Because I Could Not Stop For Death By Emily Dickinson

In the lyrical poem, “Because I could not stop for death” written by Emily Dickinson, the speaker is communicating from beyond the grave, unfolding her trip with Death, personified, from life to afterlife. The poem speaks on weighty subjects such as death, time and eternity. Emily Dickson is known to have a talent in writing and exploring poems on death. In the poem “Because I could not stop for death”, Emily Dickson had death take the form of man. From my childhood I saw death as a reaper with black cloak and dangerous- looking machete, but in this poem Dickson’s views death as a smooth operator. To the speaker death is a gentleman that could hold open a door for his date and offer his coat on a chilly night. The poem made me uncomfortable and fearful. Although the poem is great and interesting, but I don’t like how she praised the civility of death who we all know is a wicked reaper of souls.
Although death was introduced as a leading character and the focus of the poem, he was also presented as a male suitor. The speaker is too busy to approach death; hence, death approached her in the form of a gentleman to pick her up on a chariot; “Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me” (583). The speaker signifies people when she states that she is too busy to think about death. As human it has been in our nature to survive through all the problems created by the society. But death never forgets to come after those whose time in this realm is over. To the speaker when her time was over in this realm, death came for her as a kind gentleman who shows civility in his manners and offers a chariot to take her to the world