The Valuable Past and Being Resisted Death in Emily Dickinson’s Poem:“Because I Could not Stop for Death”

Death is the everlasting topic that always allures people to explore. Emily Dickinson is among these explorers. But Dickinson knew that things could never be so easy. For her， death is an unsolvable riddle but which she could always explore. Dickinsons depictions of death are much more complicated and stark than conventional representations. She composed numerous death poem in order to convey her own more complex attitudes toward death and the afterlife. But her meditations about death are always from different perspectives. Sometimes， she considers death from the view of an “outsider”， like “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—”. Sometimes， she scrutinizes death from a way of Platonic eternity， like “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—”. But in “Because I could not stop for death”， she discusses about death from the perspective of time， past time， especially. The narrator in this poem looks back with nostalgia to her past， but it seems that her linear and orderly time is interrupted by an eternal dimension which denotes death. Therefore， through emphasizing the value of the past from the aspects of content and form， Dickinson manages to reveal the bleak and desolate side of death and express her resistance against death.

The writing of the whole poem is mostly achieved by the past tense. It is obvious for readers to understand that the past tense represents the earthly life， but what kind of life is it？ In the first three stanzas， the prominent symbol for this mortal life is linear time. In the beginning， the first verb “stop” has created the atmosphere of a long and continuous journey into a temporary pause. After the boarding of narrator， the carriage continues to move forward in a chronological way. In the third stanza， the carriage passes three scenes in total. They are “Children strove” representing the childhood， the beginning of ones life， “Gazing Grain” representing the adulthood， the fruitful phase of ones life and “Setting sun” representing the aged phase， the epilogue of ones life. The repetition of “we passed” employed to describe displacement also indicates that time lapses as the space changes. From childhood to adulthood to elder-hood， this progress is the reflection of time-lapsing upon ones being. And such repetition helps to achieve an atmosphere of continuity and present a complete and satisfactory process of life. Referring to this velocity of time upon earthly life， a sense of “slow” and “no haste” developed by narrator in the second stanza could be explained.

Besides content， in order to express her feelings towards death more vividly， Emily Dickinson also employs many devices to demonstrate her thinking. This poem is written in hymn meter. Although the rhyme scheme is not perfectly regular， but each quatrain does follow a certain pattern. In the even-numbered lines， there are four feet per line， which is called iambic tetrameter. The second and fourth lines of each stanza have three feet， which is called iambic trimeter. So the lines with 8 syllables or 6 syllables twist and weave together consisting of the whole structure of the poem， a grave-like structure. According to Abbotts analysis， burial vaults at that time were “once formed by two parallel dry-stone walls， six to eight feet apart， six to eight feet high. ... The entire structure was banked with earth and sod and grassed over， creating Dickinsons imagined grave.” （Abbott， 142） Under the construction of these lines with the similar proportion， the structure of this poem possesses a resemblance with the claustrophobic grave. And those dashes which make each word and each line extended look like pairs of outstretched arms sticking out of the grave walls and asking for help. These hands long to escape from death by trying to grasp something tangible of the past so as to retrieve time and life. Meanwhile， narrators efforts and struggle to return to the past and resist against death are embodied.

Except for this role that dash plays， other functions of it are also required to notice. As one of the remarkable characteristic of her writing： Dickinson never uses dash randomly nor unconsciously. She knows clearly where to put and where not to. In the common sense， dashes in Dickinsons poetry often “disrupt and/or complicate the meanings of her sentences， constructing subordinate， fragmentary meanings within those sentences， and even building indeterminacies （or multiplicities） inside them.” （Miller， Wayne， 167） The frequent attendance or the silent absence of dashes also shoulders different duties. For instance， when the past is described， the combination of dash and enjambment further prolongs the sustainability of actions by expanding these actions like “stop” “held” “drove” “pass” “strove” into many lines： “We passed the school， when Children strove/ At Recess—in the Ring—.” From this form， a sense of continuity and a sense of extension are shaped. This form of extension can be deemed as an attempt to evade from death. When the poet resorts to dash and enjambment， to some extent， she makes the narrator a resident in the joints created by them， where narrator could indulge herself in the past as if never leaves.

More than that， even some places without the presence of dash also have their certain function. In her another celebrated death poem “I felt a Funeral， in my Brain”， the last line is “ And Finished knowing—then—”. When this line is read， the readers have to decide where we are left waiting after an elliptical condition. Henceforth， different divisions set by dashes create two possibilities. “In this first possibility， the speakers death becomes the definite end to her knowing， and thus her living. In the second， after the end of her limited， earthly knowledge， the speaker encounters a kind of knowing that cant be communicated ， one that can be hinted at only by an open ending.” （Miller， Wayne， 167） Possibilities signify hope. In that poem， the appearance of dash indicates the possible turning and possible hope in the future so as to revolt against the predetermined ending. On the contrary， in this poem， there is no such dash in the last line. The absence of dash directly implicates that there are no other alternatives for narrator， for poet， and for every human being. The ultimate sense of death is the same to everyone： no time， no life， no existence， but spiritual everlasting emptiness. Compared to this， every passing minute in the subcelestial life is invaluable.

In fact， Emily Dickinson once mentioned this concern in her letters to friend： “it is hard for me to give up life.” （67） The whole poem of “Because I could not stop for death” contains 24 lines. The ratio of past tense to presents tense is 22：2. The past tense represents “my” longing past life， while the present tense indicates the current situation， which is the external eternity outside time. Through changing these two tenses， humans world and the death world exists parallel with each other and the boundaries between life and death， time and eternity are blurs. Under the structure of tense， through the images Dickinson depicts and the literary she applied， the poet successfully sheds a spotlight on the value of earthly life and expresses her resistance against death， the one which is highly glorified by the her contemporary culture at the same time.

References：

[1]Abbott， Collamer M. Dickinsons Because I could Not Stop for Death， The Explicator， Vol. 58. No. 3：140-143[J].

[2]Dickinson， Emily. Letters of Emily Dickinson： 2 vols. Ed. Mabel Loomis Todd[J]. Boston： Little， Brown， 1984：67.

[3]Martin， Wendy. The Cambridge Introduction to Emily Dickinson[M]. Cambridge University Press， 2007.

[4]Miller， Cristanne. Emily Dickinson： A Poets Grammar. Cambridge， Massachusetts， and London： Harvard University Press[M]. 1987.

[5]Miller， Wayne. “Dickinsons Dashes and the Free-Verse Line”. Quoted， A Broken Thing： Poets on the Line， edited by Rosko， Emily， and Zee， Anton Vander， University of Lowa Press[M]. 2011：146-149.

[6]Farland， Maria Magdalena. “That Tritest/Brightest Truth”： Emily Dickinsons Anti-Sentimentality[J]. Nineteenth-Century Literature， 1998.

[7]Shmoop Editorial Team. Because I could not stop for Death Form and Meter[OL]. https：//www.shmoop.com/because-i-could-not-stop-for-death/rhyme-form-meter.html. Shmoop University， Inc.， 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Dec 2019.

[8]Wang Yongmei. Time in Emily Dickinsons Death Poems （時態的交響樂：艾米莉·狄金森死亡詩歌中的時間觀）[D]. Journal of Southwest University （Social Science Edition）， Vol. 37， No. 1.Jan. 2011：141-145.

【作者簡介】韓銘，華東師范大學。