Because I Could Not Stop For Death, Emily Dickinson, 내가 죽음을 위해 멈출 수 없었기 때문에, 에밀리 디킨슨

 

Because I could not stop for Death

Emily Dickinson

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 drew 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 – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –




"Because I could not stop for death" is one of Emily Dickinson's most celebrated poems and was composed around 1863. In the poem, a female speaker tells the story of how she was visited by "Death," personified as a "kindly" gentleman, and taken for a ride in his carriage. This ride appears to take the speaker past symbols of the different stages of life, before coming to a halt at what is most likely her own grave. The poem can be read both as the anticipation of a heavenly Christian afterlife and as something altogether more bleak and down-to-earth. Much of its power comes from its refusal to offer easy answers to life's greatest mystery: what happens when people die. 



Summary
I couldn't stop for "Death," so instead he came to get me. I climbed in his carriage, which held just the two of us—as well as Eternal Life. 

We drove unhurriedly, with Death in no rush. I had left all my work and pleasures behind, in order to be respectful of his gentlemanly nature. 

We went by a school, where children played during their break time, arranged in a circle. Then we passed fields of crops—which seemed to stare—and the sun as it set in the sky. 

Actually, we didn't pass the sun—it passed us. As it did so, dew formed, shivering and cold. I was cold too, as I was only wearing a thin gown and a lightweight scarf. 

Our next stop was at what looked like a house, except it was partly buried in the ground. I could just about see the roof; even the ceiling was in the ground. 

Since that day, centuries have passed. That said, it feels as though less than a day has gone by since then—the day that I realized that Death's horses were headed in the direction of eternity. 

 

Themes

Death, Immortality, and Eternity
“Because I could not stop for death” is an exploration of both the inevitability of death and the uncertainties that surround what happens when people actually die. In the poem, a woman takes a ride with a personified “Death” in his carriage, by all likelihood heading towards her place in the afterlife. The poem’s matter-of-fact tone, which underplays the fantastical nature of what is happening, quickly establishes this journey as something beyond the speaker’s control. It's not clear if the speaker is already dead, or she is traveling towards death. Either way, her death is presented as something natural, strange, and inescapable. 

Indeed, the poem’s opening lines make this clear. The speaker herself couldn’t “stop for Death”—and not many people would—but “Death” has every intention of stopping for her. Notably, “Death” here is presented as something of a gentleman, “kindly” stopping his carriage so that the speaker can climb in. This suggests a certain comfort with, or at least acceptance of, dying on the part of the speaker, even as what this process actually entails remains mysterious. 

Also in the carriage is “Immortality.” It’s not clear if this is another personified figure—a kind of chaperone—or something more abstract. But the presence of “Immortality” does speak to one of humanity’s deepest questions: what happens when to people when they die? 

“Immortality” is ambiguous here. Its presence could support the Christian idea of the afterlife—which some critics feel runs throughout Dickinson’s poems. Or, by contrast, “Immortality” could be somewhat ironic, hinting at the permanent nothingness that awaits in death. Either way, such is the eternal inevitability of “Death” that he himself is in “no haste.” That is, he doesn’t need to hurry to make death happen, because it is an automatic fact of life. In fact, the whole journey has the air of unhurried purpose, as though reaching the destination is a given and that therefore rushing is unnecessary. The carriage stops by a school, fields, and perhaps even the speaker’s own grave (stanza five). These seem to represent different stages of life, starting from childhood and preceding—like the journey itself—to the inevitable final destination. 

To underscore the poem’s sense of awe surrounding the mysteries of death, the final stanza is filled with ambiguity and contradiction. The speaker explains that the carriage passed these sights “Centuries” ago, but that the entire time that has elapsed also feels “shorter than a Day.” In the grand scheme of eternity, hundreds of years might indeed feel like a blip on the radar. This contradiction thus highlights the difficulty of imagining eternity. Life is measured by time, moving through different stages as people age; people sense the story of their lives unfolding as time goes on. But in death, the perception of time—indeed, all perception—ceases to exist. Unless, of course, there is an afterlife, an idea which the poem seems open to but inconclusive about. 

Indeed, it’s in large part this inconclusiveness that makes the poem so powerful. On the one hand, “Death’s” kind and calm treatment of the woman could signal the comfort of a Christian afterlife—entrance to heaven and an eternity in God’s presence. But more darkly, the way that the poem plays with ideas of immortality and eternity can also be read as nothing more than the dark nothingness of death itself—that life, when it’s gone, is gone for good. 


The Cyclical Nature of Life and Death
In addition to looking at the mysteries of death, “Because I could not stop for death” comments on the nature of life. During the speaker’s journey with the personified “Death,” the points that they pass along the way seem charged with significance. The journey format of the poem mimics the way that life itself is a journey from birth to death—from the arrival of new life to its absence. The observations that the speaker makes along this journey seem to reinforce the idea that life and death are in cyclical balance; in a way, the poem suggests life is not possible without death. 

Firstly, though it is not an explicitly stated symbol in the poem, it’s important to bear in mind that this a journey taken with the aid of wheels. The carriage’s wheels are, of course, circular, gently hinting at the circular transformation from nothingness to life to nothingness once more. 

