Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

Mary Elizabeth Frye

 

“Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep” is a Petrarch sonnet. Petrarch sonnets describe features with simile, metaphor, and/ or hyperbole. In this poem many metaphors are used to describe where the persons is. She is claiming that she is not dead; instead, she is the wind, snow, sunlight, autumn rain, birds, and stars. It follows an aabbcc… rhyme scheme. There are no modifications of the end rhyme scheme. Frye repeats “I am” in the 2-6 and again in 8,10, and 12. One modification Frye made was the number of lines. This poem contains 12 lines while the typical sonnet has 14 lines. The turn in the last two lines. The first 10 lines are filled with metaphors that describe the person. The last two lines are telling the viewers not to dwell over the grave because she is not there mentally. She may be there physically however, what people know as her is not in that grave. She still “lives on.” This poem is convincing her mourners not to feel bad for her “dying” because she did not die spiritually. She does  not wish for people to weep over her grave because she does not fear dying. I chose this sonnet because it makes sense to me. I of course do not relate to it because I am not near death or dead. But, the poem is easily comprehendible.

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