Mary Oliver’s poem “When Death Comes” is a very good example of a poem on the theme of death and our awareness of our own mortality. In the poem, the poet tries to imagine what death would feel like and how she would react to it. She hopes that when death comes she will be able to accept it with open arms and hopes to live her life to the fullest so that when she dies she does not “end up simply having visited this world”. Thus the poem effectively tells us to fear not death but an inadequate life.
The theme of death is present throughout this poem with the first three stanzas repeating the words “when death comes” as many as four times. This repetition sets the reader’s expectations for the rest of the poem. Later the words “when it’s over” are also repeated. These words too signify death since death is the end of life. The repetition of these words firmly establishes death as the theme of the poem. In my opinion, a poem which begins and ends with words signifying death is the best representative of the theme.
The poem uses some extremely imaginative and effective imagery for death. The very first stanza personifies death as the “hungry bear in autumn”. The image of a hungry bear roaming in barren land is enough to send a shiver through most people, just as the thought of death does. Comparison of death with “measle-pox” and “iceberg between the shoulder blades” signifies the pain associated with death, both for the person who is dying and those who are left behind. Even though death is a certainty, it continues to remain one of the biggest mysteries of this world. No one knows what happens to a person after death. This mystery is aptly captured by the words “cottage of darkness.”
Although death is a certainty and everyone is aware of their mortality, yet most people are scared of this ultimate truth and as result do not live their life to the fullest. Oliver, however, hopes that she will be able to face death with curiosity rather than fear. And in her opinion, the best way to avoid fearing death is to live her life to the fullest. Hence, she hopes to make friends rather than enemy and not think about future. She wants to think about everything “as a brotherhood and a sisterhood”. Even though she knows that death is a certainty, she does not want to think about it, rather focusing on the present so that “eternity” becomes “another possibility”. She hopes to live her life like a bride who is filled with amazement, or like a bridegroom, taking the “world into my arms”. She hopes that by living her life to the fullest she will have no regrets on her deathbed and accept death without a complaint. Since death is a certainty, she does not want to waste her life thinking about it. Rather, she would like to spend her limited time in this world to explore and enjoy life so that when death comes she “does not end up simply having visited the world.” For her, an inadequate life, full of regrets is worse than death. Thus, through this poem, Oliver tells us to not be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.