Mortality and Loss

Where it surfaces

• The Census-Taker

  The decay of the house and the absence of people evoke a deep sense of loss and the passage of time.

• Maple

  Maple's mother dies shortly after her birth, and the name becomes a lasting connection to that loss.

• The Grindstone

  The grindstone's idle state and the memory of past labor evoke a sense of transience, loss, and the passage of time, symbolized by the Father-Time figure.

• Place for a Third

  The chapter centers on Eliza's death and the negotiation of her final resting place, highlighting grief and the desire for control over one's legacy.

• Two Witches

  The skeleton in the attic and the murder it represents, along with the Pauper Witch's decline from youth to poverty, underscore themes of death and loss.

• I: The Witch of Coös

  The skeleton represents death and the unresolved past; the mother's confession reveals a murder and the haunting consequences.

• An Empty Threat

  The poem invokes Henry Hudson's dark fate and the extinct Great Auk, meditating on failure, death, and the haunting legacy of lost endeavors.

• I Will Sing You One-O

  The poem contrasts the eternal, unchanging stars with human history of conflict and decay, evoking a sense of loss and the transient nature of human endeavors.

• Grace Notes

  Evident in 'In a Disused Graveyard,' 'To E. T.,' and 'Fire and Ice,' where death, destruction, and the end of the world are contemplated.

• Fire and Ice

  The poem directly addresses the ultimate destruction of the world, framing it through the human emotions of desire and hate.

• In a Disused Graveyard

  The poem centers on death, the inevitability of dying, and the human fear of mortality, as seen in the graveyard's verses and the speaker's reflection on why no dead come.

• To E. T.

  The poem mourns the death of a friend and the permanent silence of unspoken words.

• Nothing Gold Can Stay

  References to Eden sinking to grief and the loss of gold evoke themes of mortality and inevitable loss.

• Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

  The 'darkest evening of the year' and the repeated line 'miles to go before I sleep' suggest a meditation on death and the obligations that delay it.

• The Onset

  The speaker likens the snowfall to death overtaking a person, yet finds precedent in nature's resilience against winter's 'death.'

• To Earthward

  The speaker's longing for the sting of tears and the stain of love reflects a deep engagement with loss and the passage of time.

• Not to Keep

  The soldier's wound and the inevitability of his return to danger highlight the constant presence of death and loss.

• Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter

  The absence of the bird and the dying of the warm season evoke a sense of loss and the passage of time.

• Misgiving

  The speaker contemplates death and the afterlife, hoping that the desire for rest does not overcome the quest for knowledge beyond life.

• The Lockless Door

  The knock may symbolize death or change, and the speaker's evasion suggests a confrontation with mortality.