Eric Tseng
486200511
An Imaginative Story of "After Death"
Actually speaking, I think we can
use two different viewpoints to interpret this poem. Because the
writer is a female, we may easily consider the speaker is a female, too.
If we stand on this point, we can find that this poem is written by a wife
or a girl to her husband or boyfriend. But the relationship between
them is not good, for we can see this in the last third line-“he did not
love me living,..." Besides, the listener may not be faithful to
the speaker, too. So, to put these details together, we can imagine
a picture. Before the speaker's death, the speaker and the listener
had a quarrel with each other; then, the speaker walked away angrily.
The listener still stayed there alone. All of a sudden, a car rushed
from a lane and hit the speaker fiercely just on her way home. The
listener shocked with the huge sound and ran to the spot anxiously and
quickly. He saw the terrible accident and cried out loudly.
He continued calling her name and tried to wake her up. But it did
not work. Then, the scene changed to a hospital. The speaker's
family came to the hospital hurriedly and asked the listener about her
condition. They walked around in front of the door and could not
stay calm. When the doctor came out from the door and announced her
death, some cried with tears and some remained cool but felt so painful
in their deep hearts. Then, the scene changed to a funeral again.
The speaker lay on a coffin (the bed) quietly and there were a lot of flowers
around her. Her family members, including the listener, were all
in black and stood around her coffin. They mourned and prayed for
her. When her family left, the listener still stood beside her and
looked at her pale face. Though he always kept peaceful in front
of other people, when he was alone with her, he could not help but weep.
He looked at her face and said, "Poor child, poor child, I’m really sorry,
I'm sorry to make you angry. It should not become like this.
Oh, please forgive me. My dear, I love you forever." In his eyes,
she could not hear anything any more and understood nothing about what
he said. But on the contrary, she indeed heard everything and knew
his sincerity and love. So she said, "Very sweet it is to know he
still is warm though I am cold." She felt gratified and forgave him in
the end.
Isn't it like a romance story?
That is my first impression after reading the poem. But from the
poem, we also can find some ironic descriptions. They are in the
last two sentences. These words make me think of a question.
Why people always regret after the chance has gone? The chance here
is usually referred to "death" in many literatures. When they are
alive, they dare not to speak out what they think, to express their feelings
and do what they want to do. They often keep these in minds.
As a result, we will find that in many movies, plays, stories or novels,
it is not the death that makes us feel so sorry but the love or affection
which the characters do not tell each other on time when they are alive.
For example, one of Shakespeare's famous plays-"Romeo and Juliet" is the
best proof. The same opportunity will not come for the second time.
So, we should hold it when it comes in spite of the consequence.
Then, we can be real content about ourselves. I think this is also
important for us to learn in our whole life.
But if we imagine the listener in the
poem is a male, how do you feel about the poem? Does it still sound
romantic or disgusting? In my opinion, I will feel more pitiful about
the poem, for homosexuality is still not acceptable by most of the people.
As a result, the road for them to walk is more difficult and dangerous
than the normal people. Maybe when they die, they still can not tell
the public or the person that he loves him, right?