Whispers of Heavenly Death
Whispers of Heavenly Death - meaning Summary
Transition Between Sorrow and Birth
Whitman presents a quiet, ambiguous vision in which sounds and landscapes suggest both death and spiritual emergence. Sensory images—wind, rippling waters, clouds, a distant star—create a liminal scene where mourning and awe coexist. The poem reframes passing as a mysterious, almost sacred transition, hinting that what appears as death may be an immortal birth or a soul crossing a frontier beyond human sight.
Read Complete AnalysesWHISPERS of heavenly death, murmur’d I hear; Labial gossip of night—sibilant chorals; Footsteps gently ascending—mystical breezes, wafted soft and low; Ripples of unseen rivers—tides of a current, flowing, forever flowing; (Or is it the plashing of tears? the measureless waters of human tears?) I see, just see, skyward, great cloud-masses; Mournfully, slowly they roll, silently swelling and mixing; With, at times, a half-dimm’d, sadden’d, far-off star, Appearing and disappearing. (Some parturition, rather—some solemn, immortal birth: On the frontiers, to eyes impenetrable, Some Soul is passing over.)
Feel free to be first to leave comment.