De la Mare expands its significance by the repetition of last in the last of last words spoken. Last words strongly suggest words spoken shortly before death.
The first line is arresting: a perfect iambic pentameter sealing an aphorism. The formal punctuation heightens the sense of an edge: the edge of a real sound made by a voice.
While following the current ascent of De la Mare's critical star, I come across poems that answer the question Is there anybody there? with more than a ghostly but melodramatic hush.
I haven't since experienced any dramatic wholesale conversion. Despite this, I've found poems that resonate with the theme of mortality and the finality of goodbyes.
[
Collection
]
[
|
...
]