Because I could not stop for Death -By Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death – (479)

-By 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 –

Bengali Translation

বিকজ আই কুড নট স্টপ ফর ডেথ

কারণ আমি মৃত্যুর জন্য থামতে পারি না

মৃত্যুই দয়াবশত থামল আমার জন্য

(শব)যানটি বহন করল শুধু আমাদেরকে

এবং অমরত্বকে।

আমরা চললাম ধীরে, তারও ছিল না কোনো ব্যস্ততা

আর আমি এলাম রেখে

আমার কর্ম এবং আমার আনন্দও

তারই সৌজন্যতার তরে।

আমরা অতিক্রম করলাম স্কুল, যেখানে খেলছিল শিশুরা

অবসরে – বৃত্তাকৃতি স্থানে

ফসলের দিকে তাকিয়ে পেরিয়ে গেলাম মাঠ

পার হয়ে গেলাম অস্তগামী সূর্যটাকে-

বরং সে হয়ত – আমাদেরকে অতিক্রম করেছিল–

ঝরছে শিশির এবং ঠান্ডার শিহরণ

শুধুমাত্র পাতলা কাপড় ছিল আমার পোশাক-

আমার কাধের চাদর – আর নেকাব–

আমরা থামলাম একটি গৃহের সামনে যা মনে হলো

মাটির একটি উঁচু স্তূপ

ছাদখানা প্রায় দেখাই যায় না

কার্নিশ-যেন ছুঁয়েছে মাটি

তখন থেকে শতাব্দীর পর শতাব্দী-হয়েছে পার

কিন্তু মনে হয় দিনের চেয়েও ছোটো

প্রথম আমি অনুমান করেছিলাম

ঘোড়াগুলো যাচ্ছে অনন্তকালের পানে

a) Answer the following questions.           2×5=10

i. Which country does Emily Dickinson belong to?

ii. What is the ‘House’ referred to in the fourth stanza?

iii. What does the word ‘immortality’ mean?

iv. Where does the carriage stop?

v. Which words are used to describe Death in the poem?

b) Read the poem again and express your feelings. Or, Write the theme of the poem. 10

Answer:

i. Which country does Emily Dickinson belong to? 

Ans: United States of America.

ii. What is the ‘House’ referred to in the fourth stanza? 

Ans: The grave.

iii. What does the word ‘immortality’ mean?

Ans: Eternal life.

iv. Where does the carriage stop? 

Ans: The carriage stops by a school, fields, and perhaps even the speaker’s own grave.

v. Which words are used to describe Death in the poem? 

Ans: In the poem “Because I could not stop for death by Emily Dickinson, death is described using various words and phrases such as immortality, carriage, tippet, school, setting sun, horses’ head, gossamer gown and eternity.

b) The three main themes in “Because I could not stop for Death—” are death, time, and eternity. Death: Death is a frequent concern of Dickinson’s poetry

Summary:

“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.

Extra Question:

1. Describe the scenes witnessed by the speaker as she passes by during her carriage ride with Death.

Ans: The poet presents three images: playing school children, fields of grain and the setting sun. They seem to represent the three stages in human life, childhood, maturity and old age. The labour and leisure of the second stanza are made concrete in the in the joyous activity of the children at play. And it is contrasted with the passivity of nature (the gazing grain). The indifference of nature to the death of human beings is highlighted by transferring the final stare in the dead traveler’s eyes to the gazing grain. The setting sun brings in the eternal darkness associated with death.

2. What is symbolic about the Carriage in the poem?

Ans: In the poem “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, the carriage is a powerful symbol that represents the journey? from life to death and the passage of time. It carries significant symbolic weight in the poem.