Summary Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death
Poem: Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Poet: Emily Dickinson
The Historian
1. Emily Dickinson wrote over 1800 poems in her lifetime.
2. Even though Dickinson wrote hundreds of poems, only 11 were published in her lifetime.
3. Emily Dickenson was not a follower of traditional punctuation, a trait that is easily recognizable in her poems.
The Summarizer
In Because I Could Not Stop for Death, Death is personified as a courteous beau who gently insists that the speaker set aside both her “labor” and “leisure”. He stops for her in his carriage, because she could not have stopped for him. Death submits to a chaperone named Immortality, but Death is most assuredly leading the expedition and driving the carriage. Death is peaceful and holds no terrors to the speaker, and along their slow and steady drive they pass many familiar sites of the speaker’s town. But the speaker soon realizes that this seemingly ordinary outing is unique as the …show more content…
The Passage Finder
“Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day”
The Day is the last day before the speaker dies, and the centuries that she has been dead for feel shorter than that one slow day when she walked with Death. Waking up from death to be judged is accomplished in the blink of an eye, even though millennia may have passed.
The Messenger
The line “And I had put away/My labor and my leisure too” refers to the speaker leaving behind earthly things in her death. All though some people might be sad to see their possessions go, Colossians tells us to “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”. We should not hold on too and value our riches, as they will all fade away to be replaced by the much greater rewards in heaven.
The Artist
“You’ve been invited!”, a special invitation from Death (Was going to print, but ran out of ink)
Poet: Emily Dickinson
The Historian
1. Emily Dickinson wrote over 1800 poems in her lifetime.
2. Even though Dickinson wrote hundreds of poems, only 11 were published in her lifetime.
3. Emily Dickenson was not a follower of traditional punctuation, a trait that is easily recognizable in her poems.
The Summarizer
In Because I Could Not Stop for Death, Death is personified as a courteous beau who gently insists that the speaker set aside both her “labor” and “leisure”. He stops for her in his carriage, because she could not have stopped for him. Death submits to a chaperone named Immortality, but Death is most assuredly leading the expedition and driving the carriage. Death is peaceful and holds no terrors to the speaker, and along their slow and steady drive they pass many familiar sites of the speaker’s town. But the speaker soon realizes that this seemingly ordinary outing is unique as the …show more content…
The Passage Finder
“Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day”
The Day is the last day before the speaker dies, and the centuries that she has been dead for feel shorter than that one slow day when she walked with Death. Waking up from death to be judged is accomplished in the blink of an eye, even though millennia may have passed.
The Messenger
The line “And I had put away/My labor and my leisure too” refers to the speaker leaving behind earthly things in her death. All though some people might be sad to see their possessions go, Colossians tells us to “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”. We should not hold on too and value our riches, as they will all fade away to be replaced by the much greater rewards in heaven.
The Artist
“You’ve been invited!”, a special invitation from Death (Was going to print, but ran out of ink)