BSc BA ADP English Notes Poem Because I Could not Stop for Death (Emily Dickinson) Important Questions

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Questions No 1. The journey of the poetess in "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" is the journey of a funeral process _ Do you agree?

Ans. Yes, we fully agree. The journey of the poetess, Emily Dickinson, in her sweet poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" is really the journey of her own imagined funeral procession. Death comes to take her away one day when she is fully busy in her daily routine and feels that she cannot stop her work for welcoming death at her door. But death came as a lover/suitor with a buggy/coach driven by horses and requested her very politely. She couldn't refuse such a gentle and polite offer for the ride. (So she died). The journey of the funeral began with "Death" as the coachman.

The funeral procession passed near school, corn-field and setting sun, i.e., childhood, youth and old age, but nobody paid any attention to her as all the living people are too busy to pay any thought to death.

At last the funeral reached a house, i.e., the grave, lying open for reception of the dead body. She was buried and reached the immortality and eternity: all the time stopped for her. It was then that she realized that the horses of the coach being driven by Death were towards Eternity.

So we see that the journey of the poetess in the poem (that seems to be a journey of courtship with Death) is really the imaginary journey of her funeral procession.

Question No 2. Bring out the qualities of "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" by Emily Dickinson. Or Write Critical Appreciation of the Poem.

Ans. This is a wonderful and thought-provoking poem in which the poetess makes a sort of running commentary on her last ride with Death, i.e., her funeral journey. Death has always been the theme of so many religious, philosophic and romantic poems and every poet has dealt with the subject according to his own bent of mind. Poetess Emily Dickinson here explains her own imaginary experience. She tells us about her funeral procession in a very realistic and still dream-like manner. This is one of her most important and beautiful poem about death.

The poetess wishes to promote the sense of impending death among the readers and also wishes to believe that death is not the end of human life but the beginning of another immortal life. It is the Christian (as well as the Muslim) belief that death closes one chapter of life in this world but at the same time it opens a new book of life in the other world. The subject of the poem is, therefore, religious, philosophic, mystic and romantic, all at the same time. The poem deals with human destiny and the most important clause of human sentence: the clause of death.

The poetess tells us that one day, when she was very busy in her worldly affairs, Death came to her with a coach driven by horses and asked her very politely to accompany her. He requested her as civilly as a suitor to go with her. She at once agreed and sat in the coach. The journey (the last ride together with Death) started. They passed near the school where children were playing in recess. They passed near the harvest fields. They passed near the setting sun, or (as the poetess says) the setting sun passed near them. They reached at night (a very cold night that was!) near the grave. Then the poetess realized that the journey had been a journey from time to timelessness - a journey from life to Eternity through death.

The theme has been presented in the form of a long metaphor with similes in a very serious, sincere, true and straight-forward manner. The way is altogether mystic but modern. Words used by the poetess are full of emotions. Death has been personified in two ways: first of all, death is a coachman that comes to see the busy poetess who had no time to see him, secondly, death is a suitor that comes to court her. It was the tradition in England and America during the last centuries that a suitor would seat his beloved in his coach and both of them would go on a long ride. "The Last Ride" by Robert Browning is such a poem in which the lover seats his beloved in his coach for another "last" ride together. This poem by Emily Dickinson makes us remember "The Last Ride".

Death, personified as a coachman plus a lover/suitor, takes the poetess through her last ride - the ride towards grave. Both of them pass near the school, the symbol of childhood and young age. Then they pass near the harvest-fields, the symbol of grown up age. Later they pass the setting sun, the symbol of old age. After symbolically passing all these three stages again, they reach the house with a low roof which is actually the grave. The coldness of death is symbolized in the quivering and chilly dew in contrast with the shroud that is symbolized through a gown of gossamer and tippet of tulle both of which are unable to give any physical warmth to the dead body of the poetess. So the whole poem becomes one organic-whole through the metaphor of death along with the symbols, similes and implied meanings. As a result, the poem leaves a deep effect on our minds after we have read it once and forces us to read it at least once again, if not again and again.

It is a sweet, pathetic lyric with 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The first and third line of every stanza has 4 feet (8 syllables) whereas every second and fourth line has only 3 feet (6 syllables) which gives a sort of precision to the poem as well as an unseen force. The foot is most of the time iambic. There is no regular rhyme but here and there a sound or a word is repeated which creates the impression of a sort of rhyme, e.g., in lines 6 and 8 the words "away" and "civility" creates that impression. The word "ground" is repeated in lines 18 and 20. Again in lines 22 and 24 the words "day" and "eternity" create an impression of a rhyme. Lines no: 2 and 4 have really a rhyme with "me" and "immortality". There is much alliteration in the poem which serves as a sort of funeral music, e.g., "t" lingers in "not", "stop" and "death" in line no. 1 and again in "stopped" in line no. 2; "1" lingers in lines 7 and 8 through "labour", "leisure" and "civility"; "s" lingers throughout lines 9 to 12 in "passed", "school", "Recess" [twice], "passed" [twice] "setting", "sun"; "g" lingers through line no. 11 in "gazing grain" and many more.

Most of the lines are end-stopped with here and there and enjambment as in lines no. 17 and 18, and 21 and 22. The words are mostly monosyllabic but no line is composed of totally monosyllabic words. As a result, there has been created a sweet  and speedy flow in the poem. It is really a remarkable poem that leaves an everlasting impression on us.

Question No 3. It there anything in the poem to suggest that it is written by a woman?

Ans. Yes, there are evidences in the poem that suggest that it is written by a woman. Specially stanza no. 4 is to taken into consideration:

Or rather _ He passed Us _

The Dews drew quivering and chill _

For only Gossamer, my Gown _

My Tippet _ only Tulle _

The last two lines tell us that the narrator is a woman. The "gown" and "tipper" are worn by ladies. There is another evidence also. Whole of the poem pictures a lady going on a journey of courtship with her suitor/lover. Death behaves as civilly and politely as a lover/suitor behaves with his beloved.

Questions No 4. Is there anything in the poem to suggest an element of fear?

Ans. No, we do not find anything in the poem to suggest an element of fear. The poetess has given death the character of a very civil and polite suitor/lover who brings a carriage for his beloved (the poetess) and takes her on a long ride of courtship. It is a sweet journey with a house or home at the end and an eternal life with loss of the senses of time and space.

Still, a little element, a very tiny one, appears only for a while when the sun sets and the chill dew-drops fall on her with gown and tippet only of very thin gauze in fourth stanza of the poem. One gets a little shudder at the sense of coldness there. But the sense soon passes away with the onward journey to a house in the next stanza.