Your original question asked two questions, so I have had
to edit it down to one. In this poem it is important to realise that Death is
personified as a carriage driver who politely stops to collect the speaker. It is
interesting to see how Dickinson uses this metaphor to "tame" or "domesticate" the most
awesome and inevitable of human experiences - death. The literal elements of this
metaphor are simple: dying is compared to an unexpected ride in a horse-drawn
carriage.
Therefore, the speaker spends most of her time
sat next to Death in this carriage. Note how the first stanza describes
it:
The
Carriage held but just Ourselves -And
Immortality.
This is part of
the unforgettable nature of this poem - it makes us see death as nothing terrifying, but
just a normal carriage ride with a polite gentleman who kindly picks us up at the right
time.
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