When Death Comes

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.