Emily Dickinson was a famous American 19th century poet born December 10, 1830, in New England to a Puritan family that had lived in Massachusetts since the 17th century. Her poetry contains the aesthetic principles and values of romantic art, embodied in an innovative form unusual for the era. The first publications of Dickinson’s poems began to appear only in the 1890s, after her death. Readers and literary critics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw in her poems an innovation atypical for modern literature: she was sharply criticized for her “fragmentary” presentation of thought and “incorrect” rhymes. Attention to her poetry only increased later, in proportion to the popularity of the poetics and aesthetics of modernism in American literature. Still, Dickinson’s poems have no analogues among her contemporary poets. Her upbringing has greatly affected her poetry, as the poet offers a lot of reflection on complex themes such as religion, devotion, immortality, and, most importantly, death. Thus, this paper will analyze Dickinson’s poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death to reveal its most significant motives and metaphors.
Emily Dickinson lived in the ideal time for a poet: the once firmly established Calvinist tradition was on the decline, opening up new, albeit sometimes frightening, possibilities. Many of Dickinson’s poems are imbued with an optimistic hope for eternal life. Perhaps the hope for the immortality of the soul served as consolation to Dickinson, who often lost family and friends. The poems that imply poet’s absolute disbelief in resurrection and eternal life are relatively rare. This allows one to talk about the predominance of an optimistic view of the prospects of human existence in her works. Moreover, Dickinson, indeed, believed in the great power of true feeling, capable of conquering everything, including death. This is, perhaps, why Death appears as a positive, calming force in her poems – especially in Because I Could Not Stop for Death.
Many of Dickinson’s poems contain the motive of death and immortality, and the same plots permeate her letters to friends. Death for Emily Dickinson is inextricably linked with eternity and, paradoxically, is a guide to immortality in itself. Qiao (2019) states that “Dickinson sends the message that Death is Eternity” (159). The poet speaks of the unconditional immortality of the soul and the insignificance of everything connected with the body. Despite that she was always afraid of the onset of Death, she believed that a person, having died, continues to live in some other world, where everything is calm and peaceful. This point of view is represented especially clearly in Because I Could Not Stop for Death. There, Dickinson not only describes the image of gentle and kind Death, but also tries to look through its eyes in her work. In the poem, she imagined the moment when Death comes to her, and how calmly she would meet it.
Death, for all its tragedy, appears to Dickinson as a necessary component in the complex relations of attraction and repulsion that exist between man and nature, body and soul, being and spirit. In Dickinson’s understanding, Death is something majestic, and at the same time inevitable:
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality. (Dickinson “Because I Could Not Stop for Death (479)”; Poetry Foundation, 2020).
In this poem, Dickinson personifies Death in the form of a gallant gentleman who invites a lady to take a ride in a carriage. In the days of Emily Dickinson’s youth, such rides in carriages with a coachman were an important part of the courtship of young men for girls. Thus, it is worth noting that Death is depicted in the form of a groom or even a lover there, and not a traditional view of a grim reaper. Dickinson emphasizes this notion in these lines:
Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle. (Dickinson “Because I Could Not Stop for Death (479)”; Poetry Foundation, 2020).
The date is ceremonial, but like any love game, it contains the possibility of dangerous unpredictability, which is not guaranteed even by the presence of a “third party” – Immortality, who accompanies the couple. Their path lies through the warm and noisy bustle of life, through the cold immobility of the temporary shelter-grave, then through the “centuries” – and finally, into Eternity. The theme of death is also closely intertwined with the image of God, which is present in almost every poem by Dickinson. She was, indeed, for all her controversy with Puritanism, a deeply religious person who believed that God always lives next to her. Thus, she had a strong faith in God, but in her own way – Dickinson often thought about death in the context of how good it would be to be next to God. All Dickinson’s poetry is built on contradictions: for her, death is sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrible; just like the wind is powerful and at the same time dangerous.
In Dickinson’s poetry, death appears in various guises, but it is so organic that, in general, it does not carry neither ominous nor desperate tones – it is natural, like life itself. The images of death presented in Dickinson’s poems are distinguished by their versatility and an extraordinary interpretation of natural processes. The poetess is not at all categorical in her metaphorical definitions. They resonate with all facets of a person’s earthly life, as well as with the existence of eternal life and a higher power. Dickinson considers not only life but also death to be a multifaceted phenomenon. Life and death in her work are different sides of a single being, guided by the God and Nature. It is clear that Emily Dickinson’s relationship to religion and God, as well as to death, was highly ambiguous. Perhaps, if Dickinson had followers – “apostles”, her poetry in itself could become a religion. Carefully crafted symbiosis of seemingly completely contradictory systems – puritanism and transcendentalism – in combination with the creative genius of the poet gave rise to truly unique ideological principles.
Dickinson was brought up in a Puritanical spirit, having deeply learned from childhood the concepts of sin, guilt, and atonement that have grown in New England generation after generation, starting with the early settlers. Biblical imagery occupies an exclusive place in her poetry, but it never bears signs of illustrative reminiscence. Behind it, the reader always feels the spontaneity and depth of her own experience, naturally expressing itself in the language of Scripture, full of living meaning for Dickinson. Her poems are usually devoted to the nature of her native places or some imperceptible everyday occurrences. However, there is always a second dimension to them – a philosophical reflection on the soul, the universe, beauty, death and immortality. Each small detail of the description of nature, conveyed with the greatest possible reliability and accuracy, acquires a special meaning and weight, participating in that endless dispute of faith and doubt.
Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death (479).” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2020, Web.
Qiao, Yang. “Thematic Interpretation of ‘Because I Could Not Stop for Death’ by Emily Dickinson.” 2019 International Conference on Humanities, Cultures, Arts and Design (ICHCAD), pp. 158–160.