Because I could not stop for death by Emily Dickinson is a poem that I very much enjoy to read. The poem was published in 1890, after Emily’s death. This poem also happens to be the one that I am using for the final assignment in the class. The reason that I like the poem so much is because it has so many different aspects that make up the poem. One aspect is that the poem is narrated by a proleptic speaker, an impossible speaker. This is because the narrator is dead; he or she has been carried off by death, “the horses’ heads were towards eternity.” The poem also speaks of existence in that it continues to go on even after death. Life is like the “ring” spoken of in line 10. Life has a beginning, a middle, and an end; life starts with “school,” then moves to work, then comes to an end like the “setting sun.” The kids at the school are playing in the ring or in other words living life on part of this continuation that is being described. The speaker is now seeing this from a point of view different from when he or she was part of the living but even though he or she is not living the narrator is still going on a journey of sorts, still existing in a ring or a circle. This poem also works as a description of what death, more specific burial, might just be like for the dead. “We paused before a house that seemed/ A swelling of the ground;” This pause is suggestive of going to the grave to await further journeys after death. The reason that I enjoy this poem so much is because it explores a subject that nothing is known about. The poem takes a risk. No one knows exactly what it’s like when death comes to ones life To try to explain what that might be like is very difficult and creates great reading. I enjoy reading about others opinions on how this experience might come to pass.
