Analysis of The Chariot

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



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 played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
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.


Scheme XAXA XBXA XCXC XDXD XBXA
Poetic Form Quatrain  (60%)
Etheree  (30%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 01111111 110111 010111001 00100 11011111 011101 11001101 110100 11011101 110101 11011101 110101 11010111 010101 01110100 01101 11110011 110101 11010101 0010100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 583
Words 108
Sentences 7
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 94
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

32 sec read
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Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

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