Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death
Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death"
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste 5
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school where children played
Their lessons scarcely done; 10
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible, 15
The cornice but a mound.
Since then ’t is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity. 20 (Franklin)
The Author
Emily Dickinson became one of America’s most noted poets after her death. The poetry she wrote was mainly about death, grief and love. Her poems offered a different prospective on death and its effects on others. Her poems on love were sad and about lost love. Although she was considered a Lyrical poet, her critics say there was an absence of metre and rhyme. Other critics believe this was her deliberate artistic expression. Her poetry reflects her loneliness and the speakers of her poems generally live in a state of want and sadness (Reeves).
Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886) was born to a proper New England family in Amherst, Massachusetts (Barnet 444). She became one of America’s most noted poets after her death. Although she made several attempts to get published, some believe the reason so few were published was because her work was far ahead of its time (Gilson). After her death her sister, Lavinia discovered she left 1,775 poems, only 7 had been published (Barnet 444). Most of her poetry was about grief, death and love. The theme of death was unconventional during that time. She often gave death personalities. That was different from the traditional views on death. Her poems offered a different prospective on death and its effects on others.
Dickinson appeared to have a normal childhood and was described as being bright, witty, had many friends and attended parties. She began to withdraw from society in her early 30’s. There were occasions when she would speak to...