— Anonymous
Love? Or Death?
When I read the poem “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson for the first time, I could not understand the text at all. The way she wrote the poem and describe the character are all different from other poems that I have read so far. She talked about death and the interaction of her with death in the poem. The way she described death is just like a gentleman, and she used the word “Roof”, “Cornice” to represent a graveyard. Also, Emily Dickinson used “Carriage” to represent coffin and graveyard as a house, this writing style gives people courage towards death. This is the first time I have ever seen this type of writing style, and I shared it with my best friend immediately. The reason I share with her because she was in a down mood and I want to disturb her attention, but surprisingly she gave me a totally different way of seeing this poem.
Me: “hey I found an interesting poem about death, it’s hard to understand but the way she wrote was cool”.
Friend: “oh, really. Let me check it out.”
Me: “Yeah? How was it?
Friend: “I don’t think it’s all about death. Hmmm, I rather believe it’s about love and marriage.”
Me: “wait, what? Where did you get that conclusion from?”
Friend: “look, the way she describes death is not just like regular death who brought horrors and sadness, she describes death like a gentleman or a lover.”
Friend: “It seems like a trip with only her and death, which I think represents her love experience for the time she spends with her loved once.
Me: “Yeah, but look. She wrote that “We passed the School, where Children strove, At Recess—in the Ring—We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—We passed the Setting Sun.” Aren’t that people always say that before death comes, people can see their past life from childhood until the end of their life. And the “Setting Sun” is the representation of the end of life?”
Friend: “Well, in my way of understanding this reading, I think it’s her love experiences. At first, her love was full of happiness and hope. But love is full of challenge, people might face different trouble and challenges. And I think the “Setting Sun” represents a challenge or the downtime in their love.”
Friend: “Also, look at the end, she talked about the graveyard, isn’t people always say marriage is a graveyard? She and “Death” finally came to the final stage where both of them got into the “graveyard” that came along with marriage?”
Me: “Yeah… but how do you explain the “eternity” at the end?”
Friend: “Well, I think it means that love is just like death. Death is short, sad, and beautiful. And people always believe that there will be eternity after death, which I think that’s what the author’s belief in love. I think she felt that love is also short, sad but beautiful. And even though it’s short, but it will remain in people’s hearts till eternity.”
My friend’s understanding of the poem gave me a fresh feeling about love and the poem. And I think people’s understanding of one thing comes from their life experience and mood at the moment. But I’m glad to have such an interest discussion with her.
