VII explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Death and Mortality

  The chapter directly confronts the physical reality of death, describing a corpse with 'death upon her eyes' and the lingering 'life upon her hair.'

• Love and Beauty

  The dead woman is described as 'all perfum’d' and beautiful even in death, linking love and beauty with mortality.

Characters to notice

• Narrator

  The speaker observes the dead woman, focusing on her perfumed presence and the contrast between her dead eyes and living hair.

• Death

  Death is personified as the force that has taken the woman, leaving her with 'death upon her eyes.'

Key passages

• “Of the dead⁠—dead who lies All perfum’d there, With the death upon her eyes, And the life upon her hair.”

  Regarding the deceased woman who lies there, completely fragrant, with death visible in her eyes but life still apparent in her hair.

  The speaker emphasizes the paradox of death and lingering vitality in the woman's appearance.