Point of View

This poem is told through an external omniscient third-person point of view. The speaker is not specified but may be God, an impersonal entity, or the poet expressing his own views. This omniscient perspective allows the poem to “wide lens” both geographically and chronologically; it examines humanity as a unified whole, and the passage of time as intrinsically tangled together. Rather than focusing on a small cast of characters, this poem explores the world and the concept of the afterlife through broad strokes. This gives the impression that individual human lives are minuscule in the grand scheme of life and death, earth and cosmos, present and past.

Language and Meaning

The poem is expressed in a rhythmic and antiquated voice, yet the individual word choices are generally short, straightforward, and approachable. The majority of the poem’s words are one or two syllables, with only...