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References in film & television:

In Before I Disappear, a 2014 American Drama, Sophia (Fátima Ptachek) recites Dickinson's poem at her school assembly once in English and once in Chinese Mandarin. The recital of "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" plays to the thematic elements later revealed in the film.

Interpretation

There are various interpretations of Dickinson's poem surrounding the Christian belief in the afterlife and read the poem as if it were from the perspective of a "delayed final reconciliation of the soul with God." Dickinson has been classified by critics before as a Christian poet as her other works have been interpreted as contemplation of the "merits of Chris and his past, present, and future relation to herself." The speaker joins both "Death" and "Immortality" inside the carriage that collects her, thus personifying the two part process, according to the Christian faith, that first life stops and following death we encounter immortality though our existence in the after life. While death is the guaranteed of the two, immortality "remains ... an expectation." The horses that lead the carriage are only facing "toward Eternity," which indicates that the speaker has yet to reach it or that it can even be reached at all.

Dickinson's tone contributes vastly to the poem as well. In describing a traditionally scary experience of the process of dying and passing into eternity, she uses an overwhelmingly passive and calm tone. Critics attribute her lack of fearful tone as her acceptance of death as "a natural part of the endless cycle of nature" due to her certainty in her belief in Christ.

overview:

Dickinson's work was never authorized to be published so it is unknown whether Because I could not stop for Death was completed or "abandoned". The speaker in Dickinson's poem meets Death, which Dickinson personified by making Death the gentleman riding in the carriage. The journey the speaker, Death, and Immortality take is often interpreted as the speaker's journey to the afterlife.