Death

Narrator

Death is a constant, contemplative companion that the narrator accepts and even embraces as part of the cycle of life.

As I Ponder’d in Silence

Referenced as part of the war for life and death.

Democracy and the Bard of Personality

Mentioned as a beautiful event, no imperfection in the present or future.

The Grass as a Symbol of Life and Death

Addressed as a concept that is redefined; death is portrayed as a continuation of life.

Chapter 7

Referenced as a state as lucky as birth, which the narrator passes through with the dying.

Chapter 8: The Witness of Life and Death

Present in the image of the suicide sprawled on the bloody floor.

22

Referenced as 'unshovell'd yet always-ready graves,' highlighting the sea's association with death and immortality.

Chapter 25

Implied as the sun-rise that would kill the narrator if not balanced by inner radiance.

Now I Will Do Nothing But Listen

Death appears as a presence in the 'fakes of death' and the slow march guarding a corpse.

The Universal Self

Death is personified as chasing a wrecked steam-ship in the storm, and the narrator witnesses burial coaches entering a cemetery.

The Midnight Wreck

Present through the corpse of the child, the dead old salt, and the many bodies.

Flaunt of the Sunshine

Confronted and overcome by the narrator's resistless will and embrace.

A Call in the Midst of the Crowd

Death is referenced through the imagery of trestles, bandages under the chin, and dimes on the eyes, symbolizing mortality.

Chapter 43

Implied through references to the dead, graves, and the 'sea of torment'.

O Span of Youth!

Referenced as 'ineffable grace of dying days' and part of the natural progression.

Chapter 48

Mentioned in the context of peace about God and death.

Death, Life, and the Eternal Cycle

Personified as a force that cannot alarm the narrator, linked to the 'bitter hug of mortality'.

The Barbaric Yawp

Implied through departure, effusing flesh, and bequeathing self to the dirt.

Out of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd

Referenced as the limit before which the drop could not die without seeing the narrator, and as a force that cannot permanently separate the lovers.

Scented Herbage of My Breast

Addressed directly as beautiful, essential, and inseparably folded with love; the speaker asks death for its tone and declares it the real reality.

The Vision of Ancient Religions and Sacrifice

Referenced through the deaths of gods and heroes, including Bacchus and Hermes.

Song of the Open Road

Referenced as the 'delicious near-by freedom' that accompanies old age.

A Song of Joys

Death is portrayed as a beautiful, soothing touch and a necessary transition, with the soul continuing in other spheres.

Birds of Passage

Death is contemplated as a transition rather than an end.

Song of the Universal

Death is implicitly referenced through the themes of immortality and the spiritual ripening of all forms.

Pioneers! O Pioneers!

Addressed as a possibility on the march, with the line 'O to die advancing on!'

Sea-Drift

Implied presence in the sea's eternal ebb and flow, symbolizing mortality and the unknown.

Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking

The word whispered by the sea, central to the poem's revelation.

Song for All Seas, All Ships

Death is defied by the brave sailors; the spiritual flag is an emblem of man elate above death.

Flaunt Out O Sea Your Separate Flags

Referenced as the state above which the soul's emblem waves, symbolizing transcendence.

Patroling Barnegat

Implicitly present in the 'death-wind' and the threat of the wreck.

Europe

Referenced through the martyrs who die for freedom but live on in spirit and influence.

Gods

Addressed as the opener and usher to the heavenly mansion, after life has served its turn.

Gliding O'er All

Central figure in the song, representing the many deaths to be celebrated alongside life.

To Old Age

Implied as the 'great sea' into which old age pours.

Come Up from the Fields Father

Death is implied as the ultimate fate of Pete, and the mother's longing to join him in death.

Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night

Present as the condition of the comrade, the subject of the vigil.

A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown

Death is present as the young soldier's eyes close calmly, symbolizing the mortality faced on the battlefield.

The Wound-Dresser

Addressed as 'sweet death' and 'beautiful death,' implored to come mercifully.

The Wounded Healer

Present as an ever-looming possibility; the narrator's willingness to die for a wounded boy invokes the theme of sacrifice and mortality.

The Wounded Dresser

Addressed as 'sweet death' and 'beautiful death,' invoked as a merciful release for the suffering.

Dirge for Two Veterans

Present as the soldiers are laid to rest in a double grave, embodying the solemn end of life.

