"Because I can not stop for Death" is a lyrical poem by Emily Dickinson who first published posthumously in Poetry: Series 1 in 1890. The character of Dickinson's poem meets with personified death. Death is a male caller who takes a ride with the rider to his grave. According to Thomas H. Johnson's 1944 vorum edition, the number of these poems is 712.
Video Because I could not stop for Death
Summary
The poem was published posthumously in 1890 in Poetry: Series 1, a collection of Dickinson poems collected and edited by his friends Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The poem was published under the title "The Chariot". It consists of six quatrains with alternating gauges between the iambic tetrameter and the iambic trimeter. Stanzas 1, 2, 4, and 6 use the final rhyme in the second and fourth lines, but some of them are only rhymes or rhymes. In the third stanza, there is no final rhyme, but "rings" in row 2 of the rhymes with "staring" and "arrangement" in rows 3 and 4 respectively. Internal rhymes are scattered throughout. The numbers of talks include alliteration, anaphora, paradox, and personification. The poem symbolizes Death as a friendly caller who rides comfortably with the poet to his grave. He also symbolizes immortality. Volta (turn) occurs in the fourth quatrain. Structurally, syllables shifted from a constant 8-6-8-6 scheme to 6-8-8-6. This is parallel to the tone of the sixth quatrain. Personification of death changed from one of the pleasant things to one of the ambiguities and morbidities: "Or rather - He passed us--/The Dews pulled quivering and chilled" (13-14). The image changes from the original nostalgic form of the children who play and set the sun into Death's real concern to bring the speaker to life after death.
Maps Because I could not stop for Death
Text
Criticism
In 1936 Allen Tate wrote, "[Poetry] exemplifies better than others [Dickinson] writes the special qualities of his mind... If the big word means anything in poetry, this poem is one of the greatest in English; perfect for the last detail.Rhythms worn with the motion of action patterns suspended behind the poetry.Each picture is precise and, moreover, not only beautiful, but can not be attached to the central idea.Each picture lengthens and intensifies each other... No there is a poet who can create elements [of this poem], only a great poet who can use them so perfectly Miss Dickinson is a profound mind-writer of deep culture, and when she comes to poetry, she comes perfectly. "
Music settings
The poem has been set for music by Aaron Copland as the twelfth song of his song cycle Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson. And again, by John Adams as the second movement of the Harmonium choir symphony, and also set for music by Nicholas J. White as a single movement piece for chorus and orchestra rooms. Natalie Merchant and Susan McKeown have made a song of the same name while preserving Dickinson's exact poem in the lyrics.
References
External links
- www.nicholasjwhite.com
- An important paper about "Because I can not stop for Death"
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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