Point of View

The first and second stanzas are narrated from the third person limited point of view, shifting to the first person limited point of view in the third and fourth stanzas. The third person point of view in the first two stanzas is evidenced by the exclusion of the first person singular pronoun and the focus on the reaper as the subject of the poem. At this point, the poem does not yet have anything to do with the speaker’s response to the reaper’s song, but rather the character and the song themselves. However, in the third stanza, and the fourth stanza that follows it, there is a shift as the speaker incorporates the use of the first person singular pronoun. In these stanzas, they talk about their personal engagement with the reaper’s song and how it impacts them emotionally and spiritually, and...