Sir Andrew Motion, known for his narrative poetry is an English poet novelist and a biographer. He served as the Poet Laureate of England from 1999 to 2009. The “Last Call” is a short poem about the thoughts of a person who is at the edge of death. In a humourous way he thinks about his situation. Usually death is presented in a dark or melancholic manner. But here the narrator accepts death in a more positive light.
As the title implies, death, the last call comes to the narrator. Death is personified as “he” and the narrator,l says that he calls him to “come near”. Here, the narrator decides to answer the call of death with pity. But later the poet finds that death loves him. So then the poet reciprocates the love and he loves death back. Thud there is a constant love for each other and he embraces death.
The omnipresence of death is represented by the poet. Everyone knows that death is inevitable. Death is a companion for everyone from birth itself. Every living being are gradually moving towards death in their life. So this awareness about the omnipresence and inevitability of death is the reason for the poet’s acceptance of death. The transformation from pity to genuine love is the result of this belief that death is one’s constant companion. Thus in the short, humoristic way poet represents the notion of death. Death is presented in a more light, positive way by Andrew Motion.
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