Emily Dickinson proves to be a creator of poetry that appeals to readers by presenting ideas that evoke imagery. Her poems include prominent themes that flow throughout her writing which are death and time, which reveals Dickinson’s ability to “explore a wide range of subjects. Her poems about death confront its grim reality with honesty, humor, curiosity, and above all a refusal to be comforted” (National Anthology of American Literature B 2554). In addition to Dickinson’s imagery of death and time, her poetry also exhibit’s a tone that conveys to readers that she has accepted death and was not fearful of the inevitability that would one day consume her.
Emily Dickinson’s poem, Because I Could Not Stop for Death, begins with a line that is presented in the title, which suggests that it is the central idea of the poem. She states, “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me” (70) which signifies to readers that, “Death is personified as a gentleman caller or suitor” (Brooklyn Academic). The word “Death” is capitalized which suggests that it is a name, therefore enforcing the idea that “Death” is a gentleman. The personification of death further enhances the power of the inevitable, and that death is out of the speaker’s hands, and at the discretion of the gentleman. Dickinson’s word choice to describe death is not expected, because she refers to death as being kind, when she states, “He kindly stopped for me” (70) rather than being using words that have a negative connotation to describe death, she used the word “kindly” which means “having, showing, or proceeding from a benevolent disposition” (Dictionary) and suggests that death presented itself in an unthreatening manner and was benevolent, “characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings” (Dictionary). The line “Because I could not stop for death” exhibits the inevitability of death--it is not something that can be avoided by the speaker, or put on hold, however, stating “He kindly stopped for me” makes it evident that it was not her time for death and she would take her time to join death, as long as he waited patiently. According to the Norton Anthology of Poetry, the words “kindly” and “civility” “are certainly appropriate to the tone of the poem, which is extremely reserved and polite. There's nothing ugly or aggressive about the way death comes to the speaker” (Northon Anthology of Poetry 5th edition)
When the speaker joins death, they are alone, “The carriage held but just ourselves, and Immortality” (70). Now that the speaker is in the carriage at the discretion of death, her time for death is drawing nearer, yet she has the company of “Immortality” eternal life, inside the carriage. Dickinson uses the irony of having “Death” and “Immortality” in the carriage with the speaker together to make light of--and add humor to--a potentially grim situation.
Death is not threatening to the speaker, and he is in no rush to take her life from her as she explains, “We slowly drove, he knew no haste” which shows that death was not rushing the speaker, but rather they—Death, Immortality, and the speaker, are traveling in the carriage and the speaker is observing various familiar locations. The poem addresses the innocence of youth when the speaker states, “We passed the school where children played, their lessons scarcely done.” The two lines are ambivalent because if taken literally, if the school children are playing at school, their class lessons would not be completed, leaving the work, “scarcely done,” however, Dickinson may be emphasizing the idea that at a young age, children have so many life lessons to learn, and therefore they are learning from their experiences as they age and their life lessons are “scarcely done” while on the other hand, the speaker has lived her life and is nearing death.
