In the second stanza she then says “Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead, scribbling in the sky the message He Is Dead.” This conveys how difficult it is for her to escape from her loss. The use of the word “moaning” symbolises the pain caused by his death because now she is crying because he is gone. Also, the image of a plane writing the message in the sky is a metaphor for how she is surrounded by the grief that has been caused, and there is nowhere that she can hide to escape from it. Also, seeing this message literally written in the sky would be a great shock to her and the other mourners, and it shows the shock she felt when she lost him. She also says “Let the policemen wear black cotton gloves”. This is a mark of respect and she feels that everyone is sorry that he is now gone. Also, it reflects the mourning that is going on around her because of his death.
In the third stanza, she describes how important his role in her life was. She says “He was my north, my south, my east and west.” This shows that he was someone who provided guidance and support. Now that he is gone she has lost her way and her life is lacking direction. “My working week and my Sunday rest” tells us that she spent a lot of her time with him and that without him she has no longer has structure in her life and she has lost purpose and reason. The last sentence of the stanza “I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.” Is interesting because most people feel that they can continue to love the person they’ve lost by remembering them and missing them. However, she feels that because of his death the love they shared is now gone. It shows that she feels that he has abandoned her, and perhaps it could suggest that he left her of his own accord, making her feel that he stopped loving her as much as she loved him.
The last stanza uses a lot of natural imagery as a metaphor to describe the way she feels. She talks about destroying al the beautiful, natural features in the world, such as the ocean, and the sun and moon. “The stars are not wanted now” shows that she no longer has any use for her hopes, dreams and ambitions; she feels that they died along with her partner. The sky may as well be plain black without the stars to light it up because the light in her life has now gone. “Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun” signifies how she has lost the person who guided her through life, like the moon provides a light in the dark. It relates to the phrase in the third stanza “my noon, my midnight” because she has no need for the moon or the sun now because the purpose of her life is gone and there is no need to distinguish between night and day anymore. Because of his death, her world is now falling apart. “Pour away the ocean” could convey how she feels she is drowning in her grief, and pouring away the grief will allow her to carry on with her life. These natural images are used to portray how she feels that the beauty in the world is no longer relevant, as she cannot enjoy these things on her own. Her view of the world has now changed, and it has become a sinister and lonely place. Also, the last stanza is a metaphor for how her partner’s death was a waste of beauty. A world with no sunshine, oceans, and stars would be plain and useless, which is how her life seems to be now. She has lost the ability to appreciate the world and this is portrayed in the final line “For nothing now can come to any good”, which shows that her mood remains pessimistic and she has lost all her faith.
