Because I could not stop for Death—

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Because I could not stop for Death (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)

The Poem

In “Because I could not stop for Death,” one of the most celebrated of any poems Emily Dickinson wrote, the deceased narrator reminisces about the day Death came calling on her. In the first stanza, the speaker remarks that she had been too busy to stop for Death, so in his civility, he stopped for her. In his carriage, she was accompanied by Immortality as well as Death. Many readers have wanted to know why Immortality also rides in the carriage, but when thinking of the courting patterns in Dickinson’s day, one recalls the necessity of a chaperon. In any event,...

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• Because I could not stop for Death— (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
• Because I could not stop for Death (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)

See Also:

• Emily Dickinson (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
• Emily Dickinson (Poetry)
• Emily Dickinson (Dictionary of World Biography)