Faces of Death: A Statistical- Stylistic Analysis on Selected 19th and 20th Century Poems

This study examined the representation of death in selected 19th- and 20th-century poems through a statisticalstylistic lens. Guided by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s Five Stages of Loss, the research analyzed eight canonical works: Dickinson’s If I Should Die, Poe’s Annabel Lee, Shelley’s Queen Mab, and Brontë’s On the Death of Anne Brontë from the 19th century; and Cummings’ Suppose, Frost’s Spoils of the Dead, Plath’s Lady Lazarus, and Neruda’s Nothing but Death from the 20th century. Using the biographical, stylistic, and historical approaches, the poems were evaluated by five literature students to determine the extent to which biography, language style, and year of publication shaped each text’s engagement with mortality. Findings revealed strong biographical influence in Brontë and Plath, whose works are directly tied to personal grief, while Shelley, Dickinson, Cummings, Neruda, and Frost showed minimal autobiographical traces. Stylistically, Poe and Plath achieved the highest ratings due to their dense symbolism and evocative imagery. Across both centuries, the year of publication exerted little influence. Thematic analysis shows greater emotional variation in 19th-century works, reflecting denial, anger, bargaining, and depression, while 20th-century poems largely emphasize acceptance. Overall, the study highlighted how death in poetry functions not only as a thematic constant but as a dynamic construct shaped by personal experience, linguistic style, and cultural sensibilities across literary periods.