[Because I could not stop for death] - Emily Dickinson

I don't usually like Dickinson. I'm a little ashamed to say that there isn't really much of a logical reason, save for the fact that something about the way she writes bothers me. Like how most of the time her poems always have really long names that are taken from the first stanza, or how a lot that I've read are broken up awkwardly, or the fact that they rhyme and it's blatantly obvious that it does. However, this one caught my eye. 

It's--quite obviously--about death, and if you couldn't have figured that out then you probably shouldn't be in this class. Or should at least be fully awake and coherent while reading it. The fact that it's about death is the reason why I chose this, because poems about death fascinate me. There's always so much emotion in them; always a story to be told. 

In this particular poem, the narrator--whom I assume is female--is describing her journey to the afterlife with Death. In the first stanza, she states that she "could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me". That bit should be self explanatory, with Death taking her life and what not. However, Dickinson uses the word 'kindly', which leads me to think that Death in this poem isn't horrifying or intimidating, but rather something more gentle and welcoming. 

The next stanza goes on to say that as the narrator's journey continues, she's come to terms with what she's leaving behind: "And I had to put away/My labor and my leisure too". Death doesn't rush the journey either: "We slowly drove--He knew no haste". 

The next two stanzas are what's happening outside the "carriage", basically. They pass children playing in a field and "passed the setting sun/Or rather--He passed Us". In other words, the narrator has no place in the living world, and things are still moving on around her. 

Then she gets a glimpse of her new "home". Or rather a grave-site. "We paused before a House that seemed/A Swelling of the Ground/The Roof was scarecly visible/The Cornice--in the Ground". And then at the very end we get a glimpse immortality, "'tis Centuries-- and yet/Feels shorter than the Day", and this ties everything back to the beginning of the poem, where Immortality was mentioned to be riding in the carriage with them.

So in the end, the dead are immortal. Time is nothing to them--a few hundred years passes by like a day does for us. And Death is depicted as a kinder being than what most of us believe. It's a slightly depressing poem on the outside, but the way it's written and how the narrator tells the story makes everything a little lighter. Besides, death is a natural part of life, so it's our choice whether or not we view it as something beautiful or something upsetting.