Look Down Fair Moon

The dead are central to the scene, described with ghastly, swollen, purple faces.

Reconciliation

Personified as a sister alongside Night, softly washing the world clean.

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d

Personified as a 'dark mother' and 'strong deliveress,' celebrated in the thrush's carol as soothing and welcome.

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd

Implied presence as the cause of mourning.

The Solitary Thrush

Death is invoked as the outlet of the thrush's song, a song of life from the bleeding throat.

Over the Breast of the Spring

Implied presence as the corpse is carried to the grave.

Chapter 7

Addressed as 'O sane and sacred death' and covered with roses and lilies.

Warble Myself for the Dead One

The beloved dead one, the large sweet soul that has gone.

Adorning the Burial-House

The burial-house is for him I love, implying death as a presence.

The Carol of Death

Appears as a cloud and a long black trail, then walks beside the narrator as a comrade, celebrated as a gentle deliverer.

To the Tally of My Soul

The dead soldiers are described as fully at rest and not suffering.

Passing the Visions

Death is referenced as the outlet song and the subject of the tallying chant.

Hush’d Be the Camps To-day

The event of the commander's death that brings the soldiers to mourn.

Chapter 13

Death is described as without emergencies here, contrasting with life's perpetual emergencies.

As Consequent, etc.

The old streams of death into which life's rapids soon blend.

The Return of the Heroes

The dead are said not to mar the landscape; they fit well in Nature, their memories gliding by like pleasing phantoms.

Chapter 5

The dead are personified as pleasing phantoms that fit naturally in the landscape.

The City Dead-House

Present as the condition of the prostitute's corpse, the stillness and ruin that the narrator contemplates.

This Compost

Implied through the 'distemper'd corpses' and 'sour dead' that the earth absorbs and transforms.

Song of Prudence

Referenced as the hour of death and the indirect lifetime beyond, where actions have results.

The Singer in the Prison

Referenced in the hymn as the 'heavenly pardoner' who frees the imprisoned soul.

The Prisoner's Hymn

Portrayed as the heavenly pardoner who will free the imprisoned soul.

A Festival Song of the Soul

Present in the dirge and desolation of mankind, the wounded groaning, and the embers of cities.

The Clue Found

Referenced as part of the poems bridging the way from Life to Death.

The Soul's Voyage to God

Referenced as one of the silent thoughts (Time, Space, and Death) that the soul masters and smiles at.

Passage to More than India

Implied as a threshold or enigma to be mastered on the passage beyond known shores.

The Sleepers

Personified as a dark mother or a peaceful rest, intertwined with the sleep motif.

The Sleepers

Referenced through the 'white features of corpses' and the dying emerging from gates, embodying the boundary between sleep and death.

The Shroud and the Coffin

Death is present as the shroud and the coffin, offering a blank, painless state.

To Think of Time

Death is personified as a natural and unifying force that all must face.

The Unceasing Cycle of Birth and Death

Death is personified as a palpable presence, with the corpse being the focus of the living's gaze, while a different living looks on curiously.

3

Present as the inevitable force that merges with thoughts of materials and claims all, including Presidents.

A Reminiscence of the Vulgar Fate

Present as the inevitable end for the stage-driver, depicted through the funeral and burial.

The Law of Identity and the Goodness of the Universe

The narrator rejects suspicion of death, stating that if they suspected death they would die now, and instead walks pleasantly toward annihilation.

Whispers of Heavenly Death

Death is personified as a heavenly, transformative force leading to immortality.

Darest Thou Now O Soul

Implied as the threshold to the inaccessible land where earthly ties loosen.

Whispers of Heavenly Death

Personified as 'Heavenly Death,' the subject of the whispers and the transition.

Of Him I Love Day and Night

Present as the pervasive reality filling every place, equal to life.

Yet, Yet, Ye Downcast Hours

Implied presence as the sea to be sailed and the destination unknown, evoking the anguish of the old, young woman, and young man who appeal for comfort.

Assurances

Heavenly Death is presented as the ultimate provider for all lives and events, surpassing temporal Life.

To One Shortly to Die

The imminent event addressed; the narrator reassures the dying that the spirit escapes the corpse.

Night on the Prairies

Personified as the revealer of what life cannot exhibit.

Thought

Implied presence in the shipwreck and the fate of the women.

