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Comment 4 of 4, added on March 20th, 2007 at 10:42 AM.
this was writtenby lawrence on his death bed,and its interesting to see the different takes taken by him between this poem and bavarian gentians which was written a year before.
in this particular poem he looks at death up close and personal and tries to make out what exactly it is that happens to you when you die.where is it that you go.the interesting aspect of the poem is that it deals with a topic that we all think about at some point,difference being that he is actually facing death when he questions it.
in part one he compare death to dew..implying that it happens to everyone but its very different when your the one facing it.he questions whether killing ones self could be a better way then facing this painful death when he says 'quietus'.but wonders whether that could actually give you peace.he plans not to fight death anymore but to prepare for all that lies ahead...
he tells himself and us that the body is a mere armour to the soul.we cannot contol our fate as we do not know what lies ahead.
in bavarian gentians again death is seen as the unknown darkness by him.he feels that the darkness that he is in has made him loose his was and control over life.he reaches a point where he is ready to die..however this does not happen...the moment passes him by and he has come 'out of oblivion',though he continues to drift towards death.
till the last line he pleads his reader to build there ship of death and be prepared for this inevitable that will come there way.
i myself feel (through personal experience)you can try to do this...but when you lose someone,no matter who...i don't think that death is something you can be ready for.it comes when it does...
Aditi
Comment 3 of 4, added on July 22nd, 2006 at 12:30 AM.
I think Lawrence actually demystified death in the poem.To him people actually die everytime they fail on whatever plan they have.However it is only from this death that one can really emerge great,like Phoenix from ashes.Though, one has to prepare for this necessary journey towards transformation.
Funsho Lawal from Nigeria
Comment 2 of 4, added on July 10th, 2006 at 6:47 AM.
This is a great poem. It was one of the first I read on my introduction to the poetry of Lawrence. Its had a profound affect on the way I think about mortality and especially, maybe what we leave behind us. John
john pressley from United Kingdom
Comment 1 of 4, added on April 26th, 2005 at 12:47 PM.
This poem expresses such a positive optimism. It alludes to the kind of myth that those who fear the state of nonexistance so desperately need. We do need to build our little ships of death. We need to spend our lives engaged the construction of tangible things that we assume will outlive our flesh and thus, on some level, ensure our immortality. We know full well that all things, even the pyramids, will one day slip away, but perhaps the great pharoes understood as did Lawrence that oblivian is actually a finite interim standing between the who-we-are and the what-we-may-return-as. Perhaps if we build our ships strong enough, we can communicate what we are to what we eventually become, and thus enter a whole new cycle of immortality.
David Muff from United States
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this was writtenby lawrence on his death bed,and its interesting to see the different takes taken by him between this poem and bavarian gentians which was written a year before.
in this particular poem he looks at death up close and personal and tries to make out what exactly it is that happens to you when you die.where is it that you go.the interesting aspect of the poem is that it deals with a topic that we all think about at some point,difference being that he is actually facing death when he questions it.
in part one he compare death to dew..implying that it happens to everyone but its very different when your the one facing it.he questions whether killing ones self could be a better way then facing this painful death when he says 'quietus'.but wonders whether that could actually give you peace.he plans not to fight death anymore but to prepare for all that lies ahead...
he tells himself and us that the body is a mere armour to the soul.we cannot contol our fate as we do not know what lies ahead.
in bavarian gentians again death is seen as the unknown darkness by him.he feels that the darkness that he is in has made him loose his was and control over life.he reaches a point where he is ready to die..however this does not happen...the moment passes him by and he has come 'out of oblivion',though he continues to drift towards death.
till the last line he pleads his reader to build there ship of death and be prepared for this inevitable that will come there way.
i myself feel (through personal experience)you can try to do this...but when you lose someone,no matter who...i don't think that death is something you can be ready for.it comes when it does...
Aditi