Time is a prevalent motif in Dickinson’s poem. She references it to not only signify a sense of how long the story has gone on but also remind the reader that it is a constant in life and death.  Both characters in I Wish I knew that Woman’s Name  and Because I could not Stop for death have been deceased for a long period of time. This is evident when I wish I knew that woman’s name Protaganist states

“ For fear I hear her say
She’s “sorry I am dead” again”

The use of the word  again discloses that her death has been made clear to her numerous times. This woman is unique in the fact that unlike death’s passanger  she forgets the difference between her  life and her afterlife. To deaths passenger the change in lifestyle is clear as she gives a detailed passage about her relocation to the grave.

The use of time helps to reveal the difference between death’s passenger and the unnamed woman . The wish I knew that woman’s name woman must be constantly reminded that at one point she had more than the grave. The fact that the woman can no longer tell the difference between her  life and post life suggests two things: The first is that her life was not active enough to tell the difference between inactivity and activity, the second is that so much time has passed  between her life and death that she has forgotten the events of her life. 

The detail that death’s passenger is able to recall her life’s journey despite the fact that she is centuries dead, helps to prove my first claim.  Death’s passenger though she may have only passed by life’s essential activities at least was active enough to witness them, the orator in “I Wish I knew That Woman’s Name” remembers nothing of her life,  suggesting that she was completely passive. This would help to explain why she cannot tell the difference between Life and death  If she had never truly lived her life she would be unable to tell the difference between existence and death.