One of the strongest themes to arise out of Dickinson's poem is the embrace of the end force that is inevitably felt by all living creatures. Dickinson creates a portrait of death which is not fearful or brutal, but rather one of calm comfort that is to visit everyone as their inevitable end is marked. The opening lines confirm this: "He kindly stopped for me." The notion of characterizing death as "kindly" and gracious is a powerful reconceptualization as opposed to the standard gloomy notion. At the same time, the vision offered through the poem is one of reflection and nostalgia, where death and the speaker visit school yards at recess, open fields, and engage in the process of thoughtful rumination on the nature of existence. This is a vision of death that is not fearful, but rather receptive to what is awaiting all life. In the process, a theme that arises is that one should not live their life in fear of death, but rather examine a life where there is some notion of happiness when the inevitability of the carriage "kindly" stops for all of us.
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