Because I could not stop for Death (712) by Emily Dickinson

Full Text

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 –

Overview

Death as gentleman caller—polite, patient, driving slowly. The poem domesticates mortality: a carriage ride past life's stages (school, fields, sunset) ending at a grave described as a "house." But the final stanza's time warp ("Centuries" feeling "shorter than the Day") unsettles the cozy allegory. Eternity isn't rest; it's disorientation.

Line-by-Line Analysis

Lines 1-4

Death "kindly stopped"—courtesy, not menace. "Immortality" rides along as chaperone. The threesome is oddly social.

Lines 21-24

"Centuries" passing like a day inverts normal time. The speaker realizes only at the end where they're going: "toward Eternity."

Themes

• Death as transition
• Time and eternity
• Life stages
• The domestication of mortality

Literary Devices

Personification

Death as courteous suitor — Making Death polite makes the poem more unsettling, not less—gentility masks finality.

Euphemism

Grave as "House," "Swelling of the Ground" — Indirect language for the grave echoes how we avoid discussing death directly.

Historical Context

Written around 1863, unpublished until 1890. Dickinson wrote extensively about death without apparent fear—possibly because death was common in her era. Several close friends and her nephew died young.