Dickinson's "Because I Could not Stop for Death"

From beyond the grave, the narrator of Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could not Stop for Death," also once published under the title "The Chariot", describes the peaceful process of her death which is personified as a gentleman who escorts her in his carriage. In this striking poem, Dickinson employs various poetic devices to reveal the narrator's calm acceptance of death. In fact, it seems to be presented as no more frightening than being taken on a date with a suitor. All other literary techniques, of which there are many, elaborate on this theme and further the tone of "civility" that brings the poem to its climatic moment when it really becomes clear to the speaker that her death is reality and even how the centuries that have passed since its occurrence have seemed like no time at all (8).

The first line indicates the theme by using the word "death". In a critical analysis of the poem by Allen Tate, he says that "every image is precise and moreover not merely beautiful, but fused with the central idea" which in the poem is death (Tate, 84). Engle's main point on "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" is that Dickinson uses the poem to refute death in its entirety. She begins by citing the opening line of the poem. Engle interprets this line to mean that Death, as an end point, ceases to be: "It is simply not her nature to stop for Death. She realizes that she cannot recognize Death's power over her. Once she reckons with that eternal or divine bent within her, Death stops; that is, Death ceases to be what Death is- and end," (Engle 74). This brings in the other character in the poem that also takes the carriage ride with, almost posing as a silent chaperone. This character is Immortality. If these two men are separate entities, what is Emily Dickinson asserting about the end of human life? This seems slightly unclear.

In the next three stanzas there are the images of her life passing before her eyes which has been said to happen right before a person dies. During the ride, she passes many ordinary sights used as symbolism for the journey of life. The beginning of the life cycle is the "School where Children strove" and the "Fields of Gazing Grain" as these are youthful beings with futuristic suggestions. She says "We passed the Setting Sun" as an illusion to the digression of her life but then corrects herself, this time personifying the sun, "Or rather- He passed Us." Time has at this point become distorted and in no way relative to time as she knew it in life. Then warm imagery of the poem shifts as "The Dews drew quivering and chill." She describes her clothing, a silk gown and thin shawl, which brings to mind the image of wedding attire as if she is dressed to wed her Death, The image of her flimsy dress gives her a new quality of vulnerability. The two concluding stanzas, with their lessening concreteness, hasten the final identification of her "House." It is the slightly rounded surface "of the Ground," with a scarcely visible roof and a cornice "in the Ground. One might feel this cornice is a grave or at least a final resting place but I felt the first image was stronger, that image of her house. Her house would be a safe place, comforting and familiar. Her journey hasn't exactly taken her to unknown territories, yet. Worth mentioning it is at this point one realizes that Death as a person has receded into the background, mentioned last only impersonally in the opening words.

The carriage is headed toward eternity, where Death is taking the passenger. The attitude of departure could not have been more effectively accomplished than it has been by the use of the slowly-moving carriage. Remoteness is paired with closeness, for the objects that are observed during the journey seem nearby but at the same time, the constant moving forward, with just a single pause, carries heavy implications concerning time, death, and eternity. The person in the carriage is viewing things that are close with the viewpoint of detachment, given by the existence of Immortality.

The tone is reserved and even courteous. There is nothing ugly or disturbing about Death when he comes for her. She describes him as both kind and civil. This serene tone is maintained throughout the piece. The carriage holds but the two of them, yet the ride is surely a last ride together. There has been no trickery on his part. They drive at a leisurely pace, and she feels completely at ease. Since she understands it to be a last ride, she of course expects it to be unhurried. Indeed, his cordiality in taking time to stop for her at that point and on that day in her life when she was so busy she could not possibly have taken time to stop for him is a sign of particular courtesy.

While this poem does employ meter and some internal rhyme schemes, Dickinson must not have felt it was crucial to use exact rhymes. For example, the third stanza of this poem, for instance, has no predictable rhyme, but gets its rhythm from the repetition of "We passed" and the alliteration in "Gazing Grain" and "Setting Sun" (Lines 9, 11-12). The rhythm throughout is perpetuated with this tactic.

In the end, it was a fateful carriage ride which revealed to her for the first time the true meaning of immortality. It is gripping that something that seems so sordid and even messy in reality has been turned so effectively by Emily Dickinson and her literary gifts to feel both proper and natural. The poem's very effective imagery and duplicity makes death seem as if it could be another beginning.

Reference: Anderson, Charles R. "The Consious Self in Emily Dickinson's Poetry." American Literature 31.3 (Nov. 1959):290.

Humanities International Index. BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH." Explicator 60.2 (Winter 2002): 72.

Sewall, Richard B., editor, Emily Dickinson, A Collection of Critical Essays, New York: Prentice-Hall, 1963.

Spencer, Mark. "Dickinson's BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH." Explicator 65.2 (Winter 2007): 95-96. Tate,Allen. "Emily Dickinson: The Limits of Poetry, Selected Essays." Poetry Criticism. vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 84.