While the first two stanzas set up the journey itself, it’s from the third onwards that the speaker starts to notice the environment around her as it passes. The first point along the way is a school, “where Children strove / at Recess – in the Ring.” This image of children playing is important, symbolizing the continuation of life even after the speaker is no longer around to witness it (one of the facts that confronts everyone about death). The verb “strove” seems to suggest human effort, hinting at the way people strive to keep living even in the knowledge of inevitable death. The children are also playing in a “Ring,” the circular nature of which further reflects the cycle of life and death. 

Soon after, the traveling party goes by a field. While the sun is setting—representing the speaker’s death—the “Gazing Grain” seems to be growing strong. This, then, is another example of the continuation of life after death. Every year crops are harvested (representing death) and then are replanted or regrown, enacting the shift from life into death and back again. 

Then, in the penultimate stanza, the speaker seems to see her own grave. There is a sense here that the reality of death has arrived—that the speaker will no longer be around to witness children playing or crops growing. But because of the other sights that have been mentioned earlier, the grave visit doesn’t really feel as significant as one might expect. That is, the speaker herself will of course soon be gone, but the poem is charged with the knowledge that everything else will carry on as before. Perhaps her death even makes way for the continuation of life in her absence—for new children to “strive,” just as harvested grain makes way for new crops. 

Subtly, then, the poem suggests an interdependence between life and death. Both seem like necessary parts of the world as presented in the poem, even if their relationship is by its nature perplexing and intriguing. Dickinson manages to put into images the complexity of these thoughts, and intentionally leaves such questions unresolved for the reader to consider. 




내가 죽음을 위해 멈출 수 없었기 때문에
에밀리 디킨슨

내가 죽음을 위해 멈출 수 없었기 때문에
그가 친절하게도 나를 위해 멈춰 주었지.
마차에 타고 있는 건 우리와
불멸뿐이었지.

 

우리는 천천히 갔지. 그는 서두를 게 없었나 봐.
나는 일하던 것도, 쉬는 것도
제쳐 놓을 수밖에 없었어.
그의 정중함에 보답하려고.

 

우리는 아이들이 휴식시간에
원을 이루어 놀고 있는 학교를 지났지.
우리는 곡식을 물끄러미 바라보는 들녘을 지났어.
우리는 지는 해를 지나쳤지.

 

아니, 해가 우리를 지나쳤다고나 할까.
이슬이 떨리게 하며 싸늘하게 내려앉았어.
내가 걸친 옷이라곤 얇은 천에
망사로 된 어깨걸이뿐.

우리는 어느 집 앞에 잠시 멈췄어.
땅이 부풀어 오른 것 같았지
지붕은 거의 보이지 않았고
처마 돌림띠는 땅속에 있었어.

그러고는 몇 세기가 지났지. 그런데,
처음 말 머리가 영원을
향하고 있다고 내가 추측했던
그날 하루보다 짧게 느껴졌어.



이 시는 에밀리 디킨슨이 자주 다루었던 주제 중의 하나인 죽음에 관한 시입니다. 에밀리 디킨슨은 다른 주제와 마찬가지로 죽음에 대해서도 상투적인 틀을 거부하고 새롭고 다양한 각도에서 그려내고 있다. 이 시에서 죽음은 보통 생각하는 것과 같은 무섭거나, 슬프거나, 한스러운 존재로 그려지는 것이 아니다. 오히려 데이트를 초대하는 예의 바른 사람처럼 서두르지 않으면서 공손하고 정중한 태도를 보인다. 

이 시의 맨 처음은 에밀리 특유의 서사 기법으로 너무도 당연한 말을 격언처럼 새겨서 말한다. 어쩌면 너무나 당연해서 우리가 잊고 있었던 사실인지도 모른다. 우리가 죽음에게 가는 것이 아니라 죽음이 우리에게 오는 것이다. 아무리 우리가 죽으려고 해도, 또는 안 죽으려고 해도 죽음은 죽음이 적당하다고 생각하는 때에 우리에게 오는 것이 아니다. 많은 사람이 죽음을 공포의 대상으로 생각하는 데 반해서 이 시의 화자는 아주 친절한 연인, 또는 여행 안내인과 같다고 생각하는 듯하다.

죽음이라는 안내인과 함께 타고 있는 손님은 “불멸”이다. 아마 우리가 죽게 되면 영원불멸이 있으리라 생각하는 것이리라 여겨진다. 이 시에서 죽은 다음의 세계는 마차를 타고 천천히 달리며 풍경을 구경하는 것이다. 그 주위의 풍경은 아이들이 뛰노는 학교 운동장, 곡식들이 익어가는 들판, 서산에 지는 해의 순서로 진행된다. 아이들은 인생의 처음이고, 곡식이 익는 것은 사계절의 마무리이고, 해가 지는 것은 하루의 끝이니 시간상으로는 큰 범위에서 작은 범위로 작아진다. 공간상으로는 초등학교 운동장, 벌판, 일몰 풍경의 식으로 점점 커지는 것 같고요. 시공의 축소와 확장이 중첩되면서, 마차는 죽음 후의 세계를 달린다.

그 세계는 죽음 이전의 세계를 추억하거나 반복하는 듯 보이지만, 온기와 열정이 없는 싸늘한 뒤풀이 같다. 죽음 후의 몇 세기는 마치 죽은 날 하루처럼 스쳐 지나가며, 마차가 향하는 곳도 영원이라는 확신보다는 그러리라고 추측하는 식으로 그려진다.