AS LIT - EMILY DICKINSON 712 Because I could not stop for death

The poem

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 labour 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--

This poem engages with the topic of death. And is linked thematically to 465.

Difficult words

Immortality - is eternal life, the ability to live forever.

Civility - formal politeness and courtesy in behaviour or speech.

Gossamer -  very light, sheer, gauze-like fabric

Tippet - is a scarf-like narrow piece of clothing, worn over the shoulders

Tulle -  is a lightweight, very fine netting, which is often starched

Cornice - is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture element

Eternity - Eternity is endless time

A brief summary of the poem

A poem with a single extended metaphor in which the speaker of the poem is invited into a horse drawn carriage by death. Death is personified as a civil gentleman. There is the suggestion of a romantic encounter. The journey is slow. It continues through sunset, appears to go on through the night. Eventually the journey arrives at a grave - presented here as a house. The narrative perspective shifts in the last stanza. We become aware that the journey the speaker reports has taken place hundreds of years ago. The narrator seems to be recollecting the journey the narrator took the day she died. The journey is from life to death.

We become aware that the journey is a symbolic one. The journey takes place outside the physical limitations of time. The journey includes two details. The first refers to children  - symbolic of new life. And the second refers to fields ready for harvest - symbolic of old age and approaching death. Finally the poem records the arrival at a house buried in the ground - this is symbolic of a grave.