1.

0 Introduction

In the learning of literature, one could never run away from learning poems

during their studies. Poem is one of the main literary genre available in the world but

unfortunately it is one of the most often avoided by students. Understanding poems is

not straightforward and easy, thus the reason it being the bane of most literature

students. In the earlier civilization, poems were used in order to aid memorization and

oral transmission. Prose and Eddas has been used to preserve the Scandinavian’s

mythologies in all its glory and other form of poems have been used to capture a

moment, problem and even as a form of reflection on what has been done or what is

going on at the moment (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/poem.html). Poem has always

been the strong part of literature and poet’s voice.

Even among popular poems in our literary arsenal, there is a theme which is

normally avoided or less appreciated by many readers and that particular theme is

Death. It is understandable why it is so because even in real life situation and among

the society, most people would avoid talking about Death. Death has always been seen

as the end, the final chapter of a person’s life, it’s morbid and unsuitable for various

moments of socializations. This view is supported by many cultures to a point where it is

already a near taboo status. The Chinese for an example is very sensitive to the word

“die” or anything that is related to it (this includes writing a person’s name in red which is

only done to write a dead person’s name) and in some way or another will affect the

reader’s interest in reading Death poems. This stereotype has directly affected all

poems related to death and they became a secondary choice for poems especially

among most of students.

 This however isn’t totally true about Death poems. While it is true that Death is

not a pretty subject to be talked about in public, there are a lot of things to be learned

from Death itself and it all depends on how you perceive the subject. Everyone has a

different way of looking at things and therefore event for a Death poem, there should be

multiple interpretations on the matter too. Not only there are multiple interpretations,

there are also Death poems of the different kinds, some are touching, some are sad and

some might even be useful for oneself. Poems are only considered as a poem if it is

free and versatile and this does not exclude Death poems too.

In this paper, two Death poems are used to be examined and they are discussed

thoroughly. The poems chosen for this paper are “O Captain My Captain” by Walt

Whitman, and “Farewell to the court” by Sir Walter Raleigh and. These two texts share

the similarity as a poem about the death of others but yet are distinctively different.

Furthermore these poems are written by distinguished poets and therefore should

warrant a satisfying research.

2.0 Objectives

This paper is written with 3 clear objectives in mind. Throughout the whole essay

I would like to prove that there is a clear distinction between Death poems in terms of

their literary devices, I’d also like to un-stereotype Death poems and show the

difference in messages despite being of the same theme. These are some of the

hindrance that most reader feels about reading Death poems.

 The usage of literary device in a poem can tell us a lot about the poem itself, its

message, its construct and also its sophistication. This is the same to all type of poems

regardless of their theme and here I would like to explicitly show through the inspection

of literary devices that Death poems are physically and also technically different from

each other through the usage of literary devices. With this the variety of Death poems

could be acknowledge and in fact be appreciated on the critical level even among the

students of literature.

In accordance to appreciating Death poems, it is also an objective of this paper in

order to break the stereotype that Death poems carry. The morbid aura that Death

poems carry along should be extinguished and be changed into something else in order

to create more interest for reader especially the young and inexperienced ones to pick

up and read more Death poems. Through this paper, out of the three poems chosen for

the discussion, two of them challenged the usual morbid stereotype that is frequently

associated with Death poems while only one of them follows the expected style. The

mood and flow of a Death poem may change and be different due to many different

reasons it could be totally different from the gloomy idea it had always carried along. It

is one of the main objectives in this paper to break the stereotype and create a new

view on Death poems altogether.

Although Death themed poems talks of death, the messages that is trying to be

put across is not necessarily the same. Although Death is undeniably about death, but

what kind of death and how someone died is always different from each other. Poets

have different outlook on a matter and their insights are always different. Therefore

even for Death poem, the different messages that’s available in them is worth
examining and be put into attention. It is my intention to examine the varieties in the

messages of a poem with a similar theme in order to raise the status of the poem itself.

With this, it is hope that by the end of the paper Death poem would be seen as the

same as other popular theme such as love, family and nature.

