"Because I could not stop for Death"

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--

W passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess--in the Ring--
We passed the Fields of Grazing 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 on 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' Head
Were towards Eternity--


In the poem "Because I could not stop for Death," Dickinson's diction and use of figurative language portrays an incredibly melancholy tone. She personifies death as "he" and "kind." This implies that it is not a foreseen burden placed upon everyone. The speaker and death are the only people in the "Carriage", and she has no intentions of dying. She feels as if she is immortal. She describes the carriage ride as "slow" and "hasteless." Death drives the carriage leisurely with grace as if he has time to waste. In the third stanza, the carriage passes multiple settings creating an image of life. We begin as children, progress and grow like grain, and eventually the sun sets upon our lives. Everyone dies one day. In the fifth stanza, Dickinson depicts an image of a house in the ground with a roof that is barely visible. The house is symbolic of a grave protruding out of the ground. The speaker has been dead for centuries, but she states that it "feels shorter than a day." This Poem helps me to picture death as an inevitable event in everyone's life. After reading this poem, I think of death as a natural aspect of the life cycle.