“Why Couldn't I Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson is a story about the transition from life to death. It begins with death that stops accompanying her on her journey to the afterlife. Throughout this poem the reader follows the speaker through the different stages of life, through death and to the other side where he retraces his journey. Each of the phases has a well-defined purpose and meaning. The first reference to death is made in the first line where it refers to death in physical form. “For I could not stand before death” (Dickinson 1:1) implies that death is pursuing her or at least following the carriage. The implication is that the speaker is in too much of a hurry to make time for death. The interesting observation is that she doesn't paint the picture of death like others have. He portrays death as non-threatening, because he (death) accompanies her in his carriage. He then goes on to describe a third person in the carriage, immortality. Another interesting observation is his use of three. Three people in the carriage, her, death and immortality, also mean the three stages of life and the three types of immortality. Immortality has three definitions, the first being immortal or deathless. (Marcellino 102) This first definition refers to the afterlife, or the next phase of the passage of life. The second definition is fame, or continuing to live through an action. The third definition is to have eternal rest here on this plane. His physical body will remain here in a tomb and will not pass on to the afterlife. To understand why Mrs. Dickinson might have used such kind terms for the death, one must first understand her background. She was a puritanical Calvinist (Polanski 39), and therefore believes... middle of paper... respect to the day" (Dickinson 6:21-22) gives the idea that she is looking back at the scene as if quite a while had passed some time since it last happened. As he moves on to the next sentence, feeling shorter reminds us that we ourselves look back and see a shorter amount of time that actually happened years ago it appears as if it happened just last week, and so on. Again, this refers to the journey of life or the passage of time. The entire poem has been a thoughtful journey and ends in its last two lines." I first assumed that the horses' heads / were destined for eternity" (Dickinson 6:23-24). The horses were the driving factor. They carried the story forward as it unfolded and accompanied the speaker through the passage from life to death. It is right that it refers to them looking towards eternity because that was the direction it was taken.