3.0 Author’s Background

3.1 Walt Whitman

Walter Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Town of Huntington,

Long Island, to parents with interest in Quaker thought, Walter and Louisa Van Velsor

Whitman. He was the second of nine children and was immediately nicknamed "Walt" to

distinguish him from his father. At age eleven Whitman concluded formal schooling.

Whitman claimed that after years of competing for "the usual rewards", he determined

to become a poet. He first experimented with a variety of popular literary genres which

appealed to the cultural tastes of the period. As early as 1850, he began writing what

would become Leaves of Grass, a collection of poetry which he would continue editing

and revising until his death. Whitman intended to write a distinctly American epic and

used free verse with a cadence based on the Bible. At the end of June 1855, Whitman

surprised his brothers with the already-printed first edition of Leaves of Grass. George

"didn't think it worth reading". In the months following the first edition of Leaves of

Grass, critical responses began focusing more on the potentially offensive sexual

themes.
 Early in 1873, Whitman suffered a paralytic stroke; his mother died in May the

same year. Both events were difficult for Whitman and left him depressed. Whitman

died on March 26, 1892. A public viewing of his body was held at his Camden home;

over one thousand people visited in three hours and Whitman's oak coffin was barely

visible because of all the flowers and wreaths left for him.

Taken and adapted from (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/walt_whitman.html)

3.2 Sir Walter Raleigh

Little is known about Raleigh's birth. Some historians believe Raleigh was born in 1552,

while others guess as late as 1554. He grew up in the house of Hayes Barton, a farmer,

in the village of East Budleigh, not far from Budleigh Salterton in Devon, England.

Raleigh's family was strongly Protestant in religious orientation and experienced a

number of near-escapes during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I of England. In

1568 or 1572, Raleigh was registered as an undergraduate at Oriel College, Oxford, but

does not seem to have taken up residence, and, in 1575, he was registered at the

Middle Temple. His life between these two dates is uncertain, but, from a reference in

his History of the World, he seems to have served with the French Huguenots at the

Battle of Jarnac, 13 March 1569. At his trial in 1603, he stated that he had never studied

law. Raleigh was beheaded at Whitehall on 29 October 1618. After he was allowed to

see the axe that would behead him, he mused: "This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a

Physician for all diseases and miseries". According to many biographers — Raleigh

Trevelyan in his book Sir Walter Raleigh (2003) for instance — Sir Walter's final words

(as he lay ready for the axe to fall) were: "Strike, man, strike!"
Although his popularity had waned considerably since his Elizabethan heyday, his

execution was seen by many, both at the time and since, as unnecessary and unjust. It

has been suggested that any involvement in the Main Plot appears to have been limited

to a meeting with Lord Cobham. One of the judges at his trial later said: "the justice of

England has never been so degraded and injured as by the condemnation of the

honorable Sir Walter Raleigh."

Taken and adapted from (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/walter_raleigh.html)

4.0 The differences between Death themed poems by the use of character

The characterization of the persona in a poem can tell us a lot about the angle

that the poem is going to. Whenever one is reading a poem, he is reading through the

eyes of the persona, therefore the characteristic of the persona would affect how does

the reader is going to read the poem itself. Unlike other genres of literature, the

characteristic of a persona is often vaguely described and requires inferential reading in

order to understand them. Both the poems chosen are about the condition of the

persona after the death of someone dear to them. Their view and perspective would be

the ones that separates these two poems apart.

In the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman we are looking at the

death of a leader in the eyes of a follower. The persona in this poem is definitely a crew

member of the ship that the Captain led and this can be seen in the first and second line

of the poem itself.

 O Captain my Captain! Our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,

Line 1 & 2, stanza 1

The use of the pronoun “Our” and “we” indicates that the two belong to a same group

and “the prize” that they sought together also suggests that the two were fighting for the

same cause. “The ship” showed us the struggle that the two had gone through since

“Our fearful trip is done” and it has “weathered every rack” and from this we can imagine

that the two had gone through a lot in order to achieve this goal that they are fighting

for, which they did achieve. From these two lines alone we can see the relationship

between the persona and the captain as a comrade fighting closely to each other during

the hardest of a time together. This bond that these two characters shared is so strong

that the persona could not accept the fact that the Captain had died. In stanza 2 the

persona is in a state of denial, he could not believed that the Captain had really died

after all the things that they have been through and achieved.

