Critical Analysis of Mrs Lazarus
This poem consists of 8 regular stanzas, each stanza being a quintet.
Throughout the poem, no particular rhyme scheme is conveyed and the sentence length varies in each stanza. This poem is entirely constructed in 1st person narrative.
Stanza 1
“I had grieved” – past tense – descriptive – suggests that sorrow was previously present however there is none now. Description of graveyard implies that this was a terrifying/chilling experience for her.
“Married” implies that she had wed the person she had lost. Next line portrays that she must have got married on the day that her husband died if she had ripped her wedding clothes from her body.
This stanza provides the reader with physicality by the use of the words “ripped”, “howled”, “shrieked”, “clawed”, “retched” etc. - onomatopoeic - portray a violent narrator. “howled”, “clawed” – anthropomorphic. Repetition – “over and over”, “dead, dead”. – symbolise that she thought of him repeatedly. This stanza displays as her almost hating him because he died.
Sentence Structure – Short sentence to start – illustrates immediacy.
Long sentence follows – symbolising how long she has grieved over the one she had lost – how long the process of recovery had been.
Language – emotional, aggressive, sinister, chilling.
Overall tone – depressing, graphic/gruesome.
Themes – death, sorrow, aftermath.
Stanza 2
Remains in past tense.
“Gutted” – associated with gutting fish – unpleasant – symbolising destruction of her home.
Colour change from “white” to “dark” – conveys “white” as being before he died (symbol of purity, holiness), and “dark” as the world she is in now that he is gone (symbol of evil, desperation)
Symbolism of isolation – “Single cot” (relates to Mrs Quasimodo i.e.
“Single silver fish”), “widow”, “one empty glove”, “half” – sense of her feeling incomplete.
“White femur”– bones – “dust” – ashes – relates to the fact that her
Throughout the poem, no particular rhyme scheme is conveyed and the sentence length varies in each stanza. This poem is entirely constructed in 1st person narrative.
Stanza 1
“I had grieved” – past tense – descriptive – suggests that sorrow was previously present however there is none now. Description of graveyard implies that this was a terrifying/chilling experience for her.
“Married” implies that she had wed the person she had lost. Next line portrays that she must have got married on the day that her husband died if she had ripped her wedding clothes from her body.
This stanza provides the reader with physicality by the use of the words “ripped”, “howled”, “shrieked”, “clawed”, “retched” etc. - onomatopoeic - portray a violent narrator. “howled”, “clawed” – anthropomorphic. Repetition – “over and over”, “dead, dead”. – symbolise that she thought of him repeatedly. This stanza displays as her almost hating him because he died.
Sentence Structure – Short sentence to start – illustrates immediacy.
Long sentence follows – symbolising how long she has grieved over the one she had lost – how long the process of recovery had been.
Language – emotional, aggressive, sinister, chilling.
Overall tone – depressing, graphic/gruesome.
Themes – death, sorrow, aftermath.
Stanza 2
Remains in past tense.
“Gutted” – associated with gutting fish – unpleasant – symbolising destruction of her home.
Colour change from “white” to “dark” – conveys “white” as being before he died (symbol of purity, holiness), and “dark” as the world she is in now that he is gone (symbol of evil, desperation)
Symbolism of isolation – “Single cot” (relates to Mrs Quasimodo i.e.
“Single silver fish”), “widow”, “one empty glove”, “half” – sense of her feeling incomplete.
“White femur”– bones – “dust” – ashes – relates to the fact that her