Poetry · Chapter

VII explained

A brief, lyrical meditation on a deceased woman, emphasizing her physical beauty even in death—her hair still vibrant while her eyes are lifeless.

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A brief, lyrical meditation on a deceased woman, emphasizing her physical beauty even in death—her hair still vibrant while her eyes are lifeless.

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Story tension across the book.

This poem marks the dramatic climax because it captures the speaker’s psychological peak of desperation and su…

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Death and Mortality
The chapter directly confronts the physical reality of death, describing a corpse with 'death upon her eyes' and the lingering 'life upon her hair.'
Love and Beauty
The dead woman is described as 'all perfum’d' and beautiful even in death, linking love and beauty with mortality.

Narrator
The speaker observes the dead woman, focusing on her perfumed presence and the contrast between her dead eyes and living hair.
Death
Death is personified as the force that has taken the woman, leaving her with 'death upon her eyes.'

“Of the dead⁠—dead who lies All perfum’d there, With the death upon her eyes, And the life upon her hair.”
Regarding the deceased woman who lies there, completely fragrant, with death visible in her eyes but life still apparent in her hair.
The speaker emphasizes the paradox of death and lingering vitality in the woman's appearance.