaving this world to join Death in his world. She states, “We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—/We passed the Setting Sun—/Or rather—He passed Us—“(11-13). The next lines also show how she is leaving her world into another, colder environment. The speaker says “The Dews drew quivering and chill—/For only Gossamer, my Gown—/My Tippet—only Tulle—“(14-16). The gown and scarf that she had worn for the trip were too thin to protect her from the cold place that they were reaching. Finally, they reached Death's house. It was “A Swelling of the Ground--” and “ The roof was barely visible—“(18-19). The turning point of the poem was a flashback, when she says, “ Since then—'tis Centuries—and yet/Feels shorter than the Day/I first surmised the Horses' Heads/Were toward Eternity—“(21-24). This flashback lets the reader know that she is looking back on that day almost as if she is sad. Centuries have passed, yet that day seems longer than any time that has passed. This poem clearly functions as an allegory. On a symbolic level, it was easy to grasp that this poem was a recollection of the speaker's death. Dickinson describes this ...