Hudson Rixham

February 15, 2019

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Live with Courage, Die with Courage

“When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver is a poem about living boldly. It is a poem about

going towards death with having confirmation that an individual hasexperienced done all that life

has to offer and believing that one’stheir life hadwas something meaning. real. Mary Oliver

wants people to die while leaving a mark on the world, she wants her readers to live

courageously and face death with a sense of wonder about what is next. In her Mary Oliver’s

poem “When Death Comes,” she Mary Oliver establishes a theme of courage through her use of

similes, diction, and metaphor allusion.

Mary Oliver uses similes throughout her poem of “When Death Comes” to establish a

theme of human courage. In the first two stanzas, she compares death to living things which

people typically fear, when she says, “when death comes / like a the “hungry bear in autumn” (1-

2), and “when death comes / like “the measle-pox” (5-76). By creating this image of death as a

bear or a deadly disease, Mary Oliver puts death in a context which the reader can understand

and possibly make him/her afraid. However, she wants people to face death in a more curious

way, wondering what comes next: “what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness” (12)

almost as if it were the next adventure. Showing comparing the coming of death to a bear or the

measles, Mary Oliver conveys a theme of courage at the time of death instead of fear can limit

by limiting death’s power over an individual, especially if that person will “consider eternity as

another possibility” (16) .

power over an individual and making that individual stronger and more hopeful.

Additionally, throughout the middle stanzas of the poem, Mary Oliver continues to use powerful
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similes. She writes, “And therefore I look upon everything / as a brotherhood and a sisterhood”

(11-12), and “I think of each life as a flower, as common / as a field daisy” (15-16). By using

these similes, Mary Oliver creates the idea that this individual is coming out of their current life

with courage. She conveys that this individual has lived in the moment and has done all that life

has to offer. Mary Oliver uses similes throughout her poem of “When Death Comes” in

significant and different ways, but both convey the same theme of courage through limiting

death’s power over a person and stating that a person is leaving the world with courage.

Word choice

Mary Oliver’s use of diction throughout the her poem of “When Death Comes” helps build Formatted: Indent: First line: 0"

conveys Mary Oliver’s her theme of courage. Towards the end of her poem, sheMary Oliver uses

“I” as well as nd “and” repetitively. First of all For example, she says, “I want to say: all my life /

I was a bride married to amazement. / I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms” (21-

23). This use of the first-person pronoun creates a theme of courage as it shows that she t this

individuawas in l is beginning to take control of his/her own life. Secondly, in stanzas five n her

5th through eight, 8th stanzas, she uses “and” repeatedlytitively. For instance, she writes, “and I

look upon time as no more than an idea, / and I consider eternity as another possibility” (13-14).

By starting most of her lines with “and,” she conveys the idea that there is always one more thing

you can do to live a life of positivity and happiness. The use of “and” reinforces the theme of

courage because an individual must be courageous to live without walls and to always do one

extra thing. Mary Oliver creates her main theme of courage through her poem of “When Death
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Comes” through her word choice of “I” and “and” as she conveys to her readers that they must

live a life of happiness and take control of their lives.

Mary Oliver uses the metaphor of a lion, known as the king of the jungle, an allusion to

establish a theme of courage in her poem. She writes, “and each body a lion of courage, and

something / precious to the earth” (19-20). This stanza alludes to the Wizard of Oz and the lion

that wished for courage, but later found out he had always had it.The lion is considered to be the

bravest of all the animals. Mary Oliver establishes her theme of courage through this allusion

because she is trying to convey that all people have that type of courage, it just depends and

when facing death, it is a time to show it. Instead of “sighing” (29) and being scared or asking

why it was her time to die, Mary Oliver wants to be strong and die with the comfort of knowing

that she lived a life of meaning. whether they choose to use it. Through this allusion, she is tying

all her examples of courage together. She states that every person is precious on this earth (20).

She is conveying that every individual must take control of their life, limit the power that

darkness has, live a life of happiness, and leave the world with

courage. Through her allusion to the Wizard of Oz, Mary Oliver establishes that each person in

this world has courage in them, but they need to step up and use it.

Mary Oliver’s states throughout her poem “When Death Comes” encourages that she wants her Formatted: Indent: First line: 0"

readers to live while they can and that they should not fear death. There is a Latin phrase carpe Formatted: Font: Italic

diem which translates to “seize the day.” We should strive to experience what we can because we

never know how long we are going to be on this earth. Mary Oliver promotes the idea of Along

with this, she uses various poetic devices, including similes, diction, and allusion, to convey a
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theme of courage throughout her poem. Her similes limited death’s power and states that each

person needs to leave the world with courage. Her word choice created an idea of an individual

taking control of their own life and constantly striving to achieve more. Finally, her allusion to

the Wizard of Oz tied everything together by learning to find courage and use it. Mary Oliver

wants her readers to live with courage and to die with courage, knowing they had lived a life full

of amazement and excitement.