Theme · 246 poems

Poems About Death

Poets have stared down mortality longer than philosophy has. These poems range from defiance to acceptance to strange comfort — many are read at services; all are read in private.

Poetry's range on this subject is its glory: Donne tells Death to its face that it shall die; Dylan Thomas rages against the dying of the light; Christina Rossetti's 'Remember' quietly gives the living permission to forget and be happy. No other body of writing holds defiance, acceptance, and consolation so close together — sometimes inside one poem.

If you're choosing a poem for a service, match it to the person rather than the occasion: defiant lines for the fighter, calm Tennyson for the sailor home from sea. Length matters too — a dozen slow lines land harder than forty rushed ones, and the most-loved funeral poems are all short enough to read steadily through.

Narrow it downGrief

LengthForm

Remember

Christina Rossetti · 1862

Remember me when I am gone away,Gone far away into the silent land;When you can no more hold me by the hand,

14 lines · sonnet

Death, Be Not Proud (Holy Sonnet 10)

John Donne · 1633

Death, be not proud, though some have callèd theeMighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

14 lines · sonnet

In Flanders Fields

John McCrae · 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the sky

15 lines · rondeau

I heard a Fly buzz — when I died

Emily Dickinson · 1896

I HEARD a fly buzz when I died;The stillness round my formWas like the stillness in the air

16 lines · lyric

Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1889

Sunset and evening star,And one clear call for me!And may there be no moaning of the bar,

17 lines · lyric

Because I could not stop for Death

Emily Dickinson · 1890

Because I could not stop for Death,He kindly stopped for me;The carriage held but just ourselves

20 lines · lyric

O Captain! My Captain!

Walt Whitman · 1865

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,

24 lines · elegy

To an Athlete Dying Young

A. E. Housman · 1896

The time you won your town the raceWe chaired you through the market-place;Man and boy stood cheering by,

28 lines · elegy

Dulce et Decorum Est

Wilfred Owen · 1920

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

28 lines · lyric

Annabel Lee

Edgar Allan Poe · 1849

It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may know

41 lines · ballad

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1854

Half a league, half a league,Half a league onward,All in the valley of Death

55 lines · narrative

Ode to a Nightingale

John Keats · 1819

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness painsMy sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains

80 lines · ode

Thanatopsis

William Cullen Bryant · 1817

To him who in the love of Nature holdsCommunion with her visible forms, she speaksA various language; for his gayer hours

81 lines · elegy

The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe · 1845

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore —While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

113 lines · narrative

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Thomas Gray · 1751

It would almost seem that poetry has for its greatest mission the lesson of a proper humility.The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea.

128 lines · elegy

Fame's Boys and Girls, who never die

Emily Dickinson

Fame's Boys and Girls, who never dieAnd are too seldom born —

2 lines · lyric

I Shall Not Care

Sara Teasdale · 1915

Teasdale, Sara (1915), "I Shall Not Care" in Rivers to the Sea.Teasdale, Sara (1917), "I Shall Not Care" in Love Songs.

2 lines · lyric

A Death blow is a Life blow to Some

Emily Dickinson

A Death blow is a Life blow to SomeWho till they died, did not alive become —Who had they lived, had died but when

4 lines · lyric

Beauty crowds me till I die

Emily Dickinson

Beauty crowds me till I dieBeauty mercy have on meBut if I expire today

4 lines · lyric

Epitaph for Mr. William Michie, Schoolmaster

Robert Burns

HERE lie Willie Michie’s banes; O Satan, when ye tak him,Gie him the schulin o’ your weans,

4 lines · lyric

Epitaph for William Nicol, High School, Edinburgh

Robert Burns

YE maggots, feed on Nicol’s brain, For few sic feasts you’ve gotten;And fix your claws in Nicol’s heart,

4 lines · lyric

Upon His Sister-in-law, Mistress Elizabethherrick

Robert Herrick

First, for effusions due unto the dead,My solemn vows have here accomplished;Next, how I love thee, that my grief must tell,

4 lines · lyric

Away With Funeral Music

Robert Louis Stevenson

AWAY with funeral music - setThe pipe to powerful lips -The cup of life's for him that drinks

4 lines · lyric

Look Down, Fair Moon

Walt Whitman

LOOK down, fair moon, and bathe this scene;Pour softly down night’s nimbus floods, on faces ghastly, swollen, purple;On the dead, on their backs, with their arms toss’d wide,

4 lines · lyric

Dying at my music!

Emily Dickinson

Dying at my music!Bubble! Bubble!Hold me till the Octave's run!

6 lines · lyric

I noticed People disappeared

Emily Dickinson

I noticed People disappearedWhen but a little child —Supposed they visited remote

6 lines · lyric

The Waning Moon

Percy Bysshe Shelley

And like a dying lady, lean and pale,Who totters forth, wrapped in a gauzy veil,Out of her chamber, led by the insane

6 lines · lyric

Epigram on Francis Grose the Antiquary

Robert Burns

THE DEVIL got notice that Grose was a-dyingSo whip! at the summons, old Satan came flying;But when he approached where poor Francis lay moaning,

6 lines · lyric

An Epitaph Upon a Child

Robert Herrick

Virgins promised when I died,That they would each primrose-tideDuly, morn and evening, come,

6 lines · lyric

Life Is the Body's Light

Robert Herrick

Life is the body's light; which, once declining,Those crimson clouds i' th' cheeks and lips leave shining:-Those counter-changed tabbies in the air,

