Death: A Poem Essay: Death's New Roll

Death’s New Roll Death is an emotion is an that seems one sided, but in reality can be expressed in different ways. Despite viewed as a sad and negative emotion with nothing at all positive to say, it can be viewed in entirely different ways. In the poems “The Cremation of Sam McGee” written by Robert Service, “Full Fathom Five” written by William Shakespeare, and “Annabel Lee” written by Edgar Allan Poe, the topic of death is defined in several different ways. In “The Cremation of Sam McGee” death is a force that puts trust and friendship to the test. In “Full Fathom Five” death can bring beauty. In “Annabel Lee” death can test and even strengthen love. These poems give death a new roll to play instead of always being the “bad guy.” In “The
When the king’s son learns that his father died, he tries to look on the brighter side and says that his father’s “bones are coral made” (line 2). The memories of the king will stay bright and colorful in the minds of the people, like coral is very colorful and bright. Coral is considered a beautiful part of the ocean, so the speaker imagines his father as becoming something beautiful after he died and not something dull like a rock or sand. The speaker also says “those are pearls that were his [father’s] eyes;” further expanding his optimistic view of his father’s departure (line 3). Pearls are one of the most valuable materials from the ocean. Since the speaker’s dad was a king, he is described as having value on the ocean floor. The prince knows that “nothing of [his father]...fade[s], / But [he does] suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange” and reassures himself that beauty is never lost (lines 4-6). The speaker knows that although his father is dead his memory does not fade but lives on in everyone’s mind. The king must have been a great man to never completely fade away, despite the physical changes he goes through one the ocean floor. Despite usually described as the destroyer of beauty, death ends up showing the opposite
The speaker describes him and Annabel’s love as “a love that the winged seraphs of heaven / coveted” and says that jealousy was the reason “a wind blew out of a cloud by night / chilling and killing… Annabel Lee” (lines 11-12, 15). The speaker is so upset about Annabel’s death, he blames angles, who cannot feel jealousy, of coveting Annabel and his love to the point where they kill Annabel. The speaker is left with a hole in his heart that cannot heal, so he goes on to point fingers at supernatural beings to help him get over his rage. The speaker goes even further to say that “neither the angels in Heaven above, / nor the demons down under the sea, / can ever dissever [his] soul from the soul / of the beautiful Annabel Lee” (lines 30-33). The speaker claims that nothing in the spirature world nor physical world could separate him from Annabel because of how strong their love for each other was. The speaker states in his own way that love is an extremely powerful force that nothing, not even death, can break apart. After Annabel died the speaker claims that “the moon never beams without bringing [him] dreams/… and the stars never rise but [he] see[s] the bright eyes / of the beautiful Annabel Lee” as a way of reminding himself that she will always be with him in his heart (lines 34, 36-37). He is constantly seeing and thinking about Annabel because he misses her so much and he always wants to remind