Death is one of the most prominent themes in the world of poetry, yet each poem concerning it is completely different from the next. The poem âBecause I Could Not Stop For Deathâ is perhaps one of the most enigmatic poems regarding the topic of death. In it, Emily Dickinson explores the psychology death through a young woman who has been buried for centuries. The poem is a reflection of the passing of time and oneâs life while living, and although Dickinson portrays death as a lonely thing, it is neither frightening nor painful.
The first two stanzas is a recollection of when the young lady was first taken away by Death, which has been personified into a gentlemanly figure. In a way, the relationship between Death and the young lady is almost like a courtship. The first two lines of the poem - âBecause I could not stop for death he kindly stopped for meâ - implying that young lady was not yet ready for Death, but nevertheless âbetrothedâ to him, like a young woman who is too polite to refuse her courteous suitor.
Emily Dickinson thoroughly explores every aspect of death in her poetry. She considers the physical, the psychological and the emotional aspects of this unknowable experience. She looks at death from the perspective of both the living and the dying, even imagining her own death. In 'I felt a Funeral, in my Brain' it is as though she is observing her death, and in 'I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -' she captures the very moment of death and reflects upon what it may be like in a very calming manner. Death is the one completely unknowable experience, which many people spend their life pondering about until the day they reach it, and Dickinson devotes much of her poetry to imagining its many faces.
In 'Because I could not stop for Death', Dickinson enacts the journey of death. Death is personified, and the words used to describe him are 'kindly' and 'For his Civility' therefore presenting him as a polite and courteous gentleman who stops to take her for a ride in his carriage.
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