Summary Of The Poeme By Billy Collins

Task IV
Please analyze the theme of the poem, using the speech act hypotheses we have discussed in class.

Please pay attention to the change of syntax in the second half of the poem.
As the first part of the poem is imperatives and the theme of the poem is elegy, I firstly regard it as an advice or consolation, the poet advising others not to be bothered to find the traces of the person who died. A common condolence is generally soothing and pacifying, describing how the deceased will rest in peace, however, in this case the poet depicts with very unfavorable words, such as “brittle”, “cold”, and “angry”, which is by no means reassuring or encouraging. Then I guess maybe it is a lament in which the poet uses uncomfortable words to give
full vent to his sadness and resentment about his friend’s death.
The second half of the poem changes from imperatives to declarative statements, depicting what happens to the deceased after the death. According to the poet, the deceased still doesn’t get peacefulness but, luckily, becomes an integral part of nature. Taking the two parts into consideration, I think the poem is a lament at the beginning and a placation for both others and the poet himself in the end.

ELEGY
Leonard Cohen

Do not look for him
In brittle mountain streams:
They are too cold for any god;
And do not examine the angry rivers
For shreds of his soft body
Or turn the shore stones for his blood;
But in the warm salt ocean
He is descending through cliffs
Of slow green water
And the hovering coloured fish
Kiss his snow-bruised body
And build their secret nests
In his fluttering winding-sheet.