Themes in Poetry: Death

“Themes in Poetry: Death”

There are many frequently occurring ideas in poetry. The basic message of a poem is called a "theme." All poems have a certain theme that they revolve around, such as love, nature, life, and confusion. In different poems by different poets, the same themes correlate with each other because they all revolve around the same subject matter. Although seen through different angles and viewpoints, the same message is present and intertwined within the poems. One of the most commonly used themes in poetry of various poets is the theme of death. There are many different aspects of death that can be written about, but still, all the poems connect in the fact that they are about death.

For centuries, poets have been fascinated with death. The mystery of it is so intriguing to the writers. The uniqueness of it is that no one is sure what death is like, because the only way to find that out, obviously, is to actually die. It is an undiscovered secret that the poets can only guess and hypothesize about. Some write and wonder if their dead loved ones can still see and hear them or if they know what they are sorry for or think about their dying; such as in "Unforgotten" by Laurence Hope. "Lying alone, aside, do you ever think of me, left in the light, from the endless calm of your dawnless night?" The question of life after death always is a frequent. What does a person do after death? Are they just gone completely, or is there a spirit that continues on? Is it better to just die? These mysteries will always remain mysteries to write about. Samual Hoffenstein's poem, "The Dead They Sleep," describes death as peace and rest. "The dead they sleep a long, long sleep; the dead they rest, and their rest is deep; the dead have peace, but the living weep." Still, many poets have written about the fear of what may come after life. Oliver Mbamara writes of his fear of death. "I wait not for thy appointed day, for in it you instill thy fright and trouble the minds and thoughts of those who fall to thy illusion." On the contrary view of that, John Donne speaks of death as something not to fear in his poem "Death Be Not Proud." "Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so... and death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die."

An aspect of death that many poets write about is the fact that death is inevitable and always victorious. There is really no way to