Because I could not stop for Death

"Because I could not stop for Death" est poema lyricum ab Aemilia Dickinson compositum et primum in Poems: Series 1 (1890), poeta iam mortua, prolatum. Poema mortem tractat, quam describit hominem liberalem qui cum poeta ad sepulcrum in raeda lentus vehitur. Secundum Thomae H. Johnson editio variorum anni 1955, numerus poematis in opere Dickinsoniano est 712.

Summarium

Poema prolatum est post poetam mortuam anno 1890 in Poems: Series 1, congerie poematum Dickinsonianorum, a poetae amicis Mabel Loomis Todd et Thoma Wentworth Higginson in unum locum coactorum et editorum, ubi poema titulum "The Chariot" fert. Poema in sex tetrastichis consistit, versibus metro inter tetrametrum iambicum et trimetrum iambicum alternantibus. Tetrasticha 1, 2, 4, et 6 rimam terminalem in eorum versibus secundis et quartis habent, sed nonnullae sunt semirima vel rima oculorum. Tertium tetrastichon nullam rimam terminalem habet, sed verbum ring in versu secundo cum gazing et setting in versibus 3 et 4 congruit. Rima interna passim invenitur. Inter poematis figuras loquendi sunt alliteratio, anaphora, paradoxum, personificatio. Poema mortem describit hominem liberalem qui cum poeta ad sepulcrum in raeda lentus vehitur. Poeta etiam immortalitatem personificat.^[1]

Textus

Verba Anglica	Verba Latine reddita:
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 strove At Recess—in the Ring We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain— We passed the Setting Sun— Or rather—He passed Us— The Dews drew quivering and chill— For only Gossamer, my Gown— My Tippet—only Tulle— He paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground— The Roof was scarcely visible— The Cornice—in the Ground— Since then—'tis Centuries—and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity—	Morti quia consistere non potui— mihi comiter consistitit— Raeda solum nos tenebat— et immortalitatem. Lente gubernabamus—Trepidationem ignorabat et ego reliqueram laborem otiumque quoque, ob eius humanitatem— Praetervehebamur scholam ubi contendebant recessu pueri—in harena Agros graminis intuentis praetervehebamur— Solem occidentem praetervehebamur— vel potius—nos transgrediebatur— Rores trementes frigidique fiebant — pro sola aranea, mea stola— meum pallium—solum tulle— Moratus est ante domum quae videbatur tumor terrestris— Tectum vix cerni poterat— corona—humi— Ex eo tempore—sunt saecula—sed tamen die breviora videntur cum primum suspicarer capita equorum ad aeternitatem conducere—

Iudicium criticum

Allen Tate, poeta et editor litterarius Americanus, de poemate anno 1936 ait:

"[Poema] se praebet, melius quam omnes res alias quas [Dickinson] scripsit, peculiare eius mentis ingenium. . . . Si verbum maximum in poesi ullam rem significat, hoc poema est unum ex maximis lingua Anglica compositis; emendatum est usque ad singula ultima agens. Rhythmus exemplar actionis pone poema suspensae poemati motu impertit. Omnis imago est subtilis, et praeterea non solum pulchra, sed cum notione principali inextricabile fusa. Omnis imago omnem aliam extendit et amplificat. . . . Nemo poeta elementa [huius poematis] excogitare potuit; solum poeta magnus eis tam perfecte utere potuit. Domina Dickinson fuit mens profunda ex profunda cultura scribens, et cum ea ad poesim accederet, accessit certo."^[2]^[3]

In musica

Poema ab Aaron Copland in musica positum est in carmine duodecimo Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson eius circuli carminum. Item ab Ioanne Adams in parte altera Harmonii eius symphoniae choralis. Item a Nicolao J. White in re in una parte pro choro et orchestra camerata. Item a Natalia Merchant et Susanna McKeown in carmine eiusdem nominis.

Notae

↑ ""Because I could not stop for Death": Study Guide" .
↑ Anglice: "[The poem] exemplifies better than anything else [Dickinson] wrote the special quality of her mind. . . . If the word great means anything in poetry, this poem is one of the greatest in the English language; it is flawless to the last detail. The rhythm charges with movement the pattern of suspended action back of the poem. Every image is precise and, moreover, not merely beautiful, but inextricably fused with the central idea. Every image extends and intensifies every other. . . . No poet could have invented the elements of [this poem]; only a great poet could have used them so perfectly. Miss Dickinson was a deep mind writing from a deep culture, and when she came to poetry, she came infallibly."
↑ Tate 1936, pp. 14-15.

Bibliographia

Ernst, Katharina. 1992. "Death" in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson. Heidelburgi: C. Winter Universitaetsverlag. ISBN 3533044904, 3533044912.
Johnson, Claudia Durst, ed. 2013. Death and Dying in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson. Detroiti :Greenhaven Press. ISBN 9780737763751, 9780737763768.
Ottlinger, Claudia. 1996. The Death-Motif in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti. Francofurti et Novi Eboraci: Peter Lang. ISBN 0820431834.
Pockell, Leslie M., ed. 2009. 100 Essential American Poems. Novi Eboraci: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 9780312369804, 0312369808.
Tate, Allen. 1936. Reactionary Essays on Poetry and Ideas. Novi Eboraci: C. Scribner's Sons.

Nexus externi

Commentarii de "Because I could not stop for Death," www.english.illinois.edu.

[1] ""Because I could not stop for Death": Study Guide" .

[2] Anglice: "[The poem] exemplifies better than anything else [Dickinson] wrote the special quality of her mind. . . . If the word great means anything in poetry, this poem is one of the greatest in the English language; it is flawless to the last detail. The rhythm charges with movement the pattern of suspended action back of the poem. Every image is precise and, moreover, not merely beautiful, but inextricably fused with the central idea. Every image extends and intensifies every other. . . . No poet could have invented the elements of [this poem]; only a great poet could have used them so perfectly. Miss Dickinson was a deep mind writing from a deep culture, and when she came to poetry, she came infallibly."

[3] Tate 1936, pp. 14-15.

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