6 lines · lyric

To His Kinswoman, Mistress Susanna Herrick

Robert Herrick

When I consider, dearest, thou dost stayBut here awhile, to languish and decay;Like to these garden glories, which here be

6 lines · lyric

Upon a Child That Died

Robert Herrick

Here she lies, a pretty bud,Lately made of flesh and blood;Who as soon fell fast asleep,

6 lines · lyric

Spirit of Plato

Percy Bysshe Shelley

FROM THE GREEK.Eagle! why soarest thou above that tomb?To what sublime and star-ypaven home

7 lines · lyric

Music, When Soft Voices Die

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1821

Music, when soft voices die,Vibrates in the memory—Odours, when sweet violets sicken,

8 lines · lyric

What the River Knows

The QuillOak Editors

The river does not endwhere it meets the sea —it only loses its banks,

8 lines · free verse

All but Death, can be Adjusted

Emily Dickinson

All but Death, can be Adjusted —Dynasties repaired —Systems — settled in their Sockets —

8 lines · lyric

Death is a Dialogue between

Emily Dickinson

Death is a Dialogue betweenThe Spirit and the Dust."Dissolve" says Death — The Spirit "Sir

8 lines · lyric

Death leaves Us homesick, who behind

Emily Dickinson

Death leaves Us homesick, who behind,Except that it is goneAre ignorant of its Concern

8 lines · lyric

Funny—to be a Century

Emily Dickinson

Funny — to be a Century —And see the People — going by —I — should die of the Oddity —

8 lines · lyric

How far is it to Heaven?

Emily Dickinson

How far is it to Heaven?As far as Death this way —Of River or of Ridge beyond

8 lines · lyric

I know of people in the Grave

Emily Dickinson

I know of people in the GraveWho would be very gladTo know the news I know tonight

8 lines · lyric

If I should cease to bring a Rose

Emily Dickinson

If I should cease to bring a RoseUpon a festal day,'Twill be because beyond the Rose

8 lines · lyric

Lain in Nature—so suffice us

Emily Dickinson

Lain in Nature — so suffice usThe enchantless PodWhen we advertise existence

8 lines · lyric

Midsummer, was it, when They died

Emily Dickinson

Midsummer, was it, when They died —A full, and perfect time —The Summer closed upon itself

8 lines · lyric

Nature—sometimes sears a Sapling

Emily Dickinson

Nature — sometimes sears a Sapling —Sometimes — scalps a Tree —Her Green People recollect it

8 lines · lyric

Pain has but one Acquaintance

Emily Dickinson

Pain has but one AcquaintanceAnd that is Death —Each one unto the other

8 lines · lyric

So give me back to Death

Emily Dickinson

So give me back to Death —The Death I never fearedExcept that it deprived of thee —

8 lines · lyric

Suspense—is Hostiler than Death

Emily Dickinson

Suspense — is Hostiler than Death —Death — tho'soever Broad,Is Just Death, and cannot increase —

8 lines · lyric

The Sun is gay or stark

Emily Dickinson

The Sun is gay or starkAccording to our Deed.If Merry, He is merrier —

8 lines · lyric

We thirst at first—'tis Nature's Act

Emily Dickinson

We thirst at first — 'tis Nature's Act —And later — when we die —A little Water supplicate —

8 lines · lyric

Song From the Wandering Jew

Percy Bysshe Shelley

See yon opening flowerSpreads its fragrance to the blast;It fades within an hour,

8 lines · lyric

Epitaph on a Lap-dog

Robert Burns

IN wood and wild, ye warbling throng, Your heavy loss deplore;Now, half extinct your powers of song,

8 lines · lyric

The Old Wives' Prayer

Robert Herrick

Holy-Rood, come forth and shieldUs i' th' city and the field;Safely guard us, now and aye,

8 lines · lyric

To the Lady Crewe, Upon the Death of Her Child

Robert Herrick

Why, Madam, will ye longer weep,Whenas your baby's lull'd asleep?And, pretty child, feels now no more

8 lines · lyric

Ah Sunflower

William Blake

Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun;Seeking after that sweet golden clime

8 lines · lyric

Requiem

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1887

Under the wide and starry sky,Dig the grave and let me lie.Glad did I live and gladly die,

8 lines · lyric

Said Death to Passion

Emily Dickinson

Said Death to Passion"Give of thine an Acre unto me."Said Passion, through contracting Breaths

9 lines · lyric

Summer for thee, grant I may be

Emily Dickinson

Summer for thee, grant I may beWhen Summer days are flown!Thy music still, when Whipporwill

9 lines · lyric

Would you like summer? Taste of ours

Emily Dickinson

Would you like summer? Taste of ours.Spices? Buy here!Ill! We have berries, for the parching!

9 lines · lyric

On Robert Emmet's Grave

Percy Bysshe Shelley

...No trump tells thy virtues — the grave where they restWith thy dust shall remain unpolluted by fame,

9 lines · lyric

Common questions

What is a good funeral poem?

The most requested are Christina Rossetti's 'Remember,' 'Death Is Nothing at All,' and Mary Elizabeth Frye's 'Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep' — which offers comfort without requiring any particular faith.

What is the most famous poem about death?

Likely a tie between John Donne's 'Death, be not proud' and Dylan Thomas's 'Do not go gentle into that good night' — one calmly defiant, one furiously so.

Should a memorial reading be religious?

Only if it fits the person. Many of the most-read pieces — Frye, Rossetti, Tennyson's 'Crossing the Bar' — comfort believers and non-believers alike.