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SevenPonds / Poetry Looking at Loss / Mortality & Terminal Illness Poems

Mortality & Terminal Illness Poems

When facing life’s end, poetry can provide unexpected comfort and clarity. These thoughtful poems explore terminal illness with honesty, hope, and the healing power of beautifully chosen words.

"An Untitled Japanese Death Poem"

By Kozan Ichikyo

This untitled poem by Kozan Ichikyo, written in 1360, represents a genre known as “jisei” or Japanese death poems, once …

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“Halley’s Comet”

By Stanley Kunitz

In “Halley’s Comet,” Stanley Kunitz – who was 95 when he became the 10th Poet Laureate of the United States in 2000 – re…

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"On Death" from "The Prophet"

By Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran is a Lebanese-American poet who dominated the early twentieth century. Gibran’s best-known work, “The Prop…

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"Dressing"

By Sarah Ruhl

We all have wounds we press harder to ease the ache. Again and again in her plays, essays, and poems, Sarah Ruhl celebra…

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“The Ghost Road”

By Du Fu, translated by L. Cranmer

“The Ghost Road” is an Eastern classic and an ideal example of poetic literature of great antiquity. Its original author…

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orange book cover of rebecca elsons poetry book

"Antidotes to Fear of Death"

By Rebecca Elson

Astronomer Rebecca Elson was only 29 and in the prime of her scientific career when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s…

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"Affirmation"

By Donald Hall

When Donald Hall, the 14th Poet Laureate of the United States, died this summer at age 89, he left behind abody of work …

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"Thanatopsis"

By William Cullen Bryant

The 19th century poet William Cullen Bryant could not recall when he wrote “Thanatopsis.” Similarly, I long ago lost cou…

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e e cummings poetry book showing a bird among leaves

"Suppose"

By E.E. Cummings

E.E. Cummings, a prolific and pioneering poet from the early 20th century, is a master of image, and his lyric, witty st…

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"Because I Could Not Stop For Death"

By Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson, born in 1830, was in many ways a living contradiction. She was raised in a Calvinist, orthodox, conserv…

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"The Laughing Heart"

By Charles Bukowski

American poet Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) is well-known in the literary world as an irreverent, tell-it-like-it-is kind…

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"Death is Nothing at All"

By Canon Henry Scott-Holland

If life is just a game that we play, then death is one of the greatest game-changers there is. Like all the great milest…

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“Don’t Fear Death”

By Alexander Blok

If you’ve ever experienced the grief of having lost a loved one after weeks, months or even years of suffering, chances …

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“Dirge Without Music”

By Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay is no stranger to us at SevenPonds. While death remains a constant theme in many of her poems, h…

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"Whispers of Heavenly Death"

By Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman’s poetry has been immortalized by his beautiful, visceral tributes to nature that leave us rethinking our i…

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“Death, be not proud”

By John Donne

I once loaned my mom a book of 17th century plays I had just finished, at her request; the same day, she returned it to …

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“When Death Comes"

By Mary Oliver

They say the best revenge is living well, and in Mary Oliver’s “When Death Comes,” this is exactly the attitude the poet…

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“A Piece of the Storm”

By Mark Strand

Here at SevenPonds, we’re probably hyperaware of death’s inevitability. I know that it certainly wasn’t a topic I consid…

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“Death May be Ageing"

By Harold Pinter

Death draws many reactions from people (some of which I discuss here and here), but one of the most common is anger. Tho…

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“Early Elegy: Headmistress”

By Claudia Emerson

There are what could be termed “better” poems about death by Claudia Emerson, but “Early Elegy: Headmistress” intrigued …

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“The Lake Isle of Innisfree”

By William Butler Yeats

When I took my “Literature in the 20th Century” course at my university, the professor of the class called William Butle…

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“Sunlight on the Garden”

By Louis MacNeice

Louis MacNeice’s “Sunlight on the Garden” can be interpreted in many different ways. Some view it as a war poem, others …

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“Prospice”

By Robert Browning

Back in February I wrote about a love sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Today, I’m analyzing a poem by her husband, …

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“Life”

By Anna Barbauld

“Life,” by Anna Barbauld, is a unique poem; rather than question what death is, and wonder what happens to us after we d…

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“Requiescat”

By Matthew Arnold

I was reading about the famous poet and critic Matthew Arnold recently, and I discovered that he died of sudden heart fa…

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