Analysis Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Emily Dickinson was a very secluded writer. She kept herself away from the outside world, and most of her poems were never meant to be published. As a result of this, she only gave twenty-four of her poems titles; “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” was not a poem she titled herself, and the original name was “The Chariot”. The poem was however written in 1863 and later published in the year 1890. One of the most unique things about Emily’s poems was not only her obsession with death but her use of punctuation throughout her poetry. The reader can infer this poem has a soothing acceptance to death. It almost as if a ghost is the one writing the poem. As the reader approaches the last stanza, it is seen that the poem is actually a reflection on speaker’s arrival to death. In “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson death is personified as a gentleman who gently brings the narrator to eternity.
Emily Dickinson personifies the word death as a male who picked her up and took her on a ride in a carriage. The poem states “Because I could not stop for Death-/ He kindly stopped for me-“ (Dickinson 545). This analyzes the fact that the narrator did not welcome their self to death, but rather death welcomed itself to her. From the very beginning of this poem, she could not stop for death. This line in her poem is where the title came from. Although she could not put aside the leisure activities that occupied her time, she had no choice when her time for death arrived. As a result of this, she casually joined death and immorality in a carriage ride through