The first two stanzas is a recollection of when the young lady was first taken away by Death, which has been personified into a gentlemanly figure. In a way, the relationship between Death and the young lady is almost like a courtship. The first two lines of the poem - “Because I could not stop for death he kindly stopped for me” - implying that young lady was not yet ready for Death, but nevertheless “betrothed” to him, like a young woman who is too polite to refuse her courteous suitor. Dickinson’s use of the word “kindly” gives the reader the impression that, although Death swoops in unannounced, he is very civil - “For his Civility”. The young lady is escorted onto a “Carriage” by Death, with only “Immortality”, also personified, as company, ironically suggesting that a relationship with Death will last for eternity. It is a lonely and slightly depressing thought, but the young lady is accepting of it and respects Death.
The third and fourth stanzas reflect the different stages of life. The “School” and “Recess” represent innocence of youth and vitality; the “Fields of Gazing Grain” symbolize maturity, and the last stage - “the Setting Sun” - stands for old age, the fading of life. The parallelism -“We passed” - reflects how quickly time passes in life. The line “Or rather He passed Us” is the turning point in the poem; the strong passiveness of the line, how she is immobile, signifies that she begins to fully grasp the fact that she is dead. She begins to realize the “Gossamer” and “Tippet” that shroud her corpse, the result of becoming “Death’s bride”.
In the last two stanzas, the young lady fully realizes that she has been dead for centuries. The rhyming lines “House that seemed a Swelling of the Ground” and the “Cornice in the Ground” refer to her grave under the open sky, so the “Roof was scarcely visible”. In the last stanza, Dickinson is suggesting that Eternity feels shorter than a day because she is already beyond feeling time pass in death.
Dickinson has adapted an “abcb” rhyme scheme in each of the six quartets, as well as breaks in the lines that create a choppy feeling, yet somehow allows the poem to flow as a whole. Each stanza in the poem ends with a dash that prolongs the feeling of Eternity and adds fluidity as well.
by
thegreatv587 (student)
