Life After Death Billy Collins Analysis

Looking at the title, you can see that it is also the first line of the poem. I believe it sort of sets the tone and provides for a smooth transition into the poem. I personally find the phrase very calming and familiar, potentially the most important line of the entire poem, and most definitely the main line that sticks with you. If you look at the meaning behind the words, it’s possible for them to be referring to the lack of control we tend to have over our deaths. We cannot stop our lives for death, rather he comes at unexpected time, unknown to us. We don’t plan for his arrival, he just comes when it is time to take us from life and deliver us to the entity referred to as eternity. This location is subjective to an individual and the beliefs of an individual.

As you read the poem, you follow
The speaker, like every other human, must at some point die. She was accepting of this, completely willing to begin her journey with death, and not at all afraid. Since the poem is being told centuries after the day of her death, it explores the possibility of life after death, and the immortality of the concept. It shows that death is not the end, and perhaps that explains why the speaker is so calm. Although no specific religious concepts were referenced, the concept of a life after death was, and is shown by the poem being told by a deceased person. I believe that there is an underlying theme of love, with my evidence being the glimpses of courtship and romance. If you replace death with any other name, the seemingly seductive actions of death, such as the peaceful carriage ride, fit within dating practices of the 1800s. Since the speaker doesn't fear death, and rather accepts and feels the opposite toward it, a reasonable assumption of possible feelings toward death can be made. If the poem had no underlying theme of love, the acceptance of death would be