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In many of her poems, especially ones such as this, concerning the theme of death and dying, Emily Dickinson makes use of metaphor and comparison. This poem is a good example of this, following the typical style and theme of many of Dickinson’s other poems. In the opening line of the poem, death is compared to an insect; “Death is like the insect” (1), and the metaphor is extended throughout the rest of the poem, even so far as to compare life to a tree, which the insect preys upon. Stylistically, the poem has a tightly structured form, consisting of three stanzas, with four lines each. The rhyme scheme is in the typical style of Dickinson, following an ‘abcb’ pattern. The rhythm too is carefully constructed with the first, second and fourth lines of the first and second stanza containing five syllables each, and the third line containing six. The third stanza changes in pace with the first and third lines having six syllables and the second and fourth having five. The tone is at first quite matter-of-fact, describing death as an insect, but it later becomes imploring and almost 1. pleading with the change in the rhythm. The poem is about death, and the speaker, whom one can assume is Dickinson, is beggin