Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Alan Shapiro’s "Double Dying" is a stark meditation on mortality and the impermanence of both the body and the self. The poem’s structure is simple and direct, with a rhythm that reinforces its grim inevitability. The title itself suggests a layered death—not just the physical cessation of life but the gradual erasure of identity over time. The poem engages with the idea that death is not a singular event but a process, extending beyond biological decay into the slow dissolution of memory.

The opening lines establish this duality: "After death comes bodily decay, / Then like your body / Your name begins to fade away." The transition from physical decomposition to the erosion of identity is seamless, suggesting that these two processes are not separate but part of the same inevitability. The placement of "then" at the start of the second line emphasizes sequence—one form of death naturally following the other. The use of fade away instead of a more definitive verb like disappear suggests that this process is slow, subtle, and inevitable.

The next lines explore the ways in which memory persists, though imperfectly: "Once in a while somebody / Among relatives and friends / Will remember a moment, a story, / Doubtless showing he misapprehends / Though intending to be appreciatory." The enjambment in "Once in a while somebody / Among relatives and friends" creates a pause, reinforcing the infrequency of these recollections. Even when people do remember, their memories are unreliable—stories are misremembered, reshaped, and misunderstood. The line "Doubtless showing he misapprehends" suggests a kind of resigned cynicism, as if it is inevitable that those who survive will misinterpret or distort the past, despite their best intentions. This is one of the most poignant insights in the poem—memory itself is flawed, and even acts of appreciation are tinged with error.

As time passes, the process accelerates: "As months and years go by / Your name gets mentioned less and less, / Eventually will not signify, / Erodes to nothingness." The phrase "less and less" reinforces the gradual fading of identity, a slow dwindling rather than an abrupt disappearance. The shift from personal remembrance ("your name gets mentioned") to total insignificance ("Eventually will not signify") underscores the poem’s bleak vision—there is no enduring legacy, only a final vanishing. The use of "erodes" draws a parallel between memory and natural forces—just as landscapes are worn away over time, so too is human identity.

The final couplet delivers the poem’s most haunting truth: "You die, you putrify, / Then once again you die." The repetition of die at the beginning and end creates a circularity, reinforcing the idea that death is not singular but ongoing. The inclusion of putrify makes the decay explicit, grounding the poem in the physical reality of decomposition before returning to the conceptual erasure of identity. The phrase "once again you die" is devastating in its simplicity—death is not just a moment of cessation but a process that continues beyond the grave, until even the memory of a person ceases to exist.

"Double Dying" is a brutally honest reflection on mortality, rejecting any notion of permanence, legacy, or transcendence. Shapiro’s language is spare, his tone clinical yet deeply affecting. The poem does not offer solace, only the truth of human impermanence, laid out in a progression as methodical as death itself. By framing death as something that happens twice—first to the body, then to the memory—Shapiro forces the reader to confront the reality that being forgotten is as inevitable as dying. The poem’s power lies in its refusal to romanticize remembrance, presenting a stark but undeniable vision of existence slipping away, first in flesh, then in name, until all is gone.

Copyright (c) 2025 PoetryExplorer

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...