Death

What Is Death? Death - The personification of the power that destroys life, often represented in art and literature as a skeleton or an otherworldly being holding a scythe. Death and Winter are infinitely intertwined, as both represent the lack of warmth and love.

Theme Quotations The year goes, the woods decay, and after many a summer dies. - Using personification, Morgan gives nature human qualities by saying it “decays” and “dies”, which contribute to the idea of ageing and passing away - which contrasts with the normal strength of nature - by showing that winter overpowers it, as if to say death is inevitable, that nothing can stop it. The swan on Bingham’s pond, a ghost, comes and goes. - The metaphor used to link the swan as a “ghost” links with the idea of life ebbing away. The particular choice to use the swan - a traditional representative of purity and beauty - is peculiar as the imagery in this poem is melancholy and dark.

The Message Death, in its infinite power and magnitude, is something no poet, no matter how eloquent they are, or how proficient at their profession they are, can properly describe. All words are mere speculation, with the repetition of nothing, driving home the core message that everything is finite, and nothing lasts forever.