Analysis Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death

“Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson is a poem about the person’s awareness of death. At first, the speaker communicates her feelings and thoughts about Death, and she also describes her journey with Death, who is personified. Then, suddenly, at the end, one can infer that the speaker turns to the harsh reality of dying and experiences death. “Because I could not stop for Death” is an extended metaphor of the speaker’s awareness of dying, and she demonstrates her relationship to death as peaceful and calming by riding in the carriage with him and experiencing nostalgia while seeing fields and buildings. However, at the end, the speaker realizes that her death is a reality, and it hits her in the face when she is overwhelmed
with these feelings. With this being said, the speaker’s relationship to death is at first tranquil but then changes to harsh as she discovers that death has come for her. In the poem, the speaker at first treats Death as a friend, which is odd because a normal person would feel fear as she hear the word “death” or “afterlife.” In the opening stanza, one can infer that the speaker is too busy for Death by the line “Because I could not stop for Death-“ so Death “kindly” stops for the speaker in his carriage.
Also, one can infer that the speaker is on her way to death by the word “Immortality” in the poem, but she does not treat it as a fearful thing. Instead, Death shows “civility” by taking time out for the speaker, and the speaker gives up her “labor, and [her] leisure too” to enjoy the carriage ride. In the third stanza, the readers can see that the speaker experiences nostalgia by seeing children playing, fields of grazing grain, and the setting sun. In other words, Death is taking her through her old memories, and this is where the speaker’s feelings switched to the realization of the harsh reality of death. With the first three stanzas, the speaker depicts the feelings of relaxation and readiness for death, and this would be strange for readers since death is a controversial topic, and many would not be ready for it. With this in mind, one can infer that the speaker is ready for death based on her journey until the fourth
stanza. The speaker becomes angry as she faces the cruel truth of death, and one can interpret that the speaker is not actually ready for death. In the fourth stanza, the mood changes when the speaker goes from seeing the setting sun to “Or rather - He passed us-“ because the speaker realizes that she is now the part of the landscape, or the ground. The speaker’s death suddenly becomes physical when “The Dews drew quivering and chill,” and her dress is only gossamer, which is a substance consisted of webs spun by spiders. With this stanza, the reader can infer that the speaker feels coldness and is fearful due to the fact that her dress is overrun by spiders, and she can feel the wetness from the rain underground. After seeing the coldness of her death, the carriage pauses at her new home, which is “A Swelling of the Ground.” The swelling is clearly a grave, not a house. The speaker and Death “pause” at the house because it is her new resting place as she goes into eternity. The last stanza shows glimpses of immortality, where it says that she has gone through centuries of being dead, and it feels no longer than a day. However, it is the day of her death where she “first surmises the Horses’ Heads” that are pulling her into immortality. The last three stanzas depict the depression and anger of the speaker’s feelings as she stops before death, and she realizes that she is not ready for it as readers would think in the first three stanzas. However, at the last stanza, the speaker comes to the realization that death is not just death; instead, it is immortality. Death is personified in the poem, and he is a courteous, gentle guide, leading her to eternity. The speaker feels no fear as Death picks her up in his carriage and guides her through the journey. However, the speaker’s feelings change as the speaker has a more conventional vision of death when the poem becomes more cold and depressing. The speaker portrays the grave as her home with sadness, but she goes through immortality where hundreds of years feel no different than a day.