Death and Mortality

Where it surfaces

• Autumn Thought

  The poem directly addresses the death of flowers in autumn, using their decay and dispersal as a metaphor for mortality.

• Question

  Death is personified as a collector, prompting reflection on the ultimate equality or inequality of human worth in the afterlife.

• To a Dead Friend

  The poem directly addresses the finality of death and the enduring absence of the departed.

• Song for a Banjo Dance

  The repeated warning that the sun might never rise again frames the dance as a defiant act against the certainty of death.

• The Last Feast of Belshazzar

  Death is personified as a figure standing at the door, underscoring the inescapable end that follows worldly indulgence.

• Fire-Caught

  The moth's fall into the fire symbolizes death as the ultimate consequence of desire.

• Song for a Suicide

  The poem directly addresses suicide and the desire for death as a final, restful end to suffering.

• Prayer for a Winter Night

  Death is invoked as a release from suffering, with the speaker asking God to freeze the poor to death.

• Mammy

  Death is personified as a maternal figure, awaited with softness and patience.

• The Poppy Flower

  The poppy flower's withering and death is the central event, with the night-people's tears emphasizing loss.

• Steel Mills

  The imagery of grinding away lives and the contrast between new steel and old men underscores the mortality and sacrifice of workers.

• Sea Charm

  The poem concludes with the sea holding 'a wide, deep death,' linking the natural element directly to mortality.

• Drama for Winter Night

  Death is personified as a door, and the man's dying wish for rest is met with the same rejection he faced in life.

• Poem to a Dead Soldier

  Death is depicted as a seductive, violent force that strips youth of life, and the poem exposes the uncomfortable truth of mortality that society tries to mask with euphemisms.

• Suicide's Note

  The river's request for a kiss directly evokes the temptation of suicide and the finality of death.

• Fantasy in Purple

  The speaker directly confronts their own death, requesting a dramatic soundtrack for their final moments.

• Young Bridge

  Death is portrayed as a peaceful release from the suffering of love.

• Cross

  The poem ends with the speaker wondering where he will die, underscoring the existential uncertainty tied to his racial identity.

• Salome

  The poem directly confronts death's chilling reality, contrasting it with the fleeting heat of passion.

• Teacher

  The poem is a meditation from beyond the grave, contrasting the striving of life with the stillness and darkness of death.

• Judgment Day

  The poem directly addresses the speaker's death and journey to the afterlife.

• For Dead Mimes

  The poem is a direct elegy for dead mimes, focusing on their eternal rest.

• New Year

  The falling years are likened to dry leaves, evoking the inevitability of time and the end of life.

• Epitaph

  The poem directly addresses the speaker's own death and the emptiness of the grave.

• Lonesome Place

  The river is contemplated as a place without worries, suggesting a desire for escape from life's weariness.

• Rain

  The waiting for 'nothingness' and the weariness suggest a contemplation of death or existential void.

• Suicide

  The speaker explicitly contemplates death by knife or drowning, seeking peace in the river's quiet.

• Red Roses

  The speaker directly confronts death and the conditions of burial, preferring a springtime death to avoid the cold of winter.

• Saturday Night

  The poem repeatedly reminds that death is final and inevitable, urging carpe diem: 'you's a long time Dead / When you is Dead, too.'

• To a Little Lover-Lass, Dead

  The poem directly addresses the death of a young woman and her journey into the afterlife.

• Death of an Old Seaman

  The poem centers on the death and burial of the old seaman, exploring the transition from life to an eternal, joyful existence at sea.

• Sick Room

  Death is personified as a lover lying beside the woman, emphasizing the closeness of mortality

• To the Dark Mercedes of “El Palacio de Amor”

  Mercedes is described as a 'doomed star' and associated with a 'death house,' emphasizing mortality.

• Day

  The poem culminates in a 'single doom,' emphasizing the inescapable finality of death.

• Lincoln Monument

  Lincoln is depicted as 'quiet for ten thousand centuries' and 'a million, million centuries,' emphasizing his death and the timelessness of his legacy.

• Gal's Cry for a Dying Lover

  The poem is centered on the anticipation of death, signaled by natural omens and the speaker's plea for divine intervention.

• Desire

  The poem directly compares desire to a double death, linking passion with mortality and finality.

• Wise Men

  The poem equates wisdom with a dead-eyed, lifeless state, suggesting a form of living death.

• The Naughty Child

  The naughty child's death by drowning serves as a stark warning about the consequences of disobedience.

• Mona

  Mona's death is described as painful, yet it leads to new life, transforming mortality into a source of rebirth.

• Ma Lord

  Ma Lord's death and ascension to heaven, and the promise of the speaker's own journey, directly engage with mortality.

• Montmartre Beggar Woman

  The poem concludes with death as the sole remaining intimate, underscoring the inevitability of mortality and the erasure of past beauty.

• Closing Time

  The drowned girl and the plea for death's kindness underscore the chapter's focus on mortality.

• Death of Do Dirty

  The central event of the poem is the murder of Do Dirty, exploring grief and the desire for vengeance.

• Sport

  Death is depicted as an empty cabaret and eternity as an unblown saxophone, emphasizing the void after life's music ends.

• Fire

  The speaker's terror of eternal damnation and the burning of the soul highlights the theme of death and the afterlife.

• Moan

  The line 'Feels like I could die' directly confronts the speaker's proximity to death.

• Angels Wings

  The imagery of wings dragged through fire and mire suggests a journey through suffering and perhaps a reckoning with mortality.

• Baby

  The poem directly warns that playing in the road could lead to death, emphasizing the fragility of life.

• A Ruined Gal

  The poem culminates in a contemplation of suicide by drowning, with death seen as the only escape from her ruined state.

• Young Gal's Blues

  The speaker walks to the graveyard and contrasts the cold grave with the loneliness of the poorhouse, expressing a preference for death over ugliness and old age.

• Nonette

  The speaker dies from the poison of the rose, and Nonette also dies from a broken heart.

• Mazie Dies Alone in the City Hospital

  The speaker confronts the reality of dying alone and contrasts it with the vibrant, noisy life she lived.

• Dear Lovely Death

  Death is reimagined as a gentle, transformative presence that changes rather than destroys.

• Flight

  The imminent threat of being 'swung to a tree' underscores the constant presence of death for Black men in this context.

• Tower

  The poem directly explores death as a tower and the soul's eternal meditation.