Emily Dickenson诗歌赏析及解读

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 grew 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 but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity.

我无暇去会死亡 爱米莉·伊丽莎白·狄更生  我无暇去会死亡， 死神便和善地接我前往， 我只好放下劳作与闲暇， 无法拒绝他的殷勤礼让。 

我们一起坐上马车， 还有永生陪伴身旁， 我们驱车缓缓前行， 他悠然自得不慌不忙。 我们经过校园， 娱乐的孩子挤满操场， 我们经过田野，麦穗张望，我们经过西沉的太阳。 或许该是夕阳经过我们吧，露珠抖动，略显苍凉， 只为我的面纱、斗篷， 还有我薄丝织就的衣裳。 我们经过一个隆起的土堆，那似乎是一座住房， 屋顶几乎无法看见， 屋架也在地下埋藏。 感觉比一天还要短暂， 虽然自此千万年岁月漫长，我初次产生这种猜测： 永恒正是马头所向。

Type of Work

―Because I Could Not Stop for Death‖ is a lyric poem on the theme of death. The contains six stanzas, each with four lines. A four-line stanza is called a quatrain. The poem was first published in 1890 in Poems, Series 1, a collection of Miss Dickinson's poems that was edited by two of her friends, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The editors titled the poem \ Commentary and Theme

―Because I Could Not Stop for Death‖ reveals Emily Dickinson’s calm acceptance of death. It is surprising that she presents the experience as being no more frightening than receiving a gentleman caller—in this case, her fiancé (Death personified).

The journey to the grave begins in Stanza 1, when Death comes calling in a carriage in which Immortality is also a passenger. As the trip continues in Stanza 2, the carriage trundles along at an easy, unhurried pace, perhaps suggesting that death has arrived in the form of a disease or debility that takes its time to kill. Then, in Stanza 3, the author appears to review the stages of her life: childhood (the recess scene), maturity (the ripe, hence, ―gazing‖ grain), and the descent into death (the setting sun)–as she passes to the other side. There, she experiences a chill because she is not warmly dressed. In fact, her garments are more appropriate for a wedding, representing a new beginning, than for a funeral, representing an end.

Her description of the grave as her ―house‖ indicates how comfortable she feels about death. There, after centuries pass, so pleasant is her new life that time seems to stand still, feeling ―shorter than a Day.‖

The overall theme of the poem seems to be that death is not to be feared since it is a natural part of the endless cycle of nature. Her view of death may also reflect her personality and religious beliefs. On the one hand, as a spinster, she was somewhat reclusive and introspective, tending to dwell on loneliness and death. On the other hand, as a Christian and a Bible reader, she was optimistic about her ultimate fate and appeared to see death as a friend. Characters

Speaker: A woman who speaks from the grave. She says she calmly accepted death. In fact, she seemed to welcome death as a suitor whom she planned to \ Death: Suitor who called for the narrator to escort her to eternity. Immortality: A passenger in the carriage.

Children: Boys and girls at play in a schoolyard. They symbolize childhood as a stage of life.

Text and Notes

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 grew quivering and chill, For only gossamer my gown,1 My tippet2 only tulle.3

We paused before a house4 that seemed A swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice5 but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries,6 and yet each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity. Notes

1...gossamer my gown: Thin wedding dress for the speaker's marriage to Death. 2...tippet: Scarf for neck or shoulders. 3...tulle: Netting.

4...house: Speaker's tomb.

5...cornice: Horizontal molding along the top of a wall.

6...Since . . . centuries: The length of time she has been in the tomb.

Meter

In each stanza, the first line has eight syllables (four feet); the second, six syllables (three feet); the third, eight syllables (four feet); and the fourth, six syllables (three feet). The meter alternates between iambic tetrameter (lines with eight syllables, or four feet) and iambic trimeter (lines with six syllables, or three feet). In iambic meter, the feet (pairs of syllables) contain an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. (For detailed information on meter, click here.) The following example demonstrates the metric scheme.

.......1..................2...............3....................4

Be CAUSE..|..I COULD..|..not STOP..|..for DEATH, ......1..................2.................3

He KIND..|..ly STOPPED..|..for ME; ........1.................2.................3...................4

The CARR..|..iage HELD..|..but JUST..|..our SELVES ....1..............2............3 And IM..|..mor TAL..|..i TY.

End Rhyme

.......The second and fourth lines of stanzas 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 rhyme. However, some of the lines contain only close rhymes or eye rhymes. In the third stanza, there is no end rhyme, but ring (line 2) rhymes with the penultimate words in lines 3 and 4. Internal Rhyme

.......Dickinson also occasionally uses internal rhyme, as in the following lines: The carriage held but just ourselves (line 3) We slowly drove, he knew no haste (line 5) We passed the fields of gazing grain (line 11) The dews grew quivering and chill (line 14) Symbols

.......In the fourth stanza, the school symbolizes the morning of life; the grain, the midday of life and the working years; the setting sun, the evening of life and the death of life. Figures of Speech

.......Following are examples of figures of speech in the poem. (For definitions of figures of speech, click here.) Alliteration

Because I could not stop for Death (line 1) he knew no haste (line 5)

My labor, and my leisure too (line 7) At recess, in the ring

gazing grain (line 11) setting sun (line 12)

For only gossamer my gown (line 15) My tippet only tulle (line 16) toward eternity (line 24) Anaphora

We passed the school, where children strove At recess, in the ring;

We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. (lines 9-12) Paradox

Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each Feels shorter than the day

I first surmised the horses' heads (lines 21-23) Personification

We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, he passed us (lines 12-13) Comparison of the sun to a person Death is personified throughout the poem ========================================

30. Dickinson’s poems are usually based on her own experience, her sorrows and joys.狄金森的诗都是根据自己的经历和悲欢而创作的。

31. Within her little lyrics Dickinson addresses those issues that concern the whole human beings, which include religion, death, immortality, love, and nature. In some of her poems she wrote about her double and belief about religious subjects. 在她的短篇抒情诗里所涉及到的问题却是有关人类的，包括宗教，死亡，不朽，爱情和自然。她的一些诗还怀疑宗教信仰。 32. Although she believed in God, she sometimes doubted His benevolence. Closely related to Dickinson’s religious poetry are her poems concerning death and immortality, ranging over the physical as well as the psychological and emotional aspects of death.虽然她相信上帝但有时却怀疑它的善。狄金森与宗教有关的诗是关于死亡和不朽，包括身体，心理和情感三个方面。 33. One group of her love poems are clearly the reflection of her own unhappy experience.她的一组爱情诗明确地反映了她自己不幸的经历。

34. More than five hundred poems Dickinson wrote are about nature, in which her general skepticism about the relationship between man and nature is well-expressed.狄金森有500多首诗是关于自然的，诗中表达了作者对人与自然关系得怀疑。

35. her acute observations, her concern for precise details and her interest in nature are pervasive.她对自然的观察敏锐，描写细致，兴趣丰饶。

36. Her poems have no titles, hence are always quoted by their first lines. In her poetry there is a particular stress pattern. eg. Capital letters as a means of emphasis. The form of her poetry is more or less like that of the hymns in community churches, familiar, communal, and sometimes, irregular.她的诗大多无题，常以首句引用，诗中节奏特别，例如用大写表示强调。她的诗形式上多少有点像教堂的圣歌，不讲规则，为人喜闻乐见。

37. Her poetic idiom is noted for its laconic brevity, directness and plainness. 她用词简洁，直率，平易。

38. Dickinson’s poetry, despite its ostensible formal simplicity, is remarkable for its variety, subtlety and richness.狄金森的诗虽然表面浅显，但内容多样化，微妙而又深刻。

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