Dickinson and death
Emily Dickinsons intense concern with consciousness and her uncertainties regarding her personal religious beliefs led her to write numerous poems exploring death as the end of consciousness. Although we know the world after death only through faith, the restless imagination must inquire even into this world. Because I Could Not Stop for Death is one of Dickinsons more romantic examinations of this world after death, but it bears many of the general features of her poetry. Essentially, Because I Could Not Stop for Death is a remarkable masterpiece that explores the thoughts between the known and the unknown as it serenely describes how the speaker is escorted by Death in his carriage. In Because I Could Not Stop for Death we find Death carrying the speaker slowly and peacefully on her way. For most of us, Death is usually linked with thoughts of anger, violence, rage and sadness not with a tranquil ride in a carriage.