Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson

"Because I Could Not Stop For Death--," By Emily Dickinson

'Because I could not stop for Death--,' is a poem of both marriage and death. When thinking of both marriage and death, the word "eternity" comes to mind. Marriage is looked at as a symbol of eternal love, and death is looked at as a state of eternal rest. Also, Christians consider life after death as an eternal state. In "Because I could not stop for Death--," Emily Dickinson portrays death by describing an eternal marriage. The speaker remembers a time where she was carried off and eloped with a man called Death and his partner in crime, Immortality. Not realizing that going with Death meant that she would have to leave this world and live with him in his house forever, she shows herself as being immature at that time. As she leaves to go with Death the speaker states, "We slowly drove--He knew no haste/And I had put away/My labor and my leisure too, /For his Civility--". In these lines, she shows how she must leave her household to work for her new husband. On the way to Death's house they "passed the school, where Children strove/At Recess--in the Ring--". The fact that she mentions the kids fighting and playing at recess also shows how she must leave her life of leisure for a life of work. She must go work for her husband Death at his household. The next few lines are when the speaker finally realizes that she is leaving this world to join Death in his world. She states, "We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--/We passed the Setting Sun--/Or rather--He passed Us--". The next lines also show how she is leaving her world into another, colder environment. The speaker says "The Dews drew quivering and chill--/For only Gossamer, my Gown--/My Tippet--only Tulle--". The gown and scarf that she had worn for the trip were too thin to protect her from the cold place that they were going to. Finally, they reached Death's house. It was "A Swelling of the Ground--" and " The roof was barely visible--". The turning point of the poem was a flashback, when she says, " Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet/Feels shorter than the Day/I first surmised the Horses' Heads/Were toward Eternity--". This flashback shows us that she is looking back on that day almost as if she is sad. Centuries have passed, yet that day seems longer than any time that has passed. This poem clearly functions as an allegory. On a symbolic level, it was easy to grasp that this poem was a remembrance of the speaker's death. Dickinson describes this death so well it is almost as if she is writing about her own death. The main clue that this was a poem of death was that she got in a carriage with two guys whose names just happened to be Death and Immortality. Death symbolizes the passing away of the body, and Immortality represents the Christian belief that the body dies but the soul is immortal. When the speaker states, "Because I could not stop for Death--/He kindly stopped for me--," she implies that most people do not stop to think about their death . People go on with their busy lives and do not talk or think about death because they are afraid of it. So Death must stop and "kindly" ask people into