Death of Love in The Sleeper and We Are Seven Essay

Death of Love

In Poes The Sleeper death is realized and accepted were as Wordsworths We Are Seven death is also realized but not accepted. Poes setting is very dark, gloomy and ominous but Wordsworths setting is somewhat pleasing even with the dark theme. The age difference between the two characters in the poems creates a different emotional outlook for each piece.

Poes setting is dark and very ominous clearly depicted by the mystic moon and opiate vapor giving off a very emotional draining feel. He then switches and uses a soft eloquent way to describe her grave. As he sits and looks at the grave he notices the fog rolling in over her grave ever reminding him of her eternal sleep. Poe continues with the ominous setting by mentioning the bodiless air that is sitting from the tree tops all the way to her tomb. Just based off the setting descriptions the poem seems to be very dark but this is not so.

Poe despite the dark setting has a very uplifting outlook within the message. He describes her as noting but beautiful even when he talks about her rotting body he still takes a soft approach. He isnt happy that she is in her eternal slumber which is shown by his questions about her having fear and what she could possibly be dreaming about. But instead he accepts her death he wants it to be glorious even though that means he will never be with her again. This is clearly shown by him asking heaven to have her in its sacred keep. Showing that he has accepted her death and wants her to be at rest peacefully.

Personally I think Poe uses an older character so that even though there is a dark setting he could still send the positive outlook about her sleeping peacefully. He would have not been able to accomplish this if the speaker would have been younger because of the emotional maturity. The older the person the more willing to understand and accept because they know that the dead can move on to better places. But with We Are Seven it is shown in the poem that a younger person is less willing to have a positive accepting emotional outlook.

Wordsworth uses a very unusual setting because it seems to be very sunny and uplifting which is not common when dealing with the subject of death. The weather is good enough for her to be outside running, playing and even eating out side. Things that are not usually associated with death but Wordsworth take a different approach by tying the confusing setting into the speaker that is confused.

Like the setting the speaker the little girl seems to be confused with the deaths of her siblings. Shown many times throughout the poem by the man that is asking her questions and constantly telling her that they are five and not seven. Many may say that she is being rebellious and just doesnt want to conform but I disagree. I feel like she does not want to accept the fact that they are dead and wants to live life as if they were still there. This is shown by her eating and playing by the graves in the church yard. Normal behavior after a death would be to morn and move on. This is not the case she does not want to accept the fact that they are dead she even tells the man that they are still seven when clearly they are five because of the deaths. Even when the man persists and explains to her that they are only five and that the others are in heaven she still does not budge and continues to believe that they are seven.

Unlike Poes speaker Wordsworths speaker has a significantly lower emotional maturity. This would explain why she doesnt want to let go and let them rest in peace. She constantly does whatever she can to live her life as if her siblings were with her. Were as an older person would have understood and accepted that it is time to move on and let the past go. But she persists on believing that there are seven when blatantly there are 5. This is far beyond her being rebellious this is her being ignorant and not excepting the facts and moving forward. This is not all her fault she is just young and needs to learn that this is just but another stepping stone so that one day she can realize that she needs to let them go and rest in peace so that she can live her life.

Both poems deal with death of loved ones. Poe deals with the death of a lover. Wordsworth writes about the death of a loved one. These two are completely different and do often have two different reactions. Usually the reactions are reversed when someone loses a lover they usually dont want to let them go and want to live there life as if they were still there and try not to change anything no matter how naive it might seem. And with the death of a loved one the family wants them to rest in peace and make sure that they are in a better place and try to move on and glorify the death so that they will always be remembered. Both poems settings are the opposite of the outlook. Poes being dark but ending with an uplifting message, Wordsworth being nice and cheerful but having a very deep and painful hidden message. Without a question both poets are extremely different and clearly show it with their pieces dealing with death.