With the prospect of human mortality in mind both poems “Variation
of the Word Sleep” (by Margaret Atwood) and “Encounter” (by Czeslaw Milosz) show
different aspects of their ideas through their rhythmic and imagery poetry. “Variation
of the Word Sleep”, in particular, focuses on how to live life before death.
The narrator of Atwood’s poem wishes to appreciate a person,
who I presume is a lover, as they “sleep”. She describes it as wishing to go
into that person’s dreams and live happily with that person, to walk the wondrous
landscapes, protect that person from fears and grief, and inhabit that person
as much as possible. In my perspective, the narrator referrers to “sleep” as
the temporary state we are in before death, or in other words life. The grief
is of course the turmoil a person can experience during their lifetime, and the
fear, as it is described as descending into a cave, is the oncoming death. One
particular line, the narrator says she wishes to follow up a long stairway, and
guide the person through a boat. These
could be analogies towards different ways to ascending to heaven, such as the
stairway, or the river that leads the dead to the afterlife, such as Styx.
“Encounter” is all about how ideally death is instantaneous
and unexpected. The poem’s first stanzas are rhythmic and flow, as I assume the
scene and setting were like before the incident, until the narrator reveals the
death. Unlike the other poem, which contemplates a life-time of memories which
happen before death, Milosz focused on the moment rather. The narrator
particularly remembers the small gesture the man made before he had died
shortly after. He then begins to wonder where life has gone, now that it has
left, whilst the other poem shy’s from the thought.
