Symbolism, Imagery & Wordplay
Symbol
Analysis: Death
OK, so death is not a new concept to us
but Dickinson does a good job making it fresh and strange by having death take
the form of a man. You might be tempted to think of the grim reaper, with his
black cloak and dangerous-looking scythe (the curved sharp thing he's always
carrying around), but, no, Dickinson's Death is a real smooth operator. He's
the kind of guy who would hold the door open for his date and offer her his
coat on a chilly night. Dickinson uses the character of Death as an extended
metaphor to examine what real death might be like.
- Lines 1-2: Death is introduced right away as the leading character and focus of the poem, performing a human action – stopping for someone on his way. If this were a play he'd be cast as the leading male role who gets a lot of lines. Substitute Death for any guy's name: "Because I could not stop for Tom – / He kindly stopped for me." Now, the beginning of this poem seems like the first meeting of two lovers. This personification of death as a male suitor continues throughout the poem. What does that say about the speaker's thoughts and feelings about death?
- Line 5: Now that we've established Death as a human character who represents actual death, let's start making those connections every time he reappears in the poem. In this line we know that the character Death is driving along slowly. What might this action mean when we apply it to thinking about real death? Well, it's definitely not a quick death, like from a gunshot wound or a gory decapitation. Perhaps this could be something more similar to death from a long illness, or slowly dying of old age in one's sleep. Dickinson doesn't really say, but we can look at the evidence she does give us to make educated guesses.
- Line 8: Further character development shows us that Death is polite and courteous. So if we were going to continue to relate this to the real thing, we'd probably come to the conclusion that this end wasn't too painful, and that the speaker (the one dying) didn't put up any struggle.
- Line 9: The "He" (referring to Death) has now changed to "We." This might be a hint that the two have joined and that the speaker is actually dying.
- Line 17: This marks the end of their journey, where Death has brought her home. This might, in more literal terms, mean that the speaker is no longer dying but is in fact dead, and laid to rest in her grave.
Symbol Analysis: The
carriage
The Carriage
Symbol
Analysis
The carriage in which Death and the
speaker ride is a metaphor for the way in which we make our final passage to
death. If you want to be literary about it you might think of Dante's Inferno
where the souls are ferried by boat into hell. Or, on a more familiar level,
it's pretty common for a horse to carry a coffin to its grave. The carriage in
this poem is the mode of transportation to the afterlife. We have to get where
we're going somehow.
- Lines 3-4: In line 3 we see that the carriage holds Death and the speaker. But the hint that the carriage is more significant than plain old transportation comes in the next line, where we discover the carriage also holds "Immortality," another example of personification. This should really tip us off that the carriage is a pretty special vehicle that will carry the speaker to the next world.
The Sunset
Symbol
Analysis
…and the cold to follow. This might be
the most obvious symbol in the poem. Dickinson is certainly not the first to
use sunset as a symbol and foreshadowing of death. So she's in cheesy
territory, but luckily Dickinson's a master and avoids cliché.
- Lines 12-13: The sun passes them, leaving the riders in spooky cold. Dickinson doesn't write it, but we can assume it's gotten dark too. Dark and cold certainly set the scene for death. What do you think it's like under the ground? So, we have to give Dickinson credit for using an age-old literary device – the sunset – and chucking the pastel-hued beach scene for something a little more original, and more chilling.
The House
Symbol
Analysis
The speaker's last stop and final
resting place. The house is a metaphor for the grave. Dickinson wants to
enforce the idea that the speaker accepts and is comfortable with dying. She
could have described the claustrophobic coffin, but she didn't. She chose a metaphor
familiar to the readers to illustrate the calmness of the speaker.
- Lines 17-20: The speaker can barely make out the house, since it's just a small rise in the ground. Maybe because she is just starting to understand that this house is going to be her grave. We tend to comprehend things better when they have personal significance. The description of the house is pretty limited and seems normal except for the fact that it's underground. Dickinson might keep the description vague on purpose. She wants to use the house as a symbol, but still wants it to make sense on a literal level. If she were to describe the house down to the green shutters and the white picket fence, this might seem a little funny to us, and much less believable. So kudos to Dickinson on "less is more."
The Horses
Symbol
Analysis
…or, rather, their heads! The horses'
heads are the 9th inning symbols, but they really hit a home run. OK, forgive
the baseball comparison, but these horse heads do heavy-duty work as the
closing symbol of the poem. But what exactly do they symbolize?
- Lines 23-24: The speaker says the first hint that she was going to die was seeing the horses' heads (maybe even before she got in the carriage with Death). So what would make her feel that way? Well, first of all, there's a lot of room for "I had a feeling" in poetry. It's built on gut feelings, especially in Dickinson's poetry, but let's also think about what the image of a horse head looks like. Their heads are long and angled forward, perhaps like an arrow pushing through the barrier from life to death?
Questions about Mortality
- Why couldn't the speaker stop for Death? What makes her incapable and him capable of stopping?
- Why do you think the speaker is so willing to die? What kind of person is ready to die?
- How did you feel when you read the first stanza? How did you think the rest of the poem would turn out? Were your expectations correct?
- How long do you think the carriage ride takes? What clues does the poem give you?
Questions about Immortality
- What kind of afterlife do you imagine the speaker is telling the story from?
- What makes the speaker so certain she will continue on after death? (Immortality is mentioned right away, in the first stanza.)
- Do you think the speaker misses her life on Earth, or do you think she's happier where she is?
Questions about Spirituality
- What do you think passing the children and the fields of grain meant to the speaker on this journey?
- Do you think the speaker knew it the man was Death right away, or only in hindsight? Why?
- What do you think the "House" was like? Is it really just a plain old coffin? Is it the "house of God"?
- Do any of the speaker's behaviors or attitudes remind you of any religious attitudes you know of? Which ones?
Questions about Love
- Why didn't the speaker and Death ever speak?
- Think about what she's wearing. Does her outfit remind you of a wedding gown at all? Or a fancy outfit? What do you think this means?
- Is the love between the speaker and Death romantic love, or something else? What could it be? What evidence in the poem makes you think so?
- Do you think Death is really gentlemanly, or is this just a front to get her to go along with him?
Because I could not stop for Death Questions
Bring
on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Do you believe the speaker's relaxed attitude toward death? Sometimes we pretend to be confident when we're nervous and brave when we're scared. Is this an example of that? Which lines of the poem support your opinion?
- Why might the speaker not fear death?
- If Dickinson were writing this today, do you think she could still illustrate the journey to death with as a carriage ride, or would that be silly? What would be a good present-day equivalent?
- Try reading the poem out loud. How does the sound of the poem affect your reading of it? Think about the action in the poem (the driving, the stopping). When does the sound mimic the action?
- The speaker seems to speak fondly and clearly of her memory of death. What do you think that means about the afterlife? How do you imagine the place where she now speaks from?
