Blog 6: Essay 3

I Have A Rendezvous With Death
by Alan Seeger

I have a rendezvous with Death

At some disputed barricade,

When Spring comes back with rustling shade

And apple-blossoms fill the air-

I have a rendezvous with Death

When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

It may be he shall take my hand

And lead me into his dark land

And close my eyes and quench my breath-

It may be I shall pass him still.

I have a rendezvous with Death

On some scarred slope of battered hill,

When Spring comes round again this year

And the first meadow-flowers appear.

God knows 'twere better to be deep

Pillowed in silk and scented down,

Where love throbs out in blissful sleep,

Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,

Where hushed awakenings are dear...

But I've a rendezvous with Death

At midnight in some flaming town,

When Spring trips north again this year,

And I to my pledged word am true,

I shall not fail that rendezvous.

Alan Seeger was an american poet born on June 22, 1888 and died July 4, 1916. During his life he wrote poems but none of his work got the recognition like his "Rendezvous with Death" poem. He had also served in the French Foreign Legion in WW1 but was gunned down at the Battle of Somme. Seeger had written his poem during his time in the war but was unable to published it until a year later after his death. His poems and diary were published all together the same time rendezvous with death was published but didn't reach fame as it did.

The poem has three stanzas with six lines in the first stanza then goes to eight lines in the second stanza then goes to ten lines in the third stanza. The poem has a rhyme scheme for example in the first stanza its ABAAAA . Then in stanza two you have more of a better rhyme like in (line 7 and line 8) " It may be he shall take my hand, and Lead me into his dark land". Notice how at the end of line seven the word hand and the word land at the end of line eight rhyme together. Then when you try to use line nine and ten's last words with seven and eight's you find that they don't sound like their is no music to it. But in all the stanzas one word that sticks out to rhyme with everything is the word death.

The summary of stanza one is that a scene is going on and the writer of the poem is the speaker. Alan is saying that he is waiting for death(line 1) to come at a barricade(line 2) during the spring with apple blossoms are all around him in the air(line 4). In stanza two he depicts a scene where he gives death his hand(line 7) and have Alan guide him. While doing this he closes his eyes and hold's his breath(line 9) hoping that death will pass him(line10) on a battered hill(line 11) during the first meadow flowers(line 12). In the last stanza he depicts a scene of silk that is scented down(line16), love shows its self during sleep(line 17). Then he shows a town in flames during the spring and pledges to see death(lines 21, 22, 24).

In Seeger's poem their is a lot of symbolism in it like the words rendezvous, death, spring, and quench just for example. Their are many more to this poem but it would require an extra full page to explain them. The word rendezvous means "a meeting at a prearranged time and place" but its symbols are appointment, and tryst which is an arrangement between lovers like a date. Then you have the word death which means departure from life and it's symbols are demise, last, and bereavement which means to leave desolate or alone. The word spring had two meaning with two symbols for it like one meaning was to move suddenly and its symbol was natural spring which is a natural flow of water, then the second meaning was the season of growth with a symbol called springtime. Quench means to suppress and its symbols are slake which mean to lessen the force and the word quell which is to suppress also.

The tone in Seeger's poem is some what weird becuase he is talking about death, dark lands, flaming towns, and scarred slope of a battered hill. Then makes it sound beautiful with words like spring, apple blossoms, blue days that are fair, meadow flowers appear, and love throbing. He switches up his mood in each stanza like in the first stanza starts off dark then half way into it he transforms it into something beautiful. The second stanza has a horrific feel from lines 7 - 12 but lines 13 - 14 he says " When spring comes round again this year, and the first meadow flowers appear" seeger softens it up to make it seem like good will come out of it. The third and final stanza he flips it around starting off nice from lines 15 - 19 then goes dark from lines 20 - 24 talking about flaming towns and not wanting to miss death when he shows up. The last two lines lines 23 - 24 " And I to my pledge word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous" is by far the creepiest lines in the whole poem. Waiting to embrace death is something no one wants to do but the narrater invites him with open arms.

In "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" it talks about a soldier in a battle that gets shot and killed during the spring. In it he describes how death will guide him to the afterlife threw destroyed areas like "scarred slope of battered hill"(line 12). Then Seeger talks about how death is coming again next spring to a town in flames where people are asleep and love was once in the air. The poem then seems to fade out in the end with the narrater waiting for death to come and take him away without a problem.

Work Cited
Archer, William. Poems by Alan Seeger. New York, 1916. Google Books. Web. 19 April 2010

"Rendezvous". The Free Dictionary. Copyright,2010.Web. 18 April 2010

"Seeger, Alan". Wikipedia. 22 March 2010. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. .18 April 2010. Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Seeger

"Alan Seeger". Poetry Archive. Copyright, 2002.Web. 18 April 2010