Here Captain! Dear father!

This arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck,

You've fallen cold and dead

Stanza 2, Lines 13-16

The bond of friendship and camaraderie between the two seems to have transcended

that of a Captain and deck mate when the persona called the Captain as father. Due to

this reason it seems that the persona is struck with serious disbelief upon hearing the
death of the Captain. There was hardly any sadness shown in the first and second

stanza, only denial. It is just a “dream” as the persona had said. Although this is the

second time that the persona had mentioned that the Captain had “fallen cold and dead”

(the first one in the first stanza, line8) He still hasn’t acknowledged that fact. However,

when the poem reached the third stanza, the persona has clearly came to his senses

and acknowledge that the Captain is dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;

Stanza 3, lines 17-18

Here we can see that the persona has managed to swallow the fact that the Captain is

dead and he is telling us about it in a calm manner. His heart does not waver, there is

no show of sadness, he is just telling us about it as if he was a reporter reporting a

tragedy scene. He knows about the weight of the death of the Captain and he realized

the importance of not grieving about it because he and the rest of the crew carry the

success of their long and dangerous trip, it is his role as a crew member to stand proud

of their success and not to brood.

The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Stanza 3, lines 19-20

 In the poem Farewell to the Court by Sir Walter Raleigh, the characterization of

the persona is of a frail lover. The persona is weak willed and has no determination of

his own.

Like truthless dreams, so are my joys expir'd,

And past return are all my dandled days;

My love misled, and fancy quite retir'd

Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.

Stanza 1

He described his conditioned as “truthless dreams” and “joys expir’d” as if he is leading

a totally meaningless life now. Joy to him is nothing but an illusion now and all his good

days are all past. As a man, he is weak. He fails to see the purpose in life after the

death of someone dear to him and even allow it to devastate his own life. With nothing

else to look forward to, there is nothing left in this man. In the following stanza we can

see that the persona has given up his own life out of despair.

My lost delights, now clean from sight of land,

Have left me all alone in unknown ways;

My mind to woe, my life in fortune's hand

Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.

Stanza 2

The emptiness of his life seems to have consumed him to a point where he seems to

consider his life as empty and meaningless already. There is a suggestion of

uncertainty in this stanza where the persona seems to have no idea what had happened

in his life but it all didn’t matter to him already because he had left everything into
“fortune’s hand” now. Death made him indecisive and unsure of his own life and it is

slowly plunging him into his own death. This can be seen in the third stanza of the poem

itself.

As in a country strange, without companion,

I only wail the wrong of death's delays,

Whose sweet spring spent, whose summer well-nigh done

Of all which pass'd only the sorrow stays.

Stanza 3

In stanza 3 we can see that the persona personally calls for death in the line “I only wait

the wrong of death’s delays,” He has no will of his own after the tragedy that befell him

and it weakens him to a point where he is blaming death for coming in late for him.

5.0 Examining the differences in Death themed poems through the usage of tone

The usage of tone in a poem determines the mood of how the poem is going to

be read by its reader. It is through tone that we would know whether we should be

happy, sad or excited and although it does very little in contributing to the theme of the

poem, it does contribute in the appreciation of the poem. Through the usage of tone, we

can see certain differences between poems of the same theme with each other.

Furthermore, the use of tone also helps the poet to invoke emotions among the readers.

This would contribute to the value of the poem itself.

 In the poem “O Captain! My Captain” there are many usage of tone available

throughout the poem. In this poem, the tone of pride is basically available everywhere in

the poem. It shows achievements and standards from the very beginning of the poem

itself.

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

Stanza 1, Lines 1-4

“O Captain! My Captain!” the persona said with two exclamation marks included shows

urgency or pride. Further on, the pride of the persona can be felt in the following lines

“The ship has weathered every rack”, “The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all

exulting,” and line 4 “While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;”.

