Analysis of Because I could not stop for Death (712)
Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)
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 drew quivering and chill--
For only Gossamer, my Gown--
My Tippet--only Tulle--
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground--
The Roof was scarcely visible--
The Cornice--in the Ground--
Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity--
| Scheme | XAXA XBXA XXXX XCXC XDXD XBXA |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Quatrain (50%) |
| Metre | 01111111 110111 010111001 00100 11011111 011101 11001101 110100 11011101 101001 11011101 110101 110111 01110001 11010011 110101 11010111 010101 01110100 01001 11110001 110101 11010101 0010100 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 707 |
| Words | 122 |
| Sentences | 2 |
| Stanzas | 6 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 24 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
| Words per line (avg) | 5 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 91 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 1,195 Views
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"Because I could not stop for Death (712)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/11533/because-i-could-not-stop-for-death-%28712%29>.
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