Because I Could Not Stop for Death

by Emily Dickinson

The classic poem "Because I Could not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, School, Literature, Fantasy, Classic Literature, American

5 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 29, 2011

About the author

Emily Dickinson was an American poet who, despite the fact that less than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime, is widely considered one of the most original and influential poets of the 19th century.

Dickinson was born to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. After she studied at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she spent a short time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst. Thought of as an eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.

Although Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime.The work that was published during her lifetime was usually altered significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time. Dickinson's poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation.Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends.

Although most of her acquaintances were probably aware of Dickinson's writing, it was not until after her death in 1886—when Lavinia, Emily's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems—that the breadth of Dickinson's work became apparent. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by personal acquaintances Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, both of whom heavily edited the content.

A complete and mostly unaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955 when The Poems of Emily Dickinson was published by scholar Thomas H. Johnson. Despite unfavorable reviews and skepticism of her literary prowess during the late 19th and early 20th century, critics now consider Dickinson to be a major American poet.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/emily-di...

Reviews

[kezzie ʚ♡ɞ · Rating 5 out of 5]

✩ 5 stars
~
[read for high school ‘junior year’ great books]
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i had to read this for school, but what a lovely & beautiful poem.
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i was excited to read it because i am a big emily dickinson fan and so is my mom who I read this with <3

[Carrie (The Butterfly Reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me, this poem is about how we see death during our life. As children, we know about death but never worry about it. 'It can't happen to us, surely'. But as we get older we know that we won't live forever and so we start to fear the unknown, death.

[Mya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this poem and all of her works.

[Ashley Earley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in December of 1830. When Dickinson was younger, she was happy and outgoing, but as she grew older, she isolated herself from public life, and was grieved with the loss of several loved ones. Perhaps this is why many of her poems have a lighthearted, calm, or happy feel to them even when she wrote about death, and maybe her grief is why she wrote about death at all.

Emily wrote about 2,000 poems, but very few were published. The poems she wrote were unique for her time; they were usually short, and she did not title most of them. Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality. This poem is no exception; it mentions both death and immortality.

The mood for her poem “I Could Not Stop for Death” is peaceful, regardless of its grim subject. She comes to accept death because it is inevitable. She almost befriends it, riding along with Death in a carriage to a house—which refers to a grave. It is easy to forget that she is traveling to her grave since the poem is written so cheerfully, and seems to carry a relaxed tone.

Death is only mentioned a few times, but when he is, he is portrayed as a kind, patient and considerate character; not at all like the Death that anyone is probable to imagine. Dickinson referred to her grave as a house to continue the poem’s light mood, and the carriage ride to the “house” is lighthearted as well, even though Dickinson is taking in the world that surrounds her one last time. Her surroundings are important as she rides along with Death because, though she is riding to her grave, she still does not seem to feel sadness, or regret, or even fear—she’s at peace. In the third stanza, she passes children playing outside during recess, “fields of gazing grain,” and “the setting sun,” as Death drives the carriage slowly—in no hurry to reach their destination.

As Dickinson proclaims in this poem: death is inevitable. It cannot be stopped, and though we may not embrace it with open arms as Dickinson seems to illustrate, we must accept it because we can do nothing but. This is precisely what Dickinson wants us to see and comprehend.

[Lyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

“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 –

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 –

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

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –“

beautiful poem, I like how she uses dashes to mirror the abruptness of death, but also conveys death as something you should not fear but rather something inevitable and civil.

[البندري · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has anyone ever stopped for death? The matter-of-fact tone of this poem creates an eerie sense of calm acceptance. Dickinson surrenders to death willingly, yet a thread of unease quietly lingers in the background. A chilling stillness is present as the carriage approaches the final resting place, one that I take for a sense of lost hope.

Is death a release from misery, or merely its extension? I may be mistaken in my reading, but Dickinson’s poetry, especially this piece, resonates with an unshakeable quiet power.

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku:

"Whether screaming tears
Or marked composure, the veil
That beckons awaits."

[Dunya Al-bouzidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

"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."

[Alien Bookreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been spending a lot of time in taxis lately. In taxis, on motorbike taxis, in transit. Somehow this poem reminds me of that. The call and symbiotic relationship between a passenger and a driver, headed toward the same destination.

There are many myths and stories of a taxi driver type of character taking you to the underworld. Also known as “psychopomps”, they do not judge you, they don’t decide the destination (ie heaven, hell, the underworld) they are simply there to escort you.

