THE LOOK OF DEATH IS BOTH SEVERE AND MILD—1875
In commenting, in the previously published Bibliophile edition of Stevenson's poems, on the poem beginning—
Death, to the dead forevermore,
A King, a God, the last and best of friends,
the editor fell into an error in calling it the earliest of the poems devoted exclusively to the theme of Death "as the ultimate and fulfilling peace." It was indeed the earliest of such published poems, but the present verses, reflecting the same point of view, antedate the others by at least a brief time, evidence of which is found in the original draft of the previously published poem, where Stevenson used the line, "And comfortably welcomes weary feet," one of the best verses in the present rondeau.
The opening stanza of this poem gives Stevenson's most successful presentation of his conception of Death. In the adjective "severe" is the intimation of the joys of life, forgotten when death appears; while in the antithetical adjective "mild," Death is shorn of its terror.
[ 80 ]
