Because I could not stop for Death
in A Nutshell

If you know anything about Emily Dickinson, it's probably that she was a reclusive poet from small-town Massachusetts who wrote tons and tons of poetry in the 1800s that wasn;t published much until after her death. Oh, and that death and dying were among her favorite subjects.

We can add "Because I could not stop for Death," first published in 1862, to the list of Dickinson poems obsessed with the idea of death. In this particular poem, the speaker encounters death, yet the tale is delivered rather calmly. As a result, the poem raises tons of questions: is the speaker content to die? Is this poem really about death, or does the idea of death stand in for something else? Fear of marriage perhaps? Is this a poem about faith? The doors for interpretation are wide open.

There probably isn't one person among us who hasn't considered what will happen after we die. This poem explores that curiosity by creating a death scene that's familiar to the living - something we can all imagine, whether we'd like to or not.

Why Should I Care?

There's something very cinematic about this poem. The ending feels especially reminiscent of the flashback trick used in movies, or the ending that turns the whole movie on its head - "and what you thought was taking place right now actually happened centuries ago and, surprise, I'm dead! "If you visualize this poem, it's hard not to imagine a Tim Burton-like movies where what feels familiar to us in this world is combined with some aspect of an afterlife.

Even if you're not as death-obsessed as Emily Dickinson, you've got to admit that you're at least a little curious about what goes on during and after death. How do you picture death and the afterlife? In "Because I could not stop for Death,"Dickinson imagines that maybe a handsome gentleman comes to take us on a pleasant ride through our former town and death is just one stop along the way. It's a little creepy, we'll admit, but not so horrifying either.

Because I could not stop for Death 1

Because I could not stop for Death --
He 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---- (politeness)

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess---in the Ring---
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain---
We passed the Setting Sun---

Or rather---He passed Us---
The Dews drew quivering and chill
For only Gossamer, my Gown---
My Tippet---only Tulle---

Because I could not stop for Death 2

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground---
The Roof was scarcely visible---
The Cornice---in the Ground--- 祝簷

Since then---'tis Centuries---and yet each
Feels shorter than the Day,
I first surmised the Horses" Heads
Were toward Eternity---


A Study Guide 1

Type of Work
"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" is a lyric poem on the theme of death. The contains six stanzas, each with four lines. A four-line stanza is called a quatrain. The poem was first published in 1890 in Poems, Series 1, a collection of Miss Dickinsons's poems that was edited by two of her friends, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The editors titled the poem "Chariot".

Commentary and Theme
"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" reveals Emily Dickinson's calm acceptance of death. It is surprising that she presents the experience as being no more frightening than receiving a gentleman caller---in this case, her fiance (Death personified).

A Study Guide 2

The journey to the grave begins in Stanza 1, when Death comes calling in a carriage in which Immortality is also a passenger. As the trip continues in Stanza 2, the carriage trundles along at an easy, unhurried pace, perhaps suggesting that death has arrived in the form of a disease of debility that takes its time to kill. Then, in Stanza 3, the author appears to review the stages of her life: childhood (the recess scene), maturity (the ripe, hence, "gazing" grain), and the descent into death (the setting sun)-as she passes to the other side. There, she experiences a chill because she is not warmly dressed. In fact, her garments are more appropriate for a wedding, representing a new beginning, than for a funeral, representing and end.

Her description of the grave as her "house" indicates how comfortable she feels about death. There, after centuries pass, so pleasant is her new life that time seems to stand still, feeling "shorter than a Day."

The overall theme of the poem seems to be that death is not to be feared since it is a natural part of the endless cycle of nature. Her view of death may also reflect her personality and religious beliefs. On the one hand, as a spinster, she was somewhat reclusive and introspective, tending to dwell on loneliness and death. On the other hand, as a Christian and a Bible reader, she was optimistic about her ultimate fate and appeared to see death as a friend.