"Because I could not stop for Death" is a lyrical poem by Emily Dickinson first published posthumously in Poems: Series 1 in 1890. Dickinson's work was never authorized to be published, so it is unknown whether "Because I could not stop for Death" was completed or "abandoned".[1] The speaker of Dickinson's poem meets personified Death. Death is a gentleman who is riding in the horse carriage that picks up the speaker in the poem and takes the speaker on her journey to the afterlife. According to Thomas H. Johnson's variorum edition of 1955 the number of this poem is "712".
The poet's persona speaks about Death and Afterlife, the peace that comes along with it without haste. She personifies Death as a young man riding along with her in a carriage. As she goes through to the afterlife she briefs us of her past life while she was still alive.
- ^ Sullivan, Michael J (2019-01-01). "Dickinson's Voice Emily Dickinson's Poems: As She Preserved Them. Edited by Cristanne Miller". Essays in Criticism. 69 (1): 103–109. doi:10.1093/escrit/cgy030. ISSN 0014-0856.