The Book of Jade
Personified figure appearing in dialogues among corpses and burial scenes.
Ashtoreth
Ashtoreth is described as a 'dead goddess,' invoking death imagery.
Parfait Amour
Personified as the ultimate object of the speaker's kiss, conflated with the beloved.
Sombre Sonnet
The savor of death clings to the things the speaker loves.
Languor
Implied as the force that will bring about the decay and transformation of the beloved's body.
Sonnet: When I Contemplate How My State Is Low
Death is invoked as a desired end to the speaker's woe.
Sonnet: Be Not Cast Down My Heart, and Be Not Sad
Referenced as the realm through which Ashtoreth sought Tammuz and as the fate of Osiris and Christ.
Ballad
The lady is surrounded by the dead and her journey has a funereal quality, suggesting Death's presence.
Changelessness
Personified as the force that touches the beloved's body, leading to her burial and transformation.
Madonna
Death is emblazoned on the Madonna's garment, part of the strange carousal.
Poppy Song
Implied through the imagery of long-dead bodies and the desire for restful oblivion akin to death.
Consolation
Personified as the throne upon which earth will rest, ruling over the buried nations.
Liebes-Tod
Invoked as a lover and destroyer, the entity through whom the speaker seeks final ecstasy and the perishing of the world.
I
Invoked as the beloved, personified as a figure of eternal union and destruction.
II
Invoked as the bringer of new joy after the speaker's lips have grown cold.
Song: She Hath Liv’d the Life of a Rose
Implied presence as the agent of the woman's end, reducing her to grass and leaves.
Song: Cometh a Day and a Night
Implied as the force that brings the day and night when life ends.
Constancy
The force to whom the beloved has gone down, personified as a destination.
Requiem
The force that claims the beloved and is invoked in the final lines.
Autumn Burial
Death is implied as the cause of the fair one's state, her corpse being carried and buried.
Sonnet of Burial
Death is the central event, as the beloved's body is interred and the soul departs to a place of rest.
Mad Sonnet
Implored by the speaker to descend and end their suffering.
De Profundis
Implied as the presence of dead things, worms, and the grave that envelops the speaker.
Prayer
Pestilence is invoked as an agent of death, bringing decay and destruction to all.
Sestettes
Personified as a figure to be mocked, blasphemed, and ultimately embraced as the supreme ecstasy.
II
Mentioned as not distressing the beloved, but rather bringing ecstasy.
III
Personified figure mocked by the speaker's blasphemous love.
IV
Invoked as the measure of love's intensity.
V
Personified as the ultimate end, stripped of any romanticism.
Sonnet of the Instruments of Death
Referenced as the figure whose sacristy and vessels are described, and to whom the souls commune.
Truth
Addressed directly by the speaker, whose face is questioned as possibly fair or merely a renewal of vanity.
Monotony
Referenced indirectly through the corpse and the state of being dead, central to the chapter's imagery.
Sepulture
Implied through the imagery of the tomb, corpses, and burial of the speaker's hopes.
Scorn
Implied as the state of the speaker, who is dead and abandoned to decay.
The Grave
Death is the condition that has claimed the speaker, leaving him in a state of perpetual decay and isolation.
Mummy
Death is the agent that petrifies and perfects the mummy, crystallizing it into a changeless state.
Sepulchral Life
Death is invoked as the ultimate end, with the world likened to a corpse and souls moving toward a second death.
Corpse
The corpse embodies death's dominion, crowned and enthroned in decay.
Mankind
Implied as the inevitable end awaiting the bodies of the dead, given to the worm.
The Grotesques
The overarching presence that governs the tomb and the decay of the corpses.
I
Implied presence through the corpse and the state of decay.
II
Implied as the ruler of the dead dominions where the corpse receives plaudits.
III
Present as the state of the corpse and the surrounding dead figures, embodying decay and finality.
IV
Presiding over the tomb and the decay of the corpse.
Dead Dialogue
The corpses are dead and speak from the grave, embodying death's aftermath.
Envoi
Implied through the tombwards journey and nightshade crown, though not directly named.
Postlude
Death is a central presence in the postlude, symbolizing the inevitable end and decay.
After-Life
The state of being after life, where the speaker lies in a house without a door and experiences eternal sleep.
