Question on Emily Dickinson's poetry

[Richard]

It is true that you can sing all of Emily Dickinson's poetry to The Yellow Rose of Texas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdmjbxMs7hg which dates back at least to 1836. So some have speculated that maybe Emily (1830-1886) may have listened to the song while writing.

Something that is lesser known is that you can also sing all of Emily's poems to the Theme Song to Gilligan's Island http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qycmb7_LvsA

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

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 strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, he passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Why?

[Richard]

The answer, Emily wrote in hymn meter, which is very common, and tends to be used a lot in song. A song that also follows this meter is, Amazing Grace. This means, of course, you can sing Amazing Grace to Gilligan's Island.