The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Elson, Rebecca. “Antidotes to Fear of Death.” A Responsibility to Awe (Carcanet Press, 2001).

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number from which the quotation is taken.

“Antidotes to Fear of Death” was published in Rebecca Elson’s posthumous collection A Responsibility to Awe. Elson consistently pushed against the boundary of the visible and measurable as an astronomer focusing on dense star clusters. Her poetry also reflects this through the use of vivid imagery and speculative metaphors, both of which appear in “Antidotes to Fear of Death.” The poem can be classified as scientific lyric poetry, a subgenre of verse that combines the emotional expression of traditional lyric poetry with scientific facts and concepts.

As the speaker outlines how she assuages the anxiety of her own mortality, she begins with stargazing. Unlike the detached view that scientists are encouraged to observe the world with, the speaker employs an active imagination and sense of wonder. Her other antidotes to fear of death include stirring herself into the universe and enjoying her temporary physical presence on earth. The poem ends with the speaker’s speculation that the soul is like a butterfly that leaves the chrysalis of the human skull.