“The Dead” by Albert Laighton

Today, society finally allows for different points of view regarding death and the afterlife. Albert Laighton, a poet who lived during the mid-19^th century, questions the different views people may have on death despite the fact that he lived during a very distant and less accepting time. His poem, “The Dead,” explores modern ideas while challenging the perception that one belief is truer than all others.

It begins, “I cannot tell you if the dead, / That loved us fondly when on earth, / Walk by our side, sit at our hearth, / By ties of old affection led.” Basically, Laighton is saying he doesn’t know if our dead loved ones serve as guardian angels after they pass away. He cannot verify whether that idea is true or false and leaves it open for interpretation.

On the opposite end of the spectrum he writes, “Or, looking earnestly within, / Know all our joys, hear all our sighs, / And watch us with their holy eyes / Whene’er we tread the paths of sin.” These lines suggest that our dead relatives could be judging us from their all-knowing spiritual perspective. Of course, that possibility is as likely as guardian angels, albeit more sinister. At this point in the poem, Laighton does not yet reveal what his speaker truly believes; he’s simply outlining the different possibilities we have to deliberate.

“I cannot tell you if the dead, / That loved us fondly when on earth, / Walk by our side, sit at our hearth, / By ties of old affection led.”

The following stanza reads to me as the most New Age. “Or if with mystic lore and sign,” he writes, “They speak to us, or press our hand, / And strive to make us understand / The nearness of their forms divine.” We’ve had posts on our blog about after-death communication before, and these lines in Laighton’s poem remind me of just that. Some of us look for signs after a loved one has passed — whether that be a bird chirping by our window or an internal feeling that they are with us in spirit. Whatever the case may be, it seems as though the speaker approaches all scenarios as healing experiences that can guide us through grief.

“Or if with mystic lore and sign, / They speak to us, or press our hand, / And strive to make us understand / The nearness of their forms divine.”

The last stanza stands out as the most puzzling to me. So far, I get the impression that the variety of ways to deal with death should be equally valued as coping and healing strategies. The last lines seem to take a turn in their elaborate and conclusive nature. He writes, “But this I know–in many dreams / They come to me from realms afar, / And leave the golden gates ajar, / Through which immortal glory streams.” In my mind, there are two realms of thought he offers here: he hopes life after death is heavenly or dead loves ones are encouraging him to join them. Either way, the images of golden gates and glory streams are much less macabre than one would expect for a poem called “The Dead.”

As we can see by studying Albert Laighton’s poem, there are a variety of perspectives we can take on death and each one is equally accurate. The fact is that we don’t know what will happen after we die, but therein lies the mystery, hope and fascination.