Because I Could Not Stop For Death Poem by Emily Dickinson

Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Rating: 3.9


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-

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Caitlin Daniel 03 March 2010

I'm not going to lie.. I read this on a test in school yesterday. I never would have found this if it weren't for my teacher. I love how deah is personified and how she was about 14 when her 2nd or 1st cousin died. Also the fact that she was thought of as strange because she always wore white. WOW, can you think of anyone who is/was more obsessed with death? Scary that I know alot about her and I haven't even read her bio. What's funny is the fact that I'm just about to be in 9th grade..haha

39 37 Reply
Edmond Williams 02 February 2012

I find this poem ironic about the poet. She never left her house in ages. I knew what that was like.

21 29 Reply
Matthew Wood 11 April 2008

I love this poem, just the rhyming is brilliant, I just truly love Dickinson.

24 26 Reply
Sheila Cameron 04 April 2012

I have just discovered this stunning poem from the autobiography of the composer, John Adams. He chose it to follow John Donne's 'Negative Love' as the text for his work 'Harmonium' followed by another of her poems: Wild Nights'. He writes excitingly about the composition and first performance in 1981.

19 29 Reply
Man Bahadur Gharti 02 May 2012

Theme of Transcendentalism; transcendent from the mortal world to immortal world. beautiful

26 22 Reply
Chinedu Dike 09 April 2022

An absolutely beautiful poem. A work of an intricate mind.

1 0 Reply
Ruta Mohapatra 09 April 2022

One of my favorite Dickinson poem!

1 0 Reply
Brook Renwick 09 April 2022

I can almost imagine she was writing about herself so that whoever reads this poem now feels her closer [almost sitting next to me].

0 0 Reply
Coolio 17 March 2022

hi (sorry for the bad english)

1 0 Reply
Tamara Beryl Latham 05 October 2019

One of my favorites. Emily, in my opinion, was the best female poet of the time. :

4 1 Reply
Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson

Amherst / Massachusetts
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