Two Views on Death in Poetry

Two Views on Death in Poetry

The two poems in my comparison are “The Garden of Love” by William Blake and “A New Thanksgiving” by Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt. The theme these two poems share in common is death. If one considers the date these writers worked, life expectancy was not high and there was widespread death due to plague or conflicts. The selected poems approach death in very different styles. William Blake expresses his poem with a certain kind of calmness whereas Piatt has aggression in her work. Another interesting point about the poems is their title which gives their no reader of perception of poems subject about death, instead misguides its reader about something pleasant in the content of the poem.

Starting the discussion with “A New Thanksgiving” by Sarah Piatt. The poem follows a classical abab rhyme scheme. The title of the poem is very uplifting; it sets its reader with a very pleasant mindset. Also, before continuing with the explication one should understand Sarah Piatt. A review of Selected Poetry of Sarah Piatt has placed the quality of her work alongside Emily Dickson giving that they belong to the same era. The same review also tells us that Piatt was considered rebellious and non-conventional for the nineteenth century with a majority of her work being poetry in Dramatic monologues or Dialogues (Walker 195). A theme which is also followed in the poem under discussion. The same article mentions that though her work falls in the same category as of Emily Dickinson's on quality but her work was concerned towards social systems or politics in an era where renowned female writers focused towards domestic issues (Walker 195). Learning this removes the surprise which one gets with the title and the idea of the poem. Sarah starts this poem in a prayer style with very strong words which leave deep impact on the reader. Her first line “For war, plague, pestilence, flood, famine, fire” (1) and the last line of the first stanza “We thank thee“ (12) act as a hyperbole. She exaggerates the modes of suffering which are rarely experienced by mankind. However, using these strong and intense words she sets the tone of the poem as very direct, giving its reader a sort of jolt.

Focusing our discussion towards the common theme of death and misery shared in the two selected poems. Sarah in her poem takes a very sarcastic tone by thanking god for all the havoc. As mentioned Sarah creates a strong impact from her first line but also in the very same paragraph she blames the creation of “fools, whose hands must have their hearts’ desire” (3), fools who create and execute evil plans to fulfill their desires. The end of the paragraph shifts the tone from sarcasm to angry by thanking god for misery and accepting death which is natural inevitable phenomenon. The poem continues with more sarcastic remarks blaming god for pure man faults such as shipwrecks and heart breaks. Sarah ends the poem by mentioning how we man has accepted and also thanks god for death, which is awarded to him after all the misery. Sarah’s take on death is very unnatural. Sarah treats death and misery as events bestowed by supernatural powers and mere humans having no control over it. One can see a frustrated voice which loathes god for giving death and misery.

The second poem in discussion for this article is the garden of love by William Blake. The poem was written in 1794 which puts a gap of more than a century between two poems. However, the theme of death and misery remains eternal for the literary world thus