Seamus Lynch's Poetry Diction Analysis

1. The tone of Lynch’s essay is ironic, sarcastic, and humorous. Lynch writes about death is a way that is very different to what the audience expects. Death is usually considered morbid and depressing. However, Lynch’s different approach makes death seem simple and important. His unexpected point of view puts a strange twist on the dialogue of the essay, making it humorous and even funny. The tone of Lynch’s essay is also very frank, direct, and colloquial. He addresses the dark ideas of death right to the point. His straightforward and unsparing attitude toward death is clearly shown in his essay. He talks about death honestly, without care if he is hurting another’s feelings. On occasion, Lynch will even curse, giving the essay a casual

Lynch used jargon of funeral trade throughout the essay. This provides the essay an accurate illustration of what the scary idea of death is to an undertaker. The jargon shows the reader a new perspective of death as a business. The difference point of view than the usual, seeing death as sad and morbid; instead, seeing death as a means to making a profit. Lynch describes that his “rolling stock includes a hearse, a limo, two Fleetwoods, and a mini-van with darkened windows,” during the beginning of the essay. Therefore, it helps to set the tone throughout the passage. Lynch describes these items, which regular people might associate with sadness in their minds, as a mere business to him. For Lynch, these morbid items are simply part of his daily life. He has become accustomed to the grim idea of death. Later, Lynch explains how the death business might be so popular. “Whatever the implications of a one hundred expectancy [on death], calculate how big a town this is and why [Lynch’s] produces for [him] steady, if sometimes unpredictable, labor.” Lynch argues that one hundred percent of people die, and all those people must be taken care of in some way. So, as long as people are still dying, Lynch still has a steady source of income. However, it might resonate as odd and uncomfortable to the audience to try to picture “honoring the dead” as something with a price tag in a store. By the end of the essay, Lynch is busy working on the corpse of Milo Hornsby. He used jargon like “setting the features”, adjusting the features of a corpse to look less dead, and more presentable, and “embalming”, the process of preserving the corpse. The use of this jargon shows the reality of the funeral business: disgusting. Although funerals are made to look formal, honorable, and emotional, in reality, the person who just passed away is still a rotting corpse. Lynch’s perspective, in a way, dehumanizes death by taking away the sadness and grief and focusing on the business of caring