Themes of the Poem:
Theme of Mortality:
Mortality is probably the major theme in this poem. It's all about the speaker's attitude towards her death and what the actual day of her death was like. Dickinson paints a picture of the day that does not seem too far from ordinary. The poetess is not scared of death at all, and seems to accept it.
“Because I could not stop for death” (Line 1):
Death is introduced right away. We're also reminded that our time of death is not something we choose (at least that's what the poem claims), but something that is determined by forces beyond our control. This is also the start of the “why worry about things I cannot change?” attitude of the rest of the poem. There is no resistance to death, and no fear of it.
“We slowly drove - He knew no haste” (Line 5):
Again, we're reminded that death is in control. He's in the driver's seat (literally). Also that death isn't always a quick thing. We are really shown the dying process in this poem and that, for the speaker, it was not a “life flashed before my eyes” kind of think, but more like “my life crawled away slowly.” The pace reflects the peace the speaker feels with death.
“We passed the setting sun” (Line 12):
Once the sum goes down, and death is lingering around, there's probably not a lot of hope for life left. Think of the sun setting as the symbolic closing of the eyes of the deceased. The lights are out, it's cold, and it won't be warming up. This is her final sunset.
“We paused before …. Ground” (Line 17-18:
This is the speaker’s final resting place. The journey is over and the last stop is the grave. The speaker continues with the cool, calm, and collected approach to her death, and even seems hopeful by describing the grave as a house. May be she finally feel at home there.
Theme of Immortality:
“The carriage …. And Immortality” (Line 3-4):
The speaker knows this journey to death is also the beginning of the afterlife. So she believes she will continue a life, just not here on Earth. No wonder she's not freaking out.
“We passed the school … of gazing grain” Line (9-11):
Children grow up and fields go dry - these are examples of things that won't last forever. As the speaker passes them, perhaps their transience reminds her of her soon - to - be immortality.
“Since then … ‘tis centuries” (Line 21):
The poetess is talking to us from somewhere, and it is sure isn't Earth. We now have proof that she continued on somewhere after she died. “Centuries” is a really long time, so whatever afterlife it is (Heaven) it's not a normal human life span, and we get a sense she'll live forever where she is now.
“Were toward Eternity” (24):
If we were at all uncertain that the speaker was living forever in her new life, the last line really seals it. She tells us that her first feeling about the horses has been confirmed.
Theme of Spirituality:
“And I had … leisure too” (Line 6-7):
Because the speaker is spiritually committed to dying and to what comes after death, she no longer worries about “earthly thing.”
“We passed …. grain” (Line 11):
Grain is mentioned in the Bible often, usually as a sign of prosperity and life. The fact that they are passing grain shows the speaker's journey away from health and life toward death. The spirit is usually thought to be free of the body in the afterlife, so no need for grain or any other food, for that matter. Hunger is a thing of the past. Though this poem is not explicitly written from a Christian perspective, this may be one hint as to the speaker's spiritual influences.
“The roof … visible” (Line 19):
This is a classic example of spirituality and faith - the speaker does not need to see the whole thing to know it exists, she simply believes it.
“Were towards eternity” (24):
Immortality and spirituality often go hand in - hand. They both tend to support the idea of something after this life on Earth. So, in order to think about eternity, the speaker had to have some faith that after her death there would be something more waiting for her.
Theme of Love:
“He kindly … me” Line 2:
What a perfect gentleman Death is! He's so considerate to do for the speaker what she can't do for herself (start the dying process). This looks like the beginning of something special.
“We slowly … haste” (Line - 5):
She likes the fact that he's not some jerk who drives like a maniac. This is a pleasant drive, almost romantic. She does not feel like he's putting her in danger, which is kind of ironic because he is ultimately going to kill her. But, for the time being they're having a great time.
“For his civility” (Line -8:
Death has really won the speaker over. It does not seem to take much to convince her that he's a gentleman - stopping for her, driving slowly and carefully. She definitely does not want to leave him, and she has given up - all her worries to enjoy this ride.
Use of symbols in the Poem:
Death:
Death is not a new concept, but Dickinson does a good job making it fresh and strange by having death take the form of a man. Dickinson's Death is real smooth operator. Dickinson uses the character of Death as an extended metaphor to examine what real death might be life.
1. Lines 1-2: Death is introduced right away as the leading character and focus of the poem, performing a human action - stopping for someone on his way. The beginning of this poem seems like the first meeting of two lovers. This personification of death as a male suitor continues throughout the poem.
2. Line 5: In this line we know that the character Death is driving along slowly. It's definitely not a quick death. Perhaps this could be something more similar to death from a long illness, or slowly dying old age in one's sleep.
3. Line 8: Further character development shows up that Death is polite and courteous. So if we were going to continue to relate this to the real thing, we'd probably come to the conclusion that this end was not too painful and that the speaker (the one dying) did not put up any struggle.
4. Line 9: The “He” (referring to Death) has now changed to “we”. This might be a hint that the two have joined and that the speaker is actually dying.
5. Line 17: This marks the end of their journey, where death has brought her home. This might, in more literal terms, mean that the speaker is no longer dying but is in fact dead, and laid to rest in her grave.
The Carriage:
The Carriage in which Death and speaker ride, is a metaphor for the way in which we make our final passage to death. The carriage in this poem is the mode of transportation to the afterlife. We have to get where we're going somehow.
1. Lines 3-4: In line 3 we see that the carriage holds Death and the speaker. But the hint that the carriage is more significant than plain old transportation comes in the next line, where we discover the carriage also holds “Immortality,” another example of personification.
The Sunset:
This might be the most obvious symbol in the poem. Dickinson is certainly not the first to use sunset as a symbol and foreshadowing of death.
1. Lines 12-13: The sun passes them, leaving the riders in spooky cold. Dickinson does not write it, but we can assume it's gotten dark too. Dark and cold certainly set the scene for death. What do you think it's like under the ground? So, we have to give Dickinson credit for using an age - old literary device the sunset and chucking the pastel - hued beach scene for something a little more original, and more chilling.
The House:
It is the speaker's last stop and final resting place. The house is a metaphor for the grave Dickinson wants to enforce the idea that the speaker acts and is comfortable with dying. She chooses a metaphor familiar to the reader to illustrate the calmness of the speaker.
1. Lines 17-20: The speaker can barely make out the house, since it's just a small rise in the ground. This may be because she is just starting to understand that this house is going to be her grave. We tend to comprehend things better when they have personal significance. The description of the house is pretty limited and seems normal except for the fact that it's underground. Dickinson might keep the description vague on purpose. She wants to use the house as a symbol, but still wants it to make sense on a literal level. If she were to describe the house down to the green shutters and the white picket fence, this might seem a little funny to us, and much less believable.
The Horses:
The poetess remembers her last journey in Death's carriage; she remembers that the horses heads were pointing towards eternity. This symbolic significance is that although the carriage is taking the dead body to the grave, the soul which is immortal, is being carried towards eternity.
Lines 23-24: In the chariot, earlier, the poetess had seen the horses’ heads directed towards eternity. This made her realize that the journey of life was not going to end with her bodily death. Her soul is still going on, even centuries after her death.
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