Poetry is an important part of literature which can show us what it is like to be human. In her poem “Do not stand at my grave and weep”, Mary Frye discusses the life rite of death from a positive perspective. To her death is not an ending and does not constitute sadness. Frye uses a simple narrative structure , a range of metaphors and imagery to create a calm mood throughout the poem. These elements all make the reader feel comforted and perhaps even optimistic about death.
Frye has chosen a simple twelve line structure for her poem which is in the form of a monologue from a spirit of the person who has died to the reader of the poem. The spirit uses an emphatic form of speech to tell the reader what she is not and what she is. The repetition of the first line as the title serves to reinforce the strength of the spirit’s argument that she is not dead and in the
Frye has chosen a simple monologue to form the structure of her poem, a monologue between the spirit of the dead person and the reader. The repetition title as the first line serves to reinforce the strength of the spirit’s argument that she is not dead and this is followed up by an even more emphatic line: “I am not there, I do not sleep”. At the conclusion of the poem this is once again repeated and also added to by emphasising that the spirit “did not die”. These short, sharp emphatic statements reiterate the poet’s purpose which is to tell the reader that the spirit has gone to a better place and provide them with some comfort. The structure of the monologue allows a sense of consolation between the spirit and the reader.
Frye incorporates many examples of metaphors in her poem. These are used to emphasise the fact that the spirit is still “alive”. The images are conveyed as metaphors to emphasise the fact that the person is not dead but is something else e.g. “I am a thousand winds that blow”. Each of the lines 3,4,5,6,8 and 10 begin with the same “I am” followed by a beautiful and calm image of nature. The “diamond glint on snow” and the “gentle autumn rain” are examples of these images. All of these images in the form of metaphors combine to provide a beautiful picture and the sense that the spirit has gone to a better place.
Many figures of speech are used in the poem to heighten the impact of the imagery. The gentle assonance of a “thousand winds that blow” is contrasted with the alliteration of the “soft stars that shine at night”. Onomatopoeia is used to describe the morning’s hush and the “rush” of the birds. All of these figures of speech combine with the imagery of the metaphor to provide a calm, restful mood for the reader.
Frye has used a monologue as the structure of her poem, a variety of metaphors and a range of figures of speech to develop the poem’s theme of death. Every human must die but this poem awakens us to the belief that although we may be dead, we are not gone. We will live on in nature and the world around us.
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