Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson Book Analysis

Sooner or later, everyone will have an experience with Death himself. In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” the character had a very unusual relationship with death – as if “death” is a person. “Because I could not stop for Death—He kindly stopped for me—”, this statement informs the reader that death picked her up almost like he is waiting on her hence “the carriage”. In one instance, the setting of this story informs the reader this character has two important people in her life now, Death and Immortality. Because Death and Immortality play a considerable role in this story, this environment is somewhat dark and cloudy. In my opinion, Death presents as a gentleman—someone who is kind, not evil, and willing to lend a hand to others. In addition, Immortality is another “gentleman” coming along on this ride who’s very mysterious. This story is trying to humanize Death, Immortality, and Eternity as if they are people and not something that happens.

This poem is one of “the most famous work and generally considered to be one of the great masterpieces in American poetry.” (Napierkowski and Ruby 1-2) Death takes this woman on a late-afternoon stroll where they visit local gravesites, school playgrounds, fields of wheat and see the setting sun—something recurring of everyday nature human life. “We paused before a House that seemed, A Swelling of the Ground—” the woman had feelings of supernatural emotions as they approached this grave, possibly Death’s house. After that, they continued on their long ride “toward Eternity.” This poem speaks of this young woman’s date with Death and what it feels like to go on this journey in a metaphorical sense. Emily Dickinson uses Death as a metaphor throughout this poem and familiarizes personification. In “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, this is a six-stanza poem and each stanza has four lines each—there’s some alliteration, imagery, personification, and repetition going on in this story. The imagery in this story is very distinctive and stimulating it’s hard to say during this time (the 1800s), what the tone of this poem would be since everyone back then viewed death as evil, morbid, or something you don’t really discuss much. The tone starts off pleasant as they described children’s playgrounds but as they bring up a graveyard in comparison to a house, they try to lighten up the mood or tone per say. There’s symbolism between the carriage and a hearse in a way it represents humanity whereas the story’s suitor embodies death. The poem is a decent length, but it has a strong message it is trying covey between life and death. This ride she experiences might give her a glimpse of the true meaning of Immortality and Eternity. In many other stories, Death has taken on many forms of characters like “a decrepit old man, a grim reaper, or a ferryman” his visits are rarely welcomed by those who find him on their doorstep. In another instance, this woman could be dead, and as she takes these rides with Death, the carriage could be a figure of speech for a hearse. 

The poem makes us wonder why the Dickinson portrays death as a kind and polite gentleman. The readers who have experienced death in their life know that death is not a kind and polite emotion or person. Instead, it is awful, horrific, and something most people never get over. Reading this poem, the readers wonder why Dickinson tries to humanize death in any way, shape, or form. She leaves Immortality as a “mysterious” gentleman, which is an accurate description for the most part. When it comes to being “immortal” or “immortality,” there is a lot to think or wonder about—wickedness is the perfect way to describe it. When the author mentioned Eternity, there were no details about it. Still, we all have a meaning of Eternity in our mind—its timelessness, life after death, and no one fully understand what happens then.

There is quite some confusion throughout this story. Many people are perplexed and uncomfortable when talking about Death, Immortality, and Eternity-nobody knows what it means in actuality. With this beginning, it is fate that brings this young lady and Death together in a weird way, where they go on this long, insightful ride that teaches them about each other’s lives. Some readers assume she’s already dead and they’re revisiting her life story with death leading the way but there’s no way to proof this point. However, with her friendliness and caring nature, the young woman becomes anxious in a way to take this ride about life, which leaves her more confused about life than she already is.

In conclusion, “It is natural that Emily Dickinson should come to mind when one reflects on the evidence for thinking in poetry” (Vendler 1-2)—This writer has a unique way of thinking when it comes to poetry and writing poems. Many critics have described her writing style as “metaphysical, philosophical, theological” (Vendler 1-2) all of these things relate to a different version of life, God, religion, nature of knowledge, and philosophy of how things work. It’s ironic how Dickinson had such a complex way of thinking and writing. They had to come up with vocabulary words to describe her nature— “its cryptic ellipses, its compression, its enigmatic subjects, its absent centers, and its abstractions.” (Vendler 3) There aren’t many writers like Dickinson; her work is so logical but distinctive. As a reader, many people could see how passionate she is about whatever she decided to write about; all of her writings are very articulate, compendious, formal, idiomatic, and rhetorical.