everything aside in order to prepare for "His Civility": it is almost like they are on a date.

During their carriage ride together, they pass children playing, pretty views of nature, and the sunset. Nighttime falls, and the narrator grows cold, and so Death takes her to a "House" where she can feel comfortable again. Instead of being scary or strange, Death, in this poem, acts more like a suitor than anything else.

Death is personified as a traveling companion in Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I could not stop for Death."

The controlling and extended metaphor of this poem is the comparison of dying to a carriage ride. The speaker travels with Death and Immortality "past the School, where Children strove / At Recess..." (this represents childhood). The group then rides past "Fields of Gazing Grain" (symbols of maturity) and "the Setting Sun" (which symbolizes aging); then the night is seen as the "Dews drew quivering and chill." Finally, the speaker, who feels a chill, arrives at "a House / that seemed a swelling of the Ground."

Dickinson personifies death as a polite companion throughout all life's different cycles.

The vision of death offered in Dickinson's poem is more of a companion than anything else.  It is seen as a force of comfort, of reverie, and of careful companionship.  The construction of death is one where the speaker is able to see examples of life through the company of death.  This is not a menacing force that causes pain and separation.  Rather, it is one where through company, one is able to view life and view the transitory nature of consciousness.  This personification is vastly different than traditional Western visions of death for there is little to either prevent embracing it or to prevent its presence.

In this poem, death is not personified as something scary like the usual "grim reaper" view of death.  Instead, death is shown as a very nice companion -- maybe even a suitor of the woman who is speaking.

Death takes the speaker for a nice carriage ride.  He even brings along a chaperone (Immortality).  They do not go to anywhere horrible or scary or supernatural.  Instead, they just pass by regular sights like a schoolyard.  The only thing that is the least bit chilling is that they end up at her new home (it's a grave, but it's not really shown that way).

So Death is personified in a pretty benign way in this poem.

Situational irony occurs as the poem opens. The speaker "could not stop for Death." She presumably was busy with many things to accomplish, and she simply didn't have time to quit the tasks which seemed of paramount importance from an earthly perspective. Nevertheless, Death (personified) stopped by and picked her up anyway, transporting her away from the life and the busyness she was so consumed with. What she expected to happen (continuing on with her planned life) is quite different than what actually happened (those plans came to an abrupt end when she died). This is situational irony.

It's also rather ironic that Death is personified with actions that demonstrate kindness. Typically, a representation of death is conveyed with symbolic darkness. Death is often portrayed using a threatening or ominous mood, ripping unwilling humans away from their earthly lives. It's ironic that in this poem, the speaker goes willingly with Death, even though her plans have been disrupted. She conveys no sense of fear or reservation about departing with this unknown host and climbs into his slow-moving carriage with a complete acceptance of her fate. She passes various metaphorical representations of her own life with a sense of calm, and instead of resisting her date with Death, she meets the moment with grace and resolve.

The mood of a poem is the emotional response the writer attempts to evoke in the reader through the use of connotation, situation, and experience. This poem about death exemplifies a mood of passive acceptance.

"Because I could not stop for Death—" presents an atypical reaction to a subject which is often presented with moods of fear and apprehension. However, from the first lines, the speaker conveys a quiet submission to Death's plans for her and even characterizes his actions as reflecting kindness. She demonstrates no particular worry or angst about entering this carriage driven by Death and recognizes the futility of the plans she had made prior to Death's arrival.

Death is slow and steady as he carries the speaker toward Eternity, and the speaker thus learns that she must "put away" the efforts and ambitions of her own life, which is now complete. As she passes by the metaphorical representations of her own life, she views those various periods without any emotional reaction. Even when she presumably "pause[s]" in front of her own grave, which is "scarcely visible" in the ground, she examines the spot with a quiet sense of detachment.

The speaker's patience and composure toward Death are atypical, and this creates an unexpected, accepting mood regarding her fate. The speaker never attempts to influence Death and instead journeys quietly and willingly with him to her afterlife.

A good thesis statement should allow for debate and discussion. The main character, and the main focus in "Because I could not stop For Death—" is the personification of death. Death is presented as friendly and accommodating, but also as unavoidable and unbending. A good thesis statement, therefore, might be something like the following: Death is presented in an unfamiliar, comforting light. One might then draw upon other literature from the late nineteenth century to debate just how unfamiliar Dickinson's presentation of death really is. One might also debate whether the presentation of death is indeed comforting, or in fact disconcerting. It seems comforting on one hand: indeed, the personification of death is described as behaving with "civility." On the other hand, "Death" doesn't speak or pause. It continues relentlessly, inevitably, taking the speaker towards her death whether the speaker is ready or not.

Arlo Bates, an American author, once described Dickinson's poetry as "obscure, broken, unmelodious." This criticism might be used as the basis for a more challenging thesis statement, for example, Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death—" gives credence to Arlo Bates's view that her poetry was often "obscure, broken, [and] unmelodious." Any response to this thesis statement would need to focus on the rhythm of the poem but would also need to unpack the word "obscure." The word "obscure" implies a lack of clarity, but the meaning of the poem seems, ostensibly, rather clear. The meaning of the poem seems simply to be that we should not be afraid of death. However, one might also infer from the poem that death is cold, unbending and unavoidable, which would seem a fearful prospect to most. Perhaps then the meaning of the poem isn't as clear as it might at first appear, and perhaps Arlo Bates was right to comment that Dickinson's poetry was obscure.