I like this poem. Simple. Framing death as a normal journey. The taxi ride you take at the end of life.

The first line is a bit of a riddle for me. “Because I could not stop for death” - how would one stop for death?

It’s a poem, so maybe there is no answer.

[Carlos Reboredo Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta señora siempre me toca mucho personalmente porque siento que trata temas que me afectan mucho personalmente y parece que estaba muy adelantada a su época en cuanto a estilo, temática y en general la esencia de lo que hace

[Sophia Buhrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response: Because I Could Not Stop for Death was rather intriguing. I find poetry calming and rhythmic, but sometimes difficult to interpret.

Plot: The poem is short, but to me it seems like the narrator joins Death, which seems more like a character than a concept, and rides with them to a hidden house portrayed as Eternity. They two of them ride slowly past a bunch of things that are common symbols of like, such as a school, a grain field, and the setting sun.

Characterization: In this poem, Death seems more like a gentle friend and guide, rather than a threatening figure. They calmly bring the narrator to rest in the house of Eternity.

Setting: Because I Could Not Stop for Death gives no definite clues as to setting, but the mention of horses and a subtle hint of an older school house, makes it seem like it takes place in early 1850s-1900s.

Thematic Connections: The theme that I see is that Death is not something that should be feared, but instead welcomed as a friend when our time comes.

Recommendation: I would recommend this poem to older teenagers to adults as it would take a more mature mind to understand the concepts. Both genders would enjoy this poem as neither of the characters are actually specified.

[L. McCoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

SUPER FAST REVIEW:
I don’t get it.
Like, I get that the guy driving is meant to be death but what’s the point of it? Also, it’s not a rhyming poem, I usually like poems more if they rhyme.
At least it has a kinda cool eerie tone.
2/5

[karrington]

woww. read for my American lit class, I know it isn't really a book, but it was on here so it counts :)

[Anushka Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poet uses simple words to express the feelings of passing by. Death was like a subtle touch in the beauty of mundane life.

[Piya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite poem and I don't usually read poems and so I know that saying a poem is my favorite means nothing but there's something very different about this poem. I don't know if it's the writing or the fact that the poetess has described death as a suitor, I just find this poem to be very unique.
Strange and whimsical, this was amazing!

[Alyssa Lee Lakey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to get into poetry… it’s a struggle, but ED’s writing/mind is everything

[veronica.sahe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality.

[Shaneka Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite poem but reading challenge

[Rogius · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's just a one of my favorite poems ever in the English Literature.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm an avid fan of her poems!

Because I could not stop for Death
BY EMILY DICKINSON

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 –

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 –

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

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

[Sadia Mansoor · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 –

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 –

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

Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit of a macabre poem about death and how the poet has died and is being taken by a hearse to the cemetery.

[H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can never get tired of reading poems written by Emily Dickinson whether it's the way they're written, the content, or the imagery. Overall, her poems are superior to those of others.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Debatably her most illustrious poem, this work institutes Dickinson's cavernous obsession with death, which had become an almost fundamental quandary of her life. She witnessed bereavement all around herself --- in her family and friends, love, and fervours alike. Nevertheless, she "cannot imagine with the farthest stretch" of her thoughts, her "own death-scene". As she says, "it does not seem to me that I shall ever close my eyes in death," no matter how deeply she is fixated with fatality.

In this meticulous poem, death is envisaged as her suitor, who has arrived to woo her for a comforting ride. The speaker acknowledges the entreaty of death, only to be eventually disillusioned by its spitefulness. Death, as a matter of course, abandons her in her own grave. The speaker muses over the facts from there on.

Death, conversely, has not come unaccompanied to fetch his love. He has brought with him "Immortality" who plays the role of a chaperon. Fatality and Immortality are two contradictory extremes – the former being the cessation of life, while the latter, everlasting life. This poses something of a conundrum, unless the reader apprehends that Death is there for the corporal self, and Immortality for her essence or spirit, which, consistent with many belief systems is ceaseless.

Death is described by the speaker as serene and civil, tranquil and dawdling. His asceticism overwhelms the bride, who thus, concurs going with him, putting away her "labor and my leisure too".

Even her dress is not pertinent for the journey. She is minimally donning a light gown and a scarf. And for this reason she feels frozen enough while further moving onward towards her destination.

Before they eventually arrive at their destination, the speaker narrates the scenes left behind. At first they cross the school, where the children are seen playing during the recess. Next, the chariot crosses the farmland where the ripened stalks of grains in the fields are seen staring at the chariot. As a final point, they surpass the setting sun.

