# Sick Room explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Langston Hughes.

## What happens

A silent woman lies in a sick room, caught between Life and Death, all three shrouded in a sheet of pain.

## Themes in this chapter

### Death and Mortality

Death is personified as a lover lying beside the woman, emphasizing the closeness of mortality

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The observer or speaker describing the scene

### Death

One of the two lovers lying with the woman

## Key lines

> How quiet It is in this sick room Where on the bed A silent woman lies between two lovers⁠— Life and Death, And all three covered with a sheet of pain.

The sick room is profoundly still, where a mute woman rests in bed flanked by Life and Death, all enveloped in suffering.

_The poem personifies Life and Death as lovers sharing the woman's bed of pain._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/sick-room
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_15_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters