Two Views on Death in Poetry

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making it interesting to observe how perceptions on this theme has changed. Before explicating the poem one should know more about William Blake. In his short biography at poets.org one learns that Blake has been associated with supernatural powers. He himself claimed to see spirits and angels (poets.org). Also, Blake worked as a tombstone engraver thus influence of goth is very much prevalent in his work.

“Garden of Love” starts with anapestic trimeter but concludes in tetrameter. William Blake’s Garden of Love starts on a light note in contrast to “A New Thanksgiving”. Blake recalls his visit to a familiar garden as he addresses the place as “the Garden of Love”. He was surprised to see changes and in that old familiar place changes which were new to him. Blake describes the changes using subtle imagery in his second paragraph. The third or the last paragraph is where Blake mentions the sadness of death. This sudden mention of graves in the first line of the second paragraph completely changes the context of the first two paragraphs. Death is associated with suddenness. Blake’s expression of change brought by death in one’s life is subtly denoted by the lines “tomb-stones where flowers should be”(11). Blake mentions writes about his joys and desires being blocked by thorns of death. Compared to “A New Thanksgiving” Blake’s tone towards death is subtle and low-tone. Instead of blaming God for death, Blake accepts the death and sorrow without any resistance which we see in Sarah’s Poem. One can also differentiate between personalities of these poets just by reading through these two poems. Blake’s Poem inclines towards acceptance of grief whereas Piatt’s poems revolts against death accusing god. Blake also maintains a level of respect for god in his poem compared to Piatt who questions God’s authority with some level of sarcasm.

Death has been the central theme of many literary works since the dawn of language, some of the most famous one’s being Dante’s Inferno, The Fault in our stars and many more. Both of these poems share the common theme of death and misery using beautiful literary elements. However, their views and expression style are widely different. With “A New Thanksgiving” being on the aggressive and rebellious side of the spectrum and “The Garden of Love” on the softer side of the spectrum .