Death is personified in this poem. He is presented as a kind of chauffeur and then a seducer. But the journey is slow and leisurely, so one implication is that death is natural, even peaceful. And the personified Death is likewise a guide as much as he is a thief of life; death itself.

That being said, the opening lines suggest that one is never prepared for death.

Because I could not stop for death -

He kindly stopped for me -

The entire poem is the speaker's narration of her journey with death (or Death). This journey has lasted centuries. This is noted in the final stanza. This could mean that death is timeless or endless. The speaker is basically wandering while watching familiar signs of life. Since this centuries long journey only feels like a day, it is as if time stopped and she is now an immortal observer.

The word "passed" occurs four times. Note the pun on "past." The speaker says that the sun passed them, meaning the sun sets more quickly than they move. The speaker, Death and Immortality are outside of time. Everything to them is "past" or, everything passes them by. In this context, a potential thesis statement would be something dealing with time in life and in death. Might Dickinson be presenting an odd afterlife? Rather than heaven or hell, the dead are "past" (beyond) time, like ghosts are beyond the physical world, aimlessly (and yet peacefully) wandering.

Themes of mortality and immortality are illustrated in "Because I could not stop for Death—."

The speaker meets death with a matter-of-fact sense of acceptance regarding her fate. She had made many plans for the future, as the living frequently do, and "could not stop" to consider her own eventual earthly demise. Nevertheless, she did have an appointment with Death, who did not care about the speaker's busyness and plans. This lack of control is also evident as the speaker passes metaphorical representations of life: childhood, midlife, and the process of dying. She has no particular emotional response to her departure from life and instead approaches the journey with a sense of natural progression.

In the concluding stanza, it becomes evident that speaker has actually been dead for "Centuries," but she exists outside of earthly time constraints and feels that her death happened less than a day ago. This strengthens the division between the earthly world, where time is of paramount importance, and the afterlife, where eternity erases all significance of earthly time.

And perhaps this is the ultimate reminder of the poem. We are all on a journey toward an unknown appointment with Death, and our preoccupation with time reflects a subconscious understanding that our earthly journey is finite. By contrast, there is an "Eternity" we must face at the end of life, and we are powerless to change that eventual destiny.

The speaker in Dickinson's poem is not at all afraid of Death. In fact, she says that Death “kindly stopped” for her and took her into his carriage along with Immortality. There is no fear or anxiety. The speaker seems comfortable with her companion. Death is civil, and she is fine with putting away her labor and leisure to go with him.

Death does not hurry. They travel along slowly, and the speaker gets one last look at the world. She calmly observes the fields and the children in the schoolyard as her companion drives along, and she notices the setting sun. The speaker is not even bothered by the mysterious house that Death pauses in front of. This house seems buried in the ground, and we understand that it is a tomb. The speaker must leave her body behind, but this is not a cause for concern either. She is ready.

In the final stanza, we learn that centuries have passed since Death came for the speaker, yet to her it feels like not even a full day. She seems content and even happy, for in the companionship of Death she is journeying toward eternity. Death is not an enemy but rather a friend, for he has taken the speaker with him on a journey into eternal life.

I would suggest that the theme and purpose is to reconfigure the depiction of death.  The poem presents death as a part of the life process.  The theme might be calling upon individuals to reexamine their traditionally help conceptions of death and bring about the change required in order to fully understand death's role in highlighting life and the part of life that death is.  The closing of the poem seems as if that the speaker has fully understood where life is and where death is in that scope, a voice from beyond, indicating how death is not something to be feared or something where one attempts to repudiate, but rather fully embrace as a constant companion.

I see you now have many answers, but since I've written it, I'll go ahead and add mine anyway...

The primary theme in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" is death and eternity. A secondary theme is unpreparedness. This poem is a salute to the inexorability of death, to the dogged journey it traverses. There are more than one opinion as to whether Dickinson's poem speaks of Christian consolation or not. Some view it as devoid of religious or any other consolation and see it as an expose, as it were, on the continual presence of the companion Death. Such an understanding would have been unpopular in the end of the nineteenth century even though religious conformity had lost its hold on spiritual thought.

Dickinson illuminates the primary theme of death and eternity, of the inexorability of death, by placing Immortality as a passenger in the carriage and by describing the centuries of Death's journey as "shorter than a day." The theme of unpreparedness is illuminated by, for example, the "Gossamer" gown with "Tulle" "Tippet," which is a fine see-through silken gown with loosely woven silk netting for a shawl.

