Point of View

“Sylvia’s Death” is told from first-person point of view using the pronoun “I.” Rather than speaking to the reader, however, the narrator speaks directly to the title character Sylvia. This narrative choice makes the reader feel as though they are listening in on the second half of a conversation between old friends. The subject of the poem is established from the first line, but the perspective is not verified until the first-person pronoun in the fourth stanza: “Where did you go / after you wrote me” (Lines 8-9). From this point forward the poem becomes a one-sided dialogue between the speaker and Sylvia, with the former entreating the latter for a response she cannot give.

Language and Meaning

This poem is told in a stream-of-consciousness style with few full stops between sentences; thoughts run into and around each other, with certain sentences being set apart...