In line three, Dickenson describes Death’s carriage as holding “just Ourselves,” although in line four, she adds—almost hastily—“and Immortality.” By accepting Death’s carriage ride, it seems as though the narrator has accepted a sort of inevitability in allowing herself to die. Death, though, appears to be a very solitary transition as the narrator claims that it was “just” herself and Death in the carriage. In the fourth line, the narrator adds, almost as an afterthought, “And Immortality—.” Syntactically, it would appear as though line four is meant to suggest that a third person or object is also present in Death’s carriage. Perhaps the idea of “Immortality” in death is such a weighty concept that its presence takes on an almost corporeal form in the way death has. Moreover, Dickenson establishes an interesting juxtaposition of ideas by suggesting that the death of the narrator results in immortality—i.e., that which is not subject to death. In the same way that the narrator, when …show more content…
The first line is a composite of two independent clauses separated by an em dash, again suggesting a sort of dry quality to the narrator’s observations. She does not offer any judgment to the fact that they drove slowly. She simply states it as a fact and adds the following line as if only to explain it. Here, by adding that “He knew no haste,” the reader is left wondering whether Death’s lack of haste is deliberate or merely incidental. The narrator then describes how she “put away” her labor and leisure. The actions she puts away are of course contrasting concepts—the two ends of the spectrum of human activity. By putting away both forms of activity, Dickenson seems to further suggest a kind of neutral or disinterested kind of afterlife where all material or worldly matters are left behind. Death is neither fire and brimstone nor heavenly grace; it is merely a kind of limbo where time is eternal and is devoid of