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Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

The Chariot


              1Because I could not stop for Death,
              2He kindly stopped for me;
              3The carriage held but just ourselves
              4And Immortality.

              5We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
              6And I had put away
              7My labor, and my leisure too,
              8For his civility.

              9We passed the school where children played,
            10Their lessons scarcely done;
            11We passed the fields of gazing grain,
            12We passed the setting sun.

            13We paused before a house that seemed
            14A swelling of the ground;
            15The roof was scarcely visible.
            16The cornice but a mound.

            17Since then 'tis centuries; but each
            18Feels shorter than the day
            19I first surmised the horses' heads
            20Were toward eternity.

Notes

9] played: the existing manuscript version of poem 712 reads "strove" (The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson, edited by R. W. Franklin in two volumes (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1981: I, 509-10; fascicle 23; PS 1541 A1 1981 ROBA).

10] Their lessons scarcely done: the existing manuscript version reads "At recess in the ring".

12] The existing manuscript version adds one stanza after this line:

Or rather He passed us.
The dews drew quivering and chill
For only gossamer, my gown,
My tippet, only tulle.
A tippet is a cape or scarf worn on the shoulders, and tulle is sheer silk material.

16] cornice: projecting mould that overhangs a roof or wall
but a mound: the existing manuscript version reads "in the ground".

17] but each: the existing manuscript version reads "and yet".


Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Poems (1890-1896) by Emily Dickinson: A Facsimile Reproduction of the Original Volumes Issued in 1890, 1891, and 1896, with an Introduction by George Monteiro (Gainesville, Florida: Scholars' Facsimiles).
First publication date: 1890
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1997.
Recent editing: 2:2002/5/31

Composition date: 1863
Rhyme: abcb (off-rhyme)


Other poems by Emily Dickinson