Summary

In the first line, the speaker asks why one should not wake at dawn, then asks a second question that continues on into the next line. This second question involves breaking "from the coffin of night," and the speaker compares the nails on this coffin to stars (2-3). This line of questioning persists in Lines 3-5 as the speaker opens the possibility of delving fully into one's grief and accepting that time will pass.

In the 6th line, the speaker acknowledges that she does not know what lies beyond the experience of grief. Nonetheless, the speaker asks in the final lines, "Why not wake / At dawn, after all is gone, and go on?" (6-7). The poem ends on this note.

Analysis

"Vigil" is an elegy that offers questions to ponder in light of an unspecified bereavement. Rather than outline a clear and correct way...