The persona is proud of their achievements and he is describing they victory in an

elaborate manner. As the poem moves to the second stanza, the sense of excitement

increases.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Stanza 2, Line 9-12

The excitement from the flags, the wreaths and the mass were waiting for them after

their voyage. Though in the end of the first stanza the persona had mentioned that the
Captain had “fallen cold and dead”, in the very beginning of the second stanza the

persona still could not contain his very own excitement on what is happening. In fact, he

is so excited about what is happening that he is denying the fact that the Captain is

dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;

The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

But I, with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead

Stanza 3

Even after the persona recognized the death of the Captain, he is still level-headed and

is able to accept the fact calmly. There is a sense of minor confusion in the first two

lines of the third stanza; the persona is stating the obvious to us which shows that even

he himself is trying to accept the death of the Captain. But because of their victory and

in memory of the Captain, the persona stood proudly ordered for celebration “Exult O

shores, and ring O bells!” The tone of excitement and pride had overshadowed the

sadness in this poem.

 The poem “Farewell to the court” represents the common stereotype of a death

themed poem with its pessimistic and morbid tone. From the very beginning of the

poem, the tone has been pessimistic and even towards the very end there are hardly

any changes at all in this tone.

Like truthless dreams, so are my joys expir'd,

And past return are all my dandled days;

My love misled, and fancy quite retir'd

Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.

Stanza 1

Usage of the words, truthless, expired, misled and sorrow had only amplified the

moodiness of the poem. Its negative connotation in the whole stanza had already gave

the reader the idea of what is to come.

My lost delights, now clean from sight of land,

Have left me all alone in unknown ways;

My mind to woe, my life in fortune's hand

Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.

As in a country strange, without companion,

I only wail the wrong of death's delays,

Whose sweet spring spent, whose summer well-nigh done

Of all which pass'd only the sorrow stays.

Stanza 2 and 3
The persona had woe and wailed in this poem and never was any sign that the world is

getting better. Just through the death of someone dear to him the whole world has lost

its color to him. The only part of the poem that is describe explicitly with life is “Whose

sweet spring spent, whose summer well-nigh done” but even for this line it is referred to

death, whom the persona had longed for so much. Other than its negative and morbid

tone in this poem, there is hardly any other tone available in the poem “Farewell to the

court”.

6.0 Examining the differences between Death themed poems through the text

structure

The text structure of a poem is basically the physical outlook of the poem. It’s

shape and form is basically carefully chosen by the poem in order to achieve certain

purpose which could only be discovered by a careful examination of it. Text structure

could be used to determine a lot of things, namely speaking initial interest and building

up expectation of the text. For example if a poet decided to do a limerick then the reader

would have been expecting the a, a, b, b, a, rhyming pattern and this would allow a

quick idea of how to approach the poem.

O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
 O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
The poem “O Captain! My Captain” has a pre-determined shape of text,

whereby the first 4 lines are almost double the amount of words of the following 4 lines.

By having a pattern, the poet is building expectation for the reader and it helps the

reader to read the poem. The fact that at every 5th to 8th line of every stanza talks of

only the Captain, the reader are also directly guided to the very main point of the point

which is about the Captain himself. Through this, reading this poem became more

meaningful as we are well aware of the poet’s intention of writing the poem in that

particular manner. Although rhyme is available in the poem, there is no definite

rhyming scheme in this poem. The freedom that the poet use in terms of the verses

allows the reader to personally examines the poet without being restricted to any other

rules that might imply to the poem. Its rhyming freedom and its definite shape of the

text encourages reader to indulge in the text themselves as the poem invites them to

read on by its many guide provided by the poet.

Like truthless dreams, so are my joys expir'd,

And past return are all my dandled days;
 My love misled, and fancy quite retir'd
Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.

My lost delights, now clean from sight of land,

Have left me all alone in unknown ways;
My mind to woe, my life in fortune's hand
Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.

As in a country strange, without companion,

I only wail the wrong of death's delays,
Whose sweet spring spent, whose summer well-nigh done
Of all which pass'd only the sorrow stays.

Whom care forewarns, ere age and winter cold,

To haste me hence to find my fortune's fold.

The poem “Farewell to the court” is basically organized in a shape of a sonnet.

