Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is very lonely and isolated compared to Whitman’s sixth chant, where he speaks about grass having a universalizing and regenerative feature. In Dickinson’s poem, the speaker is the only human left in the carriage besides the otherworldly Death and Immortality; the speaker only watches children playing from afar. Whereas in Whitman’s sixth chant, the “young and old men” and “women and children” he describes are “alive and well somewhere,” as if they are a collected group.
These authors’ approaches toward death, however, are somewhat similar. For instance, Whitman states, “All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses / And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.” In these lines, Whitman presents an optimistic and regenerative approach to death. Dickinson also views death as somewhat optimistic, although the poem’s imagery is less pleasant than Whitman’s. Dickinson’s Death is described as kind and civil, which is a comforting feature as compared to the typical view of death as being menacing. Additionally, the carriage is headed “toward Eternity,” which suggests Whitman’s view that “all goes onward and outward, nothing collapses.” As mentioned earlier, the carriage had passed children playing, which also reiterates that life goes on and nothing collapses just because Death stops for an individual.
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