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 grew 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 but a mound.
Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.
我无暇去会死亡
爱米莉·伊丽莎白·狄更生
         
我无暇去会死亡，
死神便和善地接我前往，
我只好放下劳作与闲暇，
无法拒绝他的殷勤礼让。
 
我们一起坐上马车，
还有永生陪伴身旁，
我们驱车缓缓前行，
他悠然自得不慌不忙。
我们经过校园，
娱乐的孩子挤满操场，
我们经过田野，麦穗张望，
我们经过西沉的太阳。
或许该是夕阳经过我们吧，
露珠抖动，略显苍凉，
只为我的面纱、斗篷，
还有我薄丝织就的衣裳。
我们经过一个隆起的土堆，
那似乎是一座住房，
屋顶几乎无法看见，
屋架也在地下埋藏。
感觉比一天还要短暂，
虽然自此千万年岁月漫长，
我初次产生这种猜测：
永恒正是马头所向。

settingsunType of Work
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is a lyric poem on the theme of death. The contains six stanzas, each with four lines. A four-line stanza is called a quatrain. The poem was first published in 1890 in Poems, Series 1, a collection of Miss Dickinson's poems that was edited by two of her friends, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The editors titled the poem "Chariot."
Commentary and Theme
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” reveals Emily Dickinson’s calm acceptance of death. It is surprising that she presents the experience as being no more frightening than receiving a gentleman caller—in this case, her fiancé (Death personified). 
The journey to the grave begins in Stanza 1, when Death comes calling in a carriage in which Immortality is also a passenger. As the trip continues in Stanza 2, the carriage trundles along at an easy, unhurried pace, perhaps suggesting that death has arrived in the form of a disease or debility that takes its time to kill. Then, in Stanza 3, the author appears to review the stages of her life: childhood (the recess scene), maturity (the ripe, hence, “ga
zing” grain), and the descent into death (the setting sun)–as she passes to the other side. There, she experiences a chill because she is not warmly dressed. In fact, her garments are more appropriate for a wedding, representing a new beginning, than for a funeral, representing an end. 
Her description of the grave as her “house” indicates how comfortable she feels about death. There, after centuries pass, so pleasant is her new life that time seems to stand still, feeling “shorter than a Day.” 
The overall theme of the poem seems to be that death is not to be feared since it is a natural part of the endless cycle of nature. Her view of death may also reflect her personality and religious beliefs. On the one hand, as a spinster, she was somewhat reclusive and introspective, tending to dwell on loneliness and death. On the other hand, as a Christian and a Bible reader, she was optimistic about her ultimate fate and appeared to see death as a friend. 
Characters
Speaker: A woman who speaks from the grave. She says she calmly accepted death. In fact, she seemed to welcome death as a suitor whom she planned to "marry." 
Death: Suitor who called for the narrator to escort her to eternity. 
Immortality: A passenger in the carriage. 
Children: Boys and girls at play in a schoolyard. They symbolize childhood as a stage of life. 
 
Text and Notes
 
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 grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,1
My tippet2 only tulle.3
We paused before a house4 that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice5 but a mound.

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