To the reader with knowledge on what is a sonnet, reading the text is simple because

the shape of the poem is pre-determined and even the rhyme scheme is definite. This

acts as a scaffold for the reader to read through the text. Although the text is made

easy to be read through, the text itself isn’t all that easy. Compared to “O Captain! My

Captain!” this poem has more literary devices that makes the poem more complex.

The symbolism and personification in “Farewell to the court” is more numerous and

harder than “O Captain! My Captain!” The poem requires a few readings and inferential

skills in order to make sense clearly of the message that is trying to be put forth by the

poet.

7.0 Teaching Implications

A close examination of Death themed poems should be useful in terms of

teaching in many ways. The very fact that even in schools this genre of poem is not
being taught goes to show just how much is this theme being left behind. Although the

poem “There’s been a death in the opposite house” in available in the form 4 text, but

the poem doesn’t really deal with death itself, it is only about the procession of the

dead. Thus by having this theme in our school syllabus would have some interesting

result.

First of all is to create an interest in reading Death themed poems. Most

students and even some teachers avoid this genre of poem altogether and if we do not

expose of our students with it how do we suppose to cultivate the interest in reading

them? As an educator, it is our duty to avoid stereotype and be fair to all type of text

used in the classroom. If the students are not enlightened about this theme, how are

they going to be interested in them in first place? Teachers should be able to judge the

differences between Death themed poems and bring them to the classroom as a

lesson for the Personal Development Model (Carter and Long, 1991).

The teaching of Death themed poems should be able to broaden the students’

mindset by teaching them to view a subject matter in a multiple perspectives. Due to

the sensitivity of the theme and its stereotype towards it, more exposure on this subject

would be good for the students in order to teach them to evaluate the issue. A certain

paradigm shift would be good to wake the students up from what they think is true to

them. By looking at the theme in a new perspective it is hoped that the students would

be able to make better judgment and not to jump into conclusion the next time they are

confronted with new issues.

Finally, teaching varieties of death themed poems in school would be good to

encourage students to think for themselves and appreciate life better. While these
poems are not necessarily hard all the time, most of them do require the reader to

ponder upon it for quite some time. When is the time to let the students to think about

life and death if not in a literature classroom. It is not with the intention of scaring the

students but simply as a reflection of their life so far. With so many social problems

that is flooding the teenagers lately, a little talk on death should not be such an issue.

After all students nowadays are more matured than they appeared to be, so why not

bring the discussion into the classroom. Prevention is definitely better than cure, if the

students are able to think for themselves about their priorities in life, then we may have

saved a few lives.

The proper teaching of Death themed poems definitely should be considered in

schools due to its possibilities of enriching the student’s mind. Let’s bring this topic

which has been avoided by many to class and break from the stereotype that has been

attached to it for so long. A change in mindset is all we need to move on to the next

stage in teaching.
Bibliography

1. Carter and Long, 1991, Teaching Literature, Longman Group UK limited

2. http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/poem.html

3. http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/walt_whitman.html

4. http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/walter_raleigh.html

5. http://www.poetry-online.org/whitman_o_captain_my_captain.htm

6. http://www.poetry-online.org/raleigh_farewell_to_the_court.htm
Appendix 1

O Captain My Captain
a poem by Walt Whitman
O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Appendix 2

Farewell to the Court

a poem by Sir Walter Raleigh

Farewell to the Court

Like truthless dreams, so are my joys expir'd,

And past return are all my dandled days;
My love misled, and fancy quite retir'd
Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.

My lost delights, now clean from sight of land,

Have left me all alone in unknown ways;
My mind to woe, my life in fortune's hand
Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.

As in a country strange, without companion,

I only wail the wrong of death's delays,
Whose sweet spring spent, whose summer well-nigh done
Of all which pass'd only the sorrow stays.

Whom care forewarns, ere age and winter cold,

To haste me hence to find my fortune's fold.

Sir Walter Raleigh

 UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

EDU 3234
READINGS AND PROJECT WORK FOR
TEACHING LITERATURE IN ESL CONTEXT

Project paper: Examination of differences between

death themed poems through literary devices

Name: Nur Khalis Nuruddin

Matrics no: 139748
Course: B. Ed TESL Twinning
F/A : Dr. Arshad b. Abd Samad
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Malachi Edwin Vethamani