I have a third interpretation of the poem from where I stand. To me, the poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" by Emily Dickinson is a lot about control issues. By all accounts, the poet herself was reputed to be more than a little 'buttoned-up' and I think that the somewhat humorous or irreverent tone is selp-deprecatory and self-mocking. It is as if the poet accepts her self-controlling (and even a little repressed) personality, but knows she will one day have one thing that will control her whether she likes it or not. Death comes to all of us, no matter how much control we think we have mastered over ourselves and life - we must relinquish control voluntarily or it will come for us and take it regardless at the end.

I have a slightly different view of Dickinson's purpose and theme in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." The poetess was certainly not someone who lived life to the fullest, and while that does not always connect to the speaker ofa poem, in this case, I think that Dickinson's view of death is present.  To me, her purpose is to discuss the universality of death and to stress the truth that no one escapes it.  One can run from it or be too busy to think about it, but at some point, death "kindly stop[s]" for us.

Dickinson's whimsical tone suggests a bit of satire but also helps readers view death as just another part of the human journey or experience--similar to children playing or moving to a different home; see Stanza 5 for her description of a grave as a house.

In my opinion, this poem is about the need to live life as fully as you can while you are still alive -- so it is something of a carpe diem poem.  It is saying that life is short and death is forever so live now while you can.

I think you can see this in how the journey that the speaker and Death take (along with Immortality) goes along beside things like schools that represent life.  But then they get to the grave and the speaker realizes that that is where she will live for eternity -- a much longer thing than the short trip they have just made.

I would argue that the two main themes of this poem are closely related: the nature of death and the fact that all of life is, in a morbid sense, a journey toward death.

With regard to the nature of death, it is important to notice that death is referred to as kind. Despite the fact that we cannot stop to die (because we are too busy living), death will stop his carriage when the time is right and escort us aboard. Dickinson never portrays death as violent or sudden—rather, it is always a meandering journey.

The journey toward death is described as lengthy and peaceful, with a variety of landmarks passed along the way—from a school, to a field, to a personified setting sun, to a house.

Perhaps a simpler way to answer your question would be to say that the theme of this fantastic poem is death, portrayed in a peaceful sense as part of life's journey.

One of the strongest themes to arise out of Dickinson's poem is the embrace of the end force that is inevitably felt by all living creatures.  Dickinson creates a portrait of death which is not fearful or brutal, but rather one of calm comfort that is to visit everyone as their inevitable end is marked.  The opening lines confirm this:  "He kindly stopped for me."  The notion of characterizing death as "kindly" and gracious is a powerful reconceptualization as opposed to the standard gloomy notion.  At the same time, the vision offered through the poem is one of reflection and nostalgia, where death and the speaker visit school yards at recess, open fields, and engage in the process of thoughtful rumination on the nature of existence.  This is a vision of death that is not fearful, but rather receptive to what is awaiting all life.  In the process, a theme that arises is that one should not live their life in fear of death, but rather examine a life where there is some notion of happiness when the inevitability of the carriage "kindly" stops for all of us.

Alright!  Great!  Another poem question...I love these!  In order to understand the theme of the poem we have to look at what this point is about.  I am using a particular translation of the poem but it should be fairly similar to yours:

"Because I could not stop for Death,He kindly stopped for me;The carriage held but just ourselvesAnd Immortality."

Life just sort of keeps going...nobody plans to "stop for death."  This is a bit of dark humor.  Death will come for you when it is your time, ready or not.  Apparently, you get some personal time with Death to boot.

"We slowly drove, he knew no haste, And I had put awayMy labor, and my leisure too,For his civility."

Death feels no need to move quickly once it has you.  In death there is no need for work or fun activities.  Those things are done and in the past.

We passed the school, where children stroveAt recess, in the ring;We passed the fields of gazing grain,We passed the setting sun.

Children are a good symbol for the future, that is, they are young and have a long future ahead of them.  Fields of "gazing grain," perhaps representing middle age, and the sunset, symbolizing the end of one's life.

Or rather, he passed us;The dews grew quivering and chill,For only gossamer my gown,My tippet only tulle.

The sun moves past them.  It's getting chilly.  She is wearing a gown made of cobwebs and a scarf that was made of netting.

We paused before a house that seemedA swelling of the ground;The roof was scarcely visible,The cornice but a mound.

It's not really a house, it's a tomb.  That's why it is so close to the ground. She's headed for the grave.

Since then 'tis centuries, and yet eachFeels shorter than the dayI first surmised the horses' headsWere toward eternity.

Death really isn't so bad, at least it doesn't seem.  Centuries have passed but each feels like less than a day.

The theme seems to be that Death is not something to be feared but is a natural part of life.  The character in the poem does not fight or run from death.  She does not attempt to stop the carriage nor does she react to seeing the schoolchildren.  Her tomb (she must have known what it was) looked like a home to her.  Death, indeed, treats her very civilly and is not something to be afraid of.

Emily Dickinson's well known poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" deals with an idealized vision of Death, who arrives by carriage and takes the narrator on a journey through the stages of life, death and the afterlife. Composed of six quatrains, the pair are first joined on their journey by Immortality. The journey is a slow one, and the narrator witnesses children, growing fields of grain and, finally, sunset. Entering a new world, the narrator faces a new home--symbolically, the grave marker--but the poem concludes with a hopeful belief that the human soul will live on.