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Grasping the UngraspableDeath—The Ungraspable Concept

The intangible concept of death has exhibited controversy and challenged humankind

since the beginning of time. Death presents itself as mysterious and incomprehensible. The

central theme circulated throughout Mary Oliver’s’s poem, “When Death Comes” tackles the

subject as she relates confronts theo world-wide human struggle of grasping and understanding

death. Mary Oliver’sHer use of poetic devices allow the reader to feel her understanding ofview

Oliver’s interpretation of the unknown topic.death at greater levels. In Mary Oliver’sThe poem,

“When Death Comes,” uses literary techniques to demonstrate Oliver demonstrates the universal

struggle of understanding fathoming death.

Mary Oliver’s use of elaborate uses many literary techniquessimiles, in the

poem,throughout her poem compare death to subjects seen in the material world, allowing the

reader to relate to death through a more concrete, rather than abstract perspective., specifically Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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similes. Similes not only add to the depth and impact to the poem, but they also have a deeper

meaning that relates back to the struggle of grasping and understanding death. Death has

remained a controversial topic since the beginning of time. Death is one of the few concepts that

humans can’t understand. It seems impossible to compare such a notion to anything in the

physical realm. However, Oliver’s use of nature to contrast death challenges this in “When Death

Comes” as she compares death to the natural world. No one knows what death feels like—until

you experience it. However, Mary Oliver conveys to the reader what she believes death is like by

using similes to express her thoughts. Her similes compare her ideas on death to more realistic

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and relatable things so that readers can emphasize with. Mary Oliver ’s linewrites, “when death

comes/ like an iceberg between the shoulder bladesa hungry bear in autumn” which (7-8) relates

impenetrable death, an incomprehensible subject, to cold ice clocks wedged between shoulder

blades nature (1-2), an uncomfortable position which people can feel and imagine. As a bear

prepares for hibernation during the fall, it must gather an abundance of food to sleep during the

winter. Oliver attempts to relate the arrival of death to a bear searching for food. She calls death

the hungry bear as it voraciously searches for its next victim. Like a hungry bear, Death’s arrival

is both frightening and alarming. This simile tells us that Mary Oliver sees death as extremely

uncomfortable and highly painful.Oliver clearly feels that approaching a notion like death

through the natural world allows the reader to visualize and communicate this complex topic.

Therefore, Oliver believes that nature gives the best explanations to humanity’s most complex

conception: death. People are able to feel what Mary Oliver feels about death through her

similes. Oliver’s use of nature allows the reader to view the arrival of death from her perspective.

She believes that, like a hungry bear, it will arrive unexpectedly; it will leave us frightened.

However, even with such an elaborate comparison to nature, the concept of death through a

natural world perspective, fails to provide overall an understanding of the unfathomable concept Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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of death. Oliver knows that similes often give an equal comparison. Therefore, Oliver’s use of Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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similes, slightly improves the readers understanding of death.Therefore, Mary Oliver’s use of

similes help us realize that we need comparisons of real life experiences to help us grasp the

ungraspable concept of death.

Mary Oliver also usesd enjambment in “When Death Comes” to convey the message of Formatted: Indent: First line: 0.5", Space Before: 12 pt

death as an incomprehensible baffling subject. The Eenjambment gives the poem an odd rhythm

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and challenges its natural tempo. Oliver’s writing style confuses reader’s poetic interpretation, Formatted: Font color: Auto

leaving their minds unsettled. that is unsettling to the mind. The use of enjambment confuses the

reader, and messes with their way of reading and interpreting the poem. People The reader has

have trouble grasping the the way this poem. reads Sin a similarly people have trouble

understanding way to how people have trouble grasping the concept of death. Mary Oliver’s uses

of enjambment when she statesin “when death comes/like the hungry bear in autumnan iceberg

between the shoulder blades” (1-2) is unsettling and even annoying for lack of a better term(7-8).

Skipping a line in the middle of a sentence naturally alerts the reader of the punctuation’s

presence, which forces a pause at the end of the first line. The poem’s structure emphasizes the Formatted: Font color: Auto

phrase “when death comes” which highlights the importance of the arrival of death in the poem

(7). Therefore, enjambment both emphasizes the notion that death will eventually arrive, and

more importantly, scrambles the reader’s instinct, making interpretation of the poem difficult.

When wepeople visualize and think about death, we they immediately shift to a delicate n and

unsettling state of mind. Mary Oliver purposefully wants the reader to feel unsettled as death Formatted: Font color: Auto

suggests the rawness of life. Therefore, Oliver’s use of enjambment supports the notion of death

as an unsettling and troubling concept to grasp.

to have this feeling as they read the poem. Therefore, Mary Oliver’s use of enjambment

allow us to realize that death is a unsettling concept to grasp.

Finally, Mary Oliver’sThe poem poem “When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver Formatted: Space Before: 12 pt

also lacks a rhyme scheme. DDeath, a dark and obscure concept, lacks a melody or tune because Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

inappropriate; death suggests an obscure and unknown subjecteath is such a dark and unknown Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

subject that giving it a melody or tune would be inappropriate because death doesn’t have a tune

or melodic tempo., A lack of information on the it is such a deep and unknown death subject to

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put a melody tootopic forces society to realize that . wWe do no’t know the tune of deathdeath.

Furthermore,, we could never grasp it. Death, such a foreign and unknown entity, forces us to

contemplate its melody.Does death even have a melody? How would we know? This Moreover,

the absence of a rhyme scheme allows the reader to focus more on the meaningful words in the

poem, and not less on the song tempo of the poem. The lines, “I want to step through the door

full of curiosity, wondering:/what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness” clearly lack

cadence and rhyme (9-10).(9-10)? The absence of a rhyme scheme leaves puts the reader at in an

dark ominous and isolated placementality. A place of no melody and no tune. Therefore, Mary

Oliver’s absence of rhyme scheme allows the reader to realizesymbolizes that death’s

ungraspable complexity and obscurity cannot be given a melodywe can’t grasp death. because

we don’t know enough about it, not even its tune.

Many poets like Mary Oliver’s use poetic devices to convey meaning. In Mary Oliver’s

case she uses d similes, enjambment, and a lack of rhymeno rhyme scheme to further her point

theme of of death as an unsettling obscure and incomprehensive baffling subject. Therefore,The

use of poetic devices means carry a much greater meaning so much more than just a simplye

way to describe emphasizing detail. Many poems discuss concepts such as death, love, and

sorrow, and use poetic devices to convey a greater meaning. In all poems, you can search for

poetic devices and dig deep into them. However, death is a subject that we can’t describe very

well. We can’t relate and emphasize to death. We need comparisons and unique ways of

describing what it may be like, yet we really do not know. Unlike many topics and themes

discussed in poems, death holds complex and mysterious notions that we seldom understand, and Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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much less have the words to describe. Oliver uses poetic devices to represent and discuss the

unknown. Although many of them directly describe the obscurity of death, many also imply it.

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Poetic devices such as enjambment and rhyme scheme don’t directly discuss how they relate to

the theme of death as an unknown subject, but they indirectly suggest it as an ominous subject.

Poetry uses literary devices that people can relate to and understand. Poetic devices bridge the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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gap between abstract and concrete information, helping the reader visualize and make

connections between seemingly unrelated subjects. Therefore, poetic devices help people

comprehend confusing poetic conceptPoems can be interpreted differently by every person

depending on their experiences, perspective, and mindset. Each poem reaches each person

differently because of poetic devices. Without poetic devices in poems, poetry would leave a

much different impact, and our views on deep concepts and topics would be far from

comprehendible. Therefore, poems help us understand the un-understandable concepts a little

better than we could ever do without them.