Because I Could Not Stop for Death

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Because I could not stop for Death

by Emily Dickinson

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
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –

__________________________

Emily Dickinson only obtained fame after her death. However, once she caught on, she really caught on. Maybe readers saw something of themselves in the reclusive, quirky, hyphen-wielding woman with the morbid fascination with death.

Because I Could Not Stop for Death is arguably her most famous poem. Therein, she provides a story about a Speaker’s journey, alongside a personified Death, to eternity. The piece is tonally interesting, inasmuch as she greets death like an old friend joining her for a carriage ride, in the first stanza, but as we progress the tone shifts into something darker and less optimistic.

Structually, Dickinson’s poem is 24 lines, broken into six quatrain stanzas. The poem has no consistent rhyme scheme, within its stanzas, however, the final lines of the first, second, and last stanzas rhyme with each other.

Stanza One

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

Dickinson’s Speaker personifies Death immediately. By portraying Death as “kindly” and as someone who picks her up for an intimate carriage ride, we are given the impression that they are old friends, or perhaps that they have a romantic interest in each other.

Dickinson – as is her style – uses a lot of hyphens to indicate where a recitation should include a pause. This gives the work something of a musical quality. She also capitalizes words to give them added weight.

Stanza Two

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

The impression we get here is that the Speaker’s journey with Death is calm and relaxed. Death is described as possessing “Civility” and the Speaker in turn gives him, or their journey at least, undivided attention. We might also read in that description an end to the activities of earthly life.

Stanza Three

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Dickinson utilizes repetition in this stanza, with the word “passed,” a word that describes the carriage ride with death, as well as her own “past.” The stanza takes us through childhood, to the prime of her life “Fields of Gazing Grain” and then to her life’s end.

In this way, it feels that the carriage ride described in the first stanza really and truly began when the Speaker was born. Does death begin to court us when life begins? She seems to make a case for that here. In any case, though, by describing death as the Setting Sun, she indicates that the transition was peaceful, welcome, and beautiful.

Stanza Four

Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

This stanza provides a change to the tone of the piece. The Speaker is no longer entirely peaceful. She now feels “Chill.” As we know, a body begins to grow cold soon after its passing. If Death is the setting sun, and represents the moment of passing, then what comes next is night, colder temperatures, and the dark.

Some of these words might be unfamiliar, so I’ll try to help out:

gossamer /gŏs′ə-mər/

noun

1. A fine film of cobwebs that is often seen floating in the air or is caught on bushes or grass.
2. Something that is light, delicate, or sheer, such as fabric.
3. A fine, filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the air, in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen in stubble fields and on furze or low bushes, and is formed by small spiders.

tippet /tĭp′ĭt/

noun

1. A covering for the shoulders, as of fur, with long ends that hang in front.
2. A long stole worn by members of the Anglican clergy.
3. A long hanging part, as of a sleeve, hood, or cape.

tulle /too͞l/

noun

1. A fine, often starched net of silk, rayon, or nylon, used especially for veils, tutus, or gowns.
2. A kind of silk lace or light netting, used for veils, etc.
3. A kind of silk lace or light netting, used for veils, etc.

We are given a picture of someone in a thin gown, with a shoulders covering and a veil. You might assume then that Dickinson is describing the attire of a corpse on its way to burial, but that’s not really the case. What she’s actually describing is something a woman might wear at her wedding.

The description of what she’s wearing reframes her use of the word “chill” earlier in the stanza. Rather than see it as coldness, for its own sake, or perhaps representative only of death, you can also read in this an undercurrent of excitement. Sometimes we are happy with chills.

Stanza Five

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible
The Cornice – in the Ground –

The Speaker and her suitor, Death, arrive at the place wherein she will live. She describes through the metaphor of a house her grave site. You can detect her in word choices here a bit of disappointment. To make clear that she’s describing her grave, the Speaker repeats the word “Ground” twice.

Stanza Six

Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –

The final stanza is open to some interpretation, but I cannot help but read into these words some depressed fatalism. The centuries that have passed since her death went by more quickly for her than the long day wherein she realized she was dying. We get the impression that she feels somewhat duped and disappointed. Her romance – expressed through a private carriage ride, with a civil gentlemanly Death, wherein she was dressed for a wedding an immortality, instead ended with her left alone, forgotten, in a hole in the ground.

Dickinson gives us her perspective on death in this piece and in others. She perhaps believed – or feared – that dying is just lingering forever with your body as it decays. She might have hoped for Heaven, or activity, but it’s cold, dark abandonment instead.

But you don’t have to take my word for it… here’s a great review of this poem in video form: