双语有声阅读：Because I could not

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Because I could not stop for Death -

He kindly¹ stopped for me -

The Carriage held but just Ourselves -

And Immortality².

 

We slowly drove - He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor³ and my leisure too,

For His Civility -

 

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess⁴ - 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 Gossamer⁵, my Gown -

My Tippet - only Tulle -

 

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling⁶ 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 surmised⁷ the Horses' Heads

Were toward Eternity⁸ -

 

In this poem, death is ironically presented as a well mannered gentleman who would have the patience and time to wait a lady for a quiet and slow carriage drive with the accompany of a chaperon (immorality). Immovability in death is the best evidence of death's withdrawal⁹ from life because of the respect given to one's actions during life. The cessation of mundane¹⁰ activities in life are signified by idle hands of the dead in Death. 

 

Then Emily paints the scenes of what they are going past with references to periods of her life: children playing in the playground during recess (youth), the grain fields gazing at them (maturity) and the setting sun (old age). After the sunset, the dew of night makes her realize it has grown cold. She is getting chilly¹¹ and thereby¹² shivers because she wears only a gossamer gown and a tulle lace cap, hinting this is not an ordinary outing. The poem is about to make a shift away from the pleasant to something more grim when she suddenly realizes that she has stopped being an active viewer, and that she is only now a part of the landscape.

 

Death leads the poet to her earthly burial location, the last sight spot of the land of the living and the end of this horse-drawn carriage journey. Nevertheless, the graveyard¹³ is only the physical destination of the whole wide world, not the post-mortal world in which time flies. A century feels much shorter in length than expected. The future is still ahead there for centuries, while the poet thought at this moment - maybe this carriage was just heading towards eternity.

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