The Last Invocation

Implied as the gentle release from mortal flesh and love.

As I Watch’d the Ploughman Ploughing

Personified as the harvest that follows life's tillage, completing the natural cycle.

Pensive and Faltering

The dead are described as the only living and real, contrasting with the narrator's spectral existence.

From Noon to Starry Night

Implied presence as night and oblivion are contemplated.

The Mystic Trumpeter

Referenced indirectly through the 'silent, dark, and nigh to death' lovers and the 'terrible tableaus' of ships foundering.

Come Nearer Bodiless One

The bodiless one, a dead composer or spirit, whose music is channeled.

A Riddle Song

Referenced indirectly through 'the coffin'd dead' as one of the places where the riddle's radiations glide.

Mediums

Listed among the concepts to be conveyed by the mediums, along with the future and invisible faith.

From Far Dakota’s Canyons

Death is presented as the upholder of the loftiest of life, a central force in the poem's meditation on sacrifice.

A Clear Midnight

Death is one of the themes the soul ponders in the midnight hour.

Songs of Parting

Addressed as a companion in the final voyage.

As the Time Draws Nigh

Referenced implicitly as the 'dread beyond' that darkens the narrator's thoughts.

Ashes of Soldiers

The dead soldiers are portrayed as phantoms, yet they are 'elate and alive again' through the poet's chant, embodying death's transcendence.

Song at Sunset

Death is portrayed as a superb vista, part of the natural cycle to be celebrated.

As at Thy Portals Also Death

Addressed as the sovereign of dim, illimitable grounds.

Camps of Green

The camps of green represent the final resting place, a bivouac-field of all.

The Sobbing of the Bells

Death is the central event announced by the bells, bringing sudden news that awakens the people.

As They Draw to a Close

Embraced and accepted exultingly as the same as life.

Joy, Shipmate, Joy!

Death is personified as the moment of joyful departure, the beginning of a new life.

Portals

Implied as the ultimate portal beyond life.

These Carols

Implied as the gateway to the Invisible World to which the carols are dedicated.

So Long!

Death is portrayed as a transformative force that makes the speaker 'really undying' and leads to his triumph.

Sands at Seventy

Personified as a presence to be embraced, not feared, in the final poems.

To Those Who’ve Fail’d

Referenced as the early death that quenches the fiery spirit of the failed.

Queries to My Seventieth Year

Death is implied as a possible outcome of the approaching year, described as a 'dim, uncertain spectre' that may bring life or death.

Fancies at Navesink

Implied as part of the cycle from which the rhythmus of Birth eternal is woven.

Last of Ebb, and Daylight Waning

Implied through the themes of oblivion, despair, and the final voyage.

And Yet Not You Alone

Death is invoked as a necessary element in the weaving of eternal birth.

Continuities

Implied as the transformation rather than end, as the body's embers and dim eye shall flame again.

Going Somewhere

Referenced implicitly through the friend's burial in an English grave.

After the Supper and Talk

Implied presence as the 'far-stretching journey' that awaits, from which there is no return.

Goodbye My Fancy

Implied as the horizon toward which the fancy departs, a companion in the final voyage.

Preface Note to 2nd Annex

Death is referenced through the many poemets about death and the poet's own aging, paralyzed condition.

My 71st Year

Implied through references to parents' deaths and the war's losses.

The Pallid Wreath

Implied through the funeral wreath and the theme of mortality.

Old Age’s Ship & Crafty Death’s

Personified as 'Crafty Death,' one of the two masterful vessels sailing upon the horizon.

To the Sun-Set Breeze

Implied through the speaker's reflection on age, solitude, and the 'endless store' from which the breeze comes.

A Voice from Death

Personified as a solemn, strange voice and minister of Deity, delivering the cataclysm.

L. of G.'s Purport

Shadowy Death dogs the speaker's steps and sits face to face.

Goodbye My Fancy!

Implied as the force behind the farewell and the 'heart-thud stopping,' with a suggestion of unity beyond death.

Old Age Echoes

Implied presence as the inevitable end that the narrator confronts.

Of Many a Smutch’d Deed Reminiscent

Death is awaited with perfect equanimity, as a natural part of life.

Death's Valley

Personified as a holiest minister, envoy, and guide—sweet, peaceful, and welcome rather than fearsome.

On the Same Picture

Death is personified as the grim valley that all must enter.