Death

Hidden in “Not like a Cypress” is the sense of death. This sense is very subtle but is at the same time unavoidable. There has to be a reason for the speaker's using the words “exits” and “exit.” The poet's experiences in war and the death of his father influence much of his poetry. The “thousands of cautious green exits” can be interpreted as gravesites. The rain “to be breathed in like air” may be an allusion to tears. And the “sharp ring that wakes up the doctor on call” sounds like an emergency—someone in pain, someone critically ill, someone dying. The “quiet exit” mentioned in the last stanza must be a reference to the last breath of life of someone who is dying. Clearer is the allusion to the “great renunciation,” a reference to the final giving up of all things material.

Rebirth

Paralleling the theme...