Thursday, July 27, 2006

Because I Could Not Stop For Death - Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, he passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.

We paused before house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

9 Comments:

At Jul 27, 2006, 11:04:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i've not read this in some time now.

there seems to be conflict in this poem, it took me time to realise she had died.. the poem has a mixture of emotions. It starts all happy and then turns into a sad tone.

It did confuse me but i think the last few lines make you realise what is happening. and what a beautiful way to present death ..

 
At Jul 27, 2006, 11:08:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Or rather, be passed us;

it all changes after this line

 
At Jul 27, 2006, 11:17:00 AM, Blogger turtlebrain said...

it was the first line that hooked me into the poem:

"Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me"

 
At Jul 27, 2006, 12:11:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

death disguised as a gentleman - very romantic

and can you please remove the word verification?

 
At Jul 27, 2006, 12:15:00 PM, Blogger turtlebrain said...

i know the word verification's annoying san, but if i remove it i'll start getting loads of spam :(

if you still insist on it though, i'll give it a go and if the spam's not too bad i can live with it i suppose. so let me know if you're insisting

 
At Jul 27, 2006, 2:53:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't have the word verification on my blog and I very rarely get spam once, actually yesterday was the first time in months!

But if you insist to keep it then so be it, it won't stop me posting :)

 
At Jul 27, 2006, 10:33:00 PM, Blogger Semi-Evil Stranger said...

I insist on removal of word verification on my behalf, sanny's behalf, and on behalf of all dead poets

 
At Jul 28, 2006, 10:10:00 AM, Blogger turtlebrain said...

by popular demand, i have now removed word verification

 
At Jul 28, 2006, 10:21:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

thanking you :)

 

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