I Have a Rendezvous with Death

Quiz: "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" by Alan Seeger

1. Recall – Form & Context: In what year was "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" written, and when was it published relative to Seeger's death?

1. Recall – Speaker & Situation: Who is the speaker of the poem, and what is the general situation he describes? What branch of military service did Seeger himself join?

1. Recall – Central Symbol: What does the "rendezvous" symbolize in the poem, and why is the choice of this particular French word considered significant?

1. Recall – Key Image: What natural symbol is used in contrast to the speaker's anticipated death, and what season does it represent?

1. Comprehension – Tone: How would you describe the overall tone of the poem, and why does that tone make the poem especially unsettling to readers?

1. Comprehension – The Barricade: What does the barricade symbolize in the poem, and how does it function alongside the poem's more romantic imagery?

1. Comprehension – Honor & Promise: How does the poem connect the act of dying in battle to a code of personal honor? What extended metaphor supports this idea?

1. Analysis – Contrast: Analyze the tension between the imagery of spring and blossoming life and the poem's subject matter of death. What emotional effect does this contrast create?

1. Analysis – Historical Context: How does "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" reflect the early stage of World War One poetry, and how does it differ from the tone of later war poets who wrote after greater disillusionment had set in?

1. Analysis – Death as Character: Seeger personifies Death throughout the poem. Examine how Death is portrayed — what qualities does it take on — and what does this characterization reveal about the speaker's attitude toward his own mortality?

Answer Key

1. The poem was written in 1916, the same year Seeger died at the Battle of the Somme; it was published posthumously after his death.

1. The speaker is a young soldier who anticipates dying in battle and accepts it with calm resolve. Seeger joined the French Foreign Legion, as it was the only military unit available to foreign volunteers at the time.

1. The "rendezvous" symbolizes death transformed into a scheduled, controlled appointment rather than a random or terrifying event, blending fate, honor, and a sense of agency. The French word is intentionally sophisticated and culturally fitting, reflecting Seeger's life in Paris and his service under a French military unit.

1. Spring and blossoming trees are the natural symbols used, representing life, renewal, and beauty — placed in stark contrast to the death the speaker foresees.

1. The tone is calm, serene, and elegiac — mournful but not despairing, brave without being boastful. This tranquility is unsettling because it reveals a young man who has fully accepted his own death rather than raging against it.

1. The barricade is a symbol of the front line — the physical boundary between life and death in combat. It grounds the poem's romantic and pastoral language in the grim reality of the Western Front, preventing the poem from drifting too far into abstraction.

1. The poem frames keeping the "rendezvous" as a matter of personal honor, like fulfilling a solemn promise to a friend. The extended metaphor of a pledged word or vow connects soldiering to a chivalric code, transforming death in battle from a tragedy into the fulfillment of a sacred commitment.

1. The beauty of spring heightens rather than softens the sense of loss — the speaker's awareness that he may not survive to see another season makes the natural world's vitality feel bittersweet and even heartbreaking. The contrast creates a tender, elegiac emotional effect.

1. The poem reflects an early, Romantically influenced stage of war poetry, in which dying for one's country is still viewed through an idealistic, even noble lens. Later war poets, writing after prolonged exposure to the horror and futility of the trenches, expressed far greater disillusionment and bitterness — a shift that makes Seeger's poem feel like a product of a more innocent moment in the war's history.

1. Death is personified as a courteous, gentle guide rather than a violent or frightening force — leading the speaker calmly rather than seizing him. This characterization reveals that the speaker has come to terms with mortality, viewing death not as an enemy to be feared but as an appointment to be honored, which underscores the poem's themes of acceptance, fate, and personal dignity.