Because I could not stop for death | Because I could not stop for Death

Because I could not stop for Death

Language: English

Our translations: CAT FRE GER GER ITA

Because I [could]¹ 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 labour, and my leisure too
For His Civility --

We passed the school, where children played,
[ At wrestling in a ring]²
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

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; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• A. Copland • S. Kagen

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Copland, Kagen: "would"
² Copland: "Their lessons scarcely done"

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by John Coolidge Adams (b. 1947), "Because I could not stop for Death ", 1980-1, first performed 1981 [ chorus and orchestra ], from Harmonium, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Because I could not stop for death", 1990 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Immortality", 1978 [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Jason Bechtold , "Because I couuld not stop for death" [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Fania Chapiro (1926 - 1994), "Because I could not stop for death", 1988, from Three songs of death, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990), "The chariot", 1949-50, published 1951 [ mezzo-soprano, piano ], from Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, no. 12 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941), "Because I could not stop for Death", 2007 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Sergius Kagen (1909 - 1964), "Because I would not stop for Death", published 1951 [ medium voice, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Tim Silva , "Because I couuld not stop for death", 2008 [ women's chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]

Another version of this text exists in the database.

Go to the text. [ view differences ] DUT FRI

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 110