Because I could not stop for Death (712)

by Emily Dickinson

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

Many close-connected words are in alphabet order. Is this an accident or does Dickinson has a level of meaning here where the journey is through a dictionary?

Alphabetical word groupings are:

labor-leisure, school-strove, recess-ring, fields-gazing-grain, setting-sun, dews-drew,

gossamer-gown, and tippet-tulle-(tumulus)

Not far from 'tulle' in my turn-the-physical-pages dictionary is 'tumulus' which happens to

include in its definition, 'swelling of the ground', the very phrase which is encountered in

the stanza following the 'tulle' stanza. However, ‘tulle’ does not appear in Webster's 1844 dictionary and ‘tumulus’ was defined therein as: ‘An artificial hillock raised over those who were buried in ancient times. Hence tomb.’ Emily Dickinson never used ‘tumulus’ in any published poem.

Finally "horses' heads" in reverse alpha order, "Were toward" "eternity".

“Dickinson was fond of alliterated pairs, and if you toss a few pennies, sometimes most will come up heads. "Tumulus" would have been an odd word for a grave.” Colonel G. L. Sicherman

From the Catechism of Pope Innocent By Reason of Insanity:

Q. Is there Life after Death?

A. Yes, in the dictionary.