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Emily Dickinson, "[Because I could not stop for Death—]"

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Re-Reading Questions

Text on p. 1239 of the full Ninth Edition

Pay particular attention to italicized phrases:

5 10 15 20

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—

Re-Reading Questions

1. As you re-read the poem, pay attention to the italicized passages and consider what they might mean in the poem. Note the images of motion and stillness and how they relate to a general idea about dealing with the inevitable losses that time brings.

2. Look at the ways the poem is structured in terms of time, scenes of nature, and periods of life. Do you see any disruptions in the apparent calm of these sequences? Do the speaker's feelings seem to change as her journey continues? Is her "surmise" also a surprise, and if so, is it one of hope or despair?

3. The form of Dickinson's poems is unique, particularly the punctuation. This poem, like many of Dickinson's, generally uses the rhythm of religious hymn—quatrains of alternating iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter lines. The regularity is interrupted by occasional changes in the meter and inexact rhymes as well as the pauses of the dashes. Scan the poem carefully, looking at each of these irregularities. Assuming that each may add special emphasis, consider how the ideas are affected by some of these variations.

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