# The Bride of Death explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

## What happens

A young girl is taken by death, described as a bride being led to a tomb instead of a marriage bed. She is robed for a funeral, not a wedding, and her bridal party consists of the silent dead. Her mother's kiss cannot awaken her, and she becomes the bride of death.

## Themes in this chapter

### Resilience and Sacrifice

The young girl is sacrificed to death, taken from the sunny love of her marriage day.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

The narrator describes the scene of a young girl being claimed by death as a bride.

## Key lines

> They robed her for another groom, For her bridal couch, prepared the tomb;

They dressed her for a different husband, and prepared the tomb as her wedding bed.

_Death is personified as a rival groom who claims the bride._

> Instead of orange-blossoms fair, Willow and cypress wreathed her hair.

Instead of wedding flowers, her hair was adorned with willow and cypress, symbols of mourning.

_The imagery contrasts a traditional wedding with a funeral._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters/the-bride-of-death
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_7_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters