Because I could not stop for Death -- (712)

Because could not stop Death --He kindly stopped for me--The Carriage held but just ourselves--And Immortality.We slowly drove--He knew no hasteAnd I has put awayMy labour and my leisure too,For His Civility --We passed the School where Children strove At Recess--in the Ring--We passed the fields of Glazing Grain--We passed the Setting Sun--Or rather--He passes us--The Dews drew quivering and chill--For only Gossamer, my gown--My Tippet--only Tulle--We paused before a House that seemedA Swelling of the Ground--The Roof was scarcely visible--The Cornice--in the Ground--Since then--'tis C enturies--and yetFeels shorter than the DayI first surmised the Horse' HeadsWere towards Eternity--

Death, Immortality

Dea

Death personified as a gentleman caller stopping the take the speaker for a carriage ride

Being the 19th Century there must be a chaperone, immortality

d

Death is charming and courteous

Passing through life, life flashing before her eyes

Light, border between life and death

Cold as a corpse 

Death conducts her to an open grave, like a groom conducting a bride to a new home

Past tense, she is speaking from EternityThere is certainty of an afterlife

Poem