Because I could not stop for death By Emily Dickinson 1890 [[]Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

[5]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,
[10] 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;
[15]The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice(1) but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised(2) the horses' heads
[20]Were toward Eternity.

1. A cornice is an ornamental molding around the wall of a room just below the ceiling. 2. Surmise (verb): to suppose that something is true; to deduce or guess.

Which statement best describes how the setting in stanza 5 impacts the meaning of the poem?

A. The speaker does not want to pause at the “house,” suggesting the setting frightens her and she is eager to move on.

B. The speaker describes her grave as a “house,” suggesting she needs shelter from death contributing to her desperate and scared tone.

C. The speaker’s final “house” or tomb has collapsed into the earth, contributing to the poem’s theme that human lives are unimportant to nature.

D. The speaker describes her tomb as a “house,” showing she views her body’s final resting place as one of comfort rather than fear.