Practice Essay

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 –

For most of the time, poems can be interpreted in various aspects and what poets try to convey in the poems are likely to be ambiguous. This poem, Because of I could not stop for Death, is not only a classical example for Emily Dickinson's obsession towards death, but also a piece of literature that can give readers different thoughts and implications in their “aftertaste” of the poem. Emily Dickinson’s preoccupation with Death is what interests generations of literature learners and in her poems, death itself are portrayed in diverse appearances.

Because of I could not stop for Death, at the first glance, gives readers a refreshed description of death which has been often surrounded with darkness and fear in other poems. In this poem, the poet personifies death into a gentleman caller. In the first two stanzas, Death himself is undoubtedly depicted as a patient and kind gentlemen. Through the lines like “He kindly stopped for me” and “ We slowly drove - He knew no haste”, Death appears to be a considerate person who knows that the narrator is unable to come to her final destination by herself and kindly carries her to his carriage with the understanding that the narrator still needs time to prepare herself ( that is why he drives slowly, giving time for the narrator to look at the scenes outside and calm down). The journey that the narrator is taking can represent her leaving life and later in the following stanzas, all those scenes, such as school, fields of gazing grains and the setting sun, seem to imply that  all those recalled memories start to fading away through the journey. However, after first three stanzas, the tone of the poem changes and grows into ambiguity as though Death leads the narrator into darkness.  “Or rather” in the first line of the fourth stanza is likely a turning point. “ The Dews drew quivering and Chill” and they “pause before a House” which is like a “swelling of ground” has scarcely visible roof all seems to depict a gradually cold and dark atmosphere. In the final stanza, narrator, or the poet, hides her feeling and simply tells her contradicted feeling of time and her surmise that the journey will be endless.

The poet’s true inner feeling towards her journey or death is under veil with the contradictory emotions can be sensed by the reader in the first part and the end part  of the poem. The characteristic of death can be arguably separated into two sides. Readers can develop their own conclusion to the figure of death. He could be a true warmhearted gentleman as he carries the narrator slowly passing through all those warm scenes or an insidious liar who are in bright appearance in order to seduce narrator with an illusion to let her start the journey, intending to lead her eventually in darkness. The poet’s attitude towards death is also unclear, leaving space for readers’ imagination. The last stanza can both show that death traps humans into an freezed or unstopped time or death actually relieves humans from the past and gives them a sort of immortality because the journey will be in eternity.