18 pages • 36 minutes read
When Death Comes
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Symbols & Motifs
Stepping Through the Door
One of the major motifs in the poem is that of crossing the threshold of a house, an image often symbolically used to describe going from one state of being to another. This type of imagery is used twice in “When Death Comes.” It appears most prominently in the image of the “bride” (Line 22) and “bridegroom” (Line 23). In older wedding traditions, after a woman was married, her new spouse took her “into his arms” (Line 23) and carried her into the house. This symbolized her life as a single woman ending and her life as a married woman beginning.
The image is also used earlier in the poem as the speaker looks at their future death, and wonders what it will be like to enter “that cottage of darkness” (Line 10). Here, the state of living would be replaced with the afterlife. Like the “bride married to amazement” (Line 22) in life, the speaker hopes to be “full of curiosity, wondering” (Line 9) when crossing the final threshold as well. This changes any expected emotion of fear and trepidation into one of anticipation and wonder, which adds to the hopefulness of the poem.
Preciousness of Individual Lives
Throughout the poem, Oliver’s wording regarding merit helps us to see that every life is rare and of particular value. This is made most clear in the stanza after the speaker contemplates death, when they “therefore […] look[s] upon everything” (Line 12) with a new acknowledgment to its worth. Every “life [is seen as a] flower, as common / as a field daisy” (Lines 15-16). Yet, each one is still considered “singular” (Line 16) or unique. “Each name” (Line 17) should be “music in the mouth” (Line 17), a part of “a brotherhood and a sisterhood” (Line 12), held in “comfort” (Line 17). Each brave body is “precious to the earth” (Line 20) and worthy of respect. Faced with death’s leveling, the speaker realizes that every aspect of humanity should cause “amazement” (Line 22) and is worth embracing. This idea of value is even connected to their own life at the beginning of the poem, when death is willing to “tak[e] all the bright coins from his purse / to buy [them]” (Lines 3-4). The idea of pricelessness and specialness pervades the poem.
Comfortable Music
In the poem, there is an emphasis that Death has made the speaker “look upon everything / as a brotherhood and a sisterhood” (Lines 11-12). This sense of community is then enhanced by another phrase later in the poem, when the speaker thinks of “each name a comfortable music in the mouth, / tending, as all music does, toward silence” (Lines 17-18). Here, the idea is that every name, whether it is familiar or not, should hold a place of respect within our speech. It heavily implies that every person of every race, creed, and nationality should be part of the aforementioned “brotherhood and […] sisterhood” (Line 12). This is especially true because every human being, like music, “tend[s] […] toward silence” (Line 18), or death. In other words, we are all in the same woods, headed toward the same “cottage of darkness” (Line 10). Oliver implies that we should err on the side of inclusivity, treating each other with wonder and care. The word “comfortable” (Line 17) suggests that we should get used to speaking of other people—that we are all the same—but also that we should find comfort in the shared “music” (Line 17) of existence.
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