These scenes symbolize the various stages of life that a man crosses to finally meet his maker. For instance, the children and the school refer to early life. The fields of ripening grain symbolize fruitfulness and industry of adulthood. Above and beyond, the dipping sun represents an aged individual’s consciousness of mortality.

The carriage halts before a house. Allegorically, the house can be perceived as both a bridal house as well as speaker's own grave. The cornice in the ground is the speaker's coffin, or more precisely, the molding around the coffin's lid.

Here the cornice is the only observable part of the house, which is just "A Serif of the Ground." There is no door, only a roof (the coffin's lid). This establishes that just as there is no getaway from bereavement, there is no flight from the domestic sedating that marriage brings.

It must be noted that death is personified as a suitor who has come to take his wife. But where does death ultimately take her? To her own grave. In this sense death is a vindictive traitor, who at last tricks the young bride into believing that her carriage ride was going to be something other than a funeral procession. And for this eternal nothingness the speaker has put away her 'labor' and her 'leisure'.

This poem is one of the most gleaming personifications of death in all of English poetry. Personified as a suitor who takes his impending bride away from her demanding life, the speaker relates the complete passage from her grave and says that though centuries have passed since her escapade, the time-frame seems shorter than a day.

Last but not the least, by the merger of love and death into a solo character, the poet institutes interdependence of the two, by selecting the former, and inexorably welcoming the latter.

[سامر]

Because I could not stop for Death:-

Is a simple lyric that talks about Emily Dickinson's
fearlessness in the face of death. The title of the poem means
that the poetic persona has no time to wait for death.
The theme of this poem it's about death which is natural and
there is no way to avoid it. In this poem death is polite and civil.


In the poem, Dickinson says that they pass "sun". This is a
common symbol to describe the end of a person's life
She simile death to a nice young man who invites her to his
palace, which is in fact just a tomb, and this is very
optimistic
The carriage ride is symbolic of the author's departure from
life. She is in the carriage with death and immortality.
Dickinson reveals her willingness to go with death when she
says that she had "put away...labor and…leisure too, for his
civility". This further reveals that the author has come to terms
with her own mortality.

[Nancy]

Emily Dickinson's poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death is one of the beautiful and famous poems of this writer talking about death and life. It attracts you and expresses many things that you think about. In the poem, the writer describes death as a journey, and that death visited her like a visitor and took her with him. They traveled to every station and many memories, including her memories in school and her life there, and she passed through the fields of crops and she saw the sun and then they completed their memories in life and suddenly darkness came She wore light clothes and felt cold in this dark night. This poem expresses a wonderful description of life and the memories in it and the retrieval of memories before death.

[Amelia Bujar · Rating 2 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW ON MY WEBSITE
https://thebookcornerchronicles.com/2...

So This one was not that great but it was okay. I didn’t have expectations for this because the past poems by Emily Dickinson didn’t really work for me. But it was okay for the most part.

The plot in this one was good but it could have been better if it was written in a different way. The plot was amazing but the way it was told made it to a generic plot which of course is about death and how awful life is.

The writing style was not great. But that’s just me I guess.

I enjoyed this poem for the most part but I feel like it could have been better than it was.

[Paige Aguilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

emotional, moving

The speaker tells the story of "Death" coming to pick her up. The speaker shares her journey of the afterlife as Death leads the way. She uses different elements to show how one doesn't choose to die but death has decided. She creates poetry with unique line breaks and unexpected rhymes.

Dickenson starts with the amazing use of simple personification. She sets the stage for a very emotional poem, throughout she uses crisp imagery to describe what she and Death pass while in their carriage. Multiple uses of figurative language aid in the emotional afterlife she is creating.

[Šära Tubailęh]

I think the writer of this poem wrote about death, but it is clear that she is not afraid of that because she was a cheerful character in her childhood, but when she grew up, she became a bit withdrawn and was sad about the loss of some of her loved ones, and she wrote about death in this poem as if it was a good thing and not sad or bad. I think everyone should think this way. They should not be afraid of death because it will come anyway.

[lynni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have NEVER read such an amazing poem!!! My eyes teared up as I read this poem with shaking hands. I throughly felt what she must‘ve felt during the creation of this wonderful masterpiece. Such a shame I couldn’t get a chance to express my fascination to this legend. To anyone who loves this poem as much as I do, I admire you and your great taste in poetry!!
I love you my beloved Emily
<33333333
P.S.: I wish one could review this poem with 10 ⭐️