"Death is Nothing at All" Analysis

Answer the following questions about the poem "Death is Nothing at All"

How did you feel as you read the poem?

What do you think of the poet's ideas? Do you agree? Why or why not?

What are your favourite images in the poem? Why did you choose them?

What do you think of the sound of the poem? (rhyme, rhythm, repetition, tone, etc)

How does the poem connect with your personal life?

What would you say to the poet about this poem if you had the chance?

What do you think the poem is saying?

Death Is Nothing At All

By Henry Scott-Holland

Death is nothing at all.

It does not count.

I have only slipped away into the next room.

Nothing has happened.

Everything remains exactly as it was.

I am I, and you are you,

and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.

Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by the old familiar name.

Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.

Put no difference into your tone.

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.

Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same as it ever was.

There is absolute and unbroken continuity.

What is this death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you, for an interval,

somewhere very near,

just round the corner.

All is well.

Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.

One brief moment and all will be as it was before.

How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!