Emily Dickinson: Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in December of 1830 to Edward Dickinson and Emily Norcross Dickinson. Emily spent her childhood and adulthood living in the family home with her sister Lavinia. Emily received her education through the local schools and at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (Johnson). Emily appeared to have an active and social presence in society until her return from a trip to Philadelphia in the early part of the 1850’s. It is said that her withdrawal from society began shortly after her return from Philadelphia because she had fallen in love with a married minister (Emily Dickinson). It has also been said that Emily suffered an emotional crisis in the early 1860’s that led to her writing over three hundred poems in 1862 (Because I Could Not Stop for Death). Emily began to isolate herself even more after the death of her father in 1874 and the death of her mother in 1882. In the early part of 1886 Emily was diagnosed with a kidney dysfunction that she later died of in May of that same year (Emily Dickinson).

Even though Emily Dickinson is considered one of the greatest American poets, less than a dozen of her poems were published during her lifetime. It was only after her death in 1886 that her sister Lavinia found the hundreds and hundreds of poems she had written. Many of Emily’s poems have received unfavorable criticism when they were first published due to their subjects; nature, love, death, and immortality, however they are now considered among the most emotionally and intellectually profound in the English language (Emily Dickinson).

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is said to have been written by Emily in 1863, published in 1890, and is poem number 712 in “The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson” (Johnson). “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is considered to be one of Emily Dickinson’s most famous works (Because I Could Not Stop for Death). It also has caused mixed reactions because of its subject...