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- Farewell by Anne Brontë. ‘Farewell’ is a personal poem, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t suitable for a wide variety of readers to read and connect to. Throughout the quatrains of the poem, the speaker reminisces on the time they spent with “you.”
- The Gardener XLI: Peace, My Heart by Rabindranath Tagore. ‘The Gardener XLI: Peace, My Heart’ is one of the shortest poems on this list. It is addressed to the speaker’s heart, imploring it to let this time be one of “completeness” rather than grief.
- Crossing the Bar by Alfred Lord Tennyson. ‘Crossing the Bar’ was composed as one of his last poems, sometime in 1889, just three years before his death, and is suggestive, through the first-person pronouns, that Tennyson was considering his own mortality.
- In Memoriam A.H.H. by Alfred Lord Tennyson. ‘In Memoriam, A.H.H.’ is often considered Alfred Lord Tennyson’s masterpiece. It was written after the death of his close friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly at the age of 22.
Whether you are struggling to find the perfect words to say at a funeral, feel grief for someone dear to you who has passed away, or are curious about the human reaction to loss, these poems about the death of a loved one can offer you insight, peace, and understanding.
- Summary
- Poetic Techniques
- Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
‘When Great Trees Fall‘ by Maya Angelou is a moving poem that discusses the impact lost loved ones have on the living. In the first lines, the speaker begins by using an extended metaphor to describe a natural scene. She speaks about the reaction of animals when “great trees fall”. They hide, hunker down, and “lumber after safety”. The metaphorcomp...
‘When Great Trees Fall’ by Maya Angelou is a five stanza poem that’s separated into uneven sets of lines. The stanzas range in length from five lines up to fourteen. There is no specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern but Angelou does make use of several poetic techniques that help to unify the text and create a feeling of rhythm and rhyme. These...
Stanza One
This poem opens with the metaphor of the tree that falls. It, of course, symbolizesthe loss of a great person. When a great tree falls, it is felt for miles around. In the same way, when a great soul departs, the effects are felt deep and far. The image of the “rocks on distant hills shudder[ing]” symbolizes the ways in which the death causes people, even distant people, to feel despair and shudder. The lions which “hunker down” reflect the way some people will react to the loss. The loss cau...
Stanza Two
The metaphor continues in this stanza. The speaker, having already revealed the way in which great things are affected by the death of a someone great, now turns her attention to the “small things”. This suggests that the loss of someone great is felt among the great and among the small. This could mean that the physically small, children, feel the effects of the loss as much as their older counterparts. It could also mean that those who are unknown, without fame or political significance, fe...
Stanza Three
With the third stanza, the speaker shifts from her use of metaphor to speaking directly about death. Just as the great tree that falls causes ripples for miles, so the great soul departed move affectsthe hundreds or thousands of hearts he or she has touched during the time they lived. The speaker describes the way in which the air, even, seems to become “light” and “sterile”. It is hard to breathe when one has lost an important loved one. The speaker describes the way in which those affected...
- Immortality by Clare Harner. This inspirational poem about the death of a loved one invites us to look for them all around us in the beauty of the world.
- There Is No Night Without A Dawning by Helen Steiner Rice. This short poem is a popular choice for funerals because it reminds us that despite the death of someone we cared about, the darkness of our grief will pass.
- Turn Again To Life by Mary Lee Hall. This beautiful poem was perhaps made most famous for having been read at Princess Diana’s funeral. It urges the listener – the griever – to not mourn for long, but to embrace life once more.
- Farewell by Anne Bronte. This is another well known poem about death that reminds us not to think of it as a final goodbye. Instead, it encourages us to cherish the fond memories we have of our loved one so as to keep them alive within us.
Whether finding solace in Auden's "Funeral Blues," reflecting on Bishop's "One Art," or seeking closure in Frye's "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep," these verses provide a poignant journey through the depths of sudden loss. Through poetry, we find solace, understanding, and a path toward healing. COMPARTE.
Whether through Mary Elizabeth Frye's timeless verses, David Harkins' gentle wisdom, or Robert Louis Stevenson's serene imagery, these poems offer a sanctuary where we can seek solace and find healing. May they serve as a reminder that peace can be found, even in the shadows of death.
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The American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou wrote "When Great Trees Fall" in 1987 after the death of her friend and fellow writer/activist James Baldwin. The poem, which Angelou read at Baldwin's funeral, compares the deaths of "great" people to "great trees" falling in a forest.
