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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
The poetic speaker of “Because I could not stop for Death” describes a mysterious carriage ride she takes one day. The horses move slowly at first as “Death” (Line 1) drives and the speaker sits with “Immortality” (Line 4). As Dickinson reveals, the carriage’s destination is both the speaker’s grave and eternity. Therefore, the carriage has two meanings. Literally, this dreamy carriage ride is a poetic description of a hearse taking a coffin to its final resting place. More figuratively, the carriage symbolizes the soul’s journey through time after death as well as the journey of life during an individual’s time on earth.
That the other passenger in the carriage is “Immortality” (Line 4) reveals Dickinson’s curiosity about the afterlife despite her ambivalence towards the eternal life and salvation that organized religion promises. In the context of this poem, “Immortality” (Line 4) rides towards “Eternity” (Line 24) with the speaker of the poem, but the speaker gives no indication of where immortality sits within the carriage or if immortality, like death, takes a human form. The only clue that suggests immortality is personified is present in the collective pronoun “Ourselves” (Line 3). This small mention offers the reader a hint about the speaker’s interest in immortality, but it invites more questions about the speaker’s
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
"Faith" is a fine invention
"Faith" is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a Book
There is no Frigate like a Book
Emily Dickinson