I just read 6 poems from Emily Dickinson. They were very unique and interesting – they had a style that I have never seen before in poetry. Dickinson likes to use a dash a lot in her verses. Her poems all seem to have a dark theme, with poem titles such as, I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, I heard a Fly buzz – when I died and Because I could not stop for Death. As I was writing these titles just now I noticed that Dickinson capitalized some of her words in the title. It’s interesting that most words in her titles that have a dark or black connotation to it are capitalized – such as Death, Funeral and Fly. One poem that I chose to look in to was Because I could not stop for Death. Already by the first two lines I had to think.
“Because I could not stop for death –
He kindly stopped for me”
That’s quite a deep line. The way I interpret it is that she is having suicidal thoughts. Because she couldn’t get death to her, he “kindly” considered it. Once again, it is odd for someone to refer to death for doing an act of kindness. They then proceed to travel together. It is a very nice poem, but taking into consideration the darkness of her other poems, I think that it may have been made by Dickinson as a message about death and maybe that it isn’t something to be afraid of.
An American Brit's point of view 