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Poetry · Chapter

Azrael explained

The narrator encounters the Angel of Death (Azrael) on a beach while singing a death-song.

What happens

The narrator encounters the Angel of Death (Azrael) on a beach while singing a death-song. Despite a sorrowful plea to be left alone to die, Death takes him, revealing the narrator to be Fred Emerson Brooks, who is struck dead and carried away.

Themes in this chapter

  • Mortality and Regret

    The narrator's sorrowful acceptance of death and his regret at being killed despite not wanting to die.

  • Deception and Self-Deception

    Death initially appears as a helpful peasant, deceiving the narrator before revealing his true identity.

Characters to notice

  • Unknown

    The narrator, who sings a death-song and is taken by Azrael; revealed as Fred Emerson Brooks.

  • Death

    Appears as a luminous peasant driving a wain, then reveals himself as the Angel of Death (Azrael) who claims the narrator as his victim.

Key passages

  • “The Angel of Death, ’twas he! ’twas he! And the victim he crove was I!”

    The narrator realizes the peasant is the Angel of Death and that he is the intended victim.

    Climactic revelation of Death's identity and the narrator's fate.

  • “O, death-song singers, be warned by me, Kioodle, ioodle, iay!”

    The narrator warns others who sing of death to take heed from his own experience.

    Final ironic warning from the narrator after his death.

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