ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The speaker of Dickinson’s poem meets personified Death. Death is a gentleman who is riding in the horse carriage that picks up the speaker in the poem and takes the speaker on her journey to the afterlife. According to Thomas H. Johnson’s variorum edition of 1955 the number of this poem is “712".

Detailed explanation-2: -As dusk sets in our speaker gets a little chilly, as she is completely under-dressed – only wearing a thin silk shawl for a coat. She was unprepared for her impromptu date with Death when she got dressed that morning. They stop at what will be her burial ground, marked with a small headstone.

Detailed explanation-3: -The carriage holds 3 people: the speaker, Death, and Immortality. Death is described as kind and civil. He is also in no hurry. This is unusual as death is often personified to be cruel and cold.

Detailed explanation-4: -Death is personified as a gentle friend who is taking the poet on a carriage ride to eternity. ‘The second passenger in the carriage is immortality.