Various poets address death by mentioning something that relates to death, or something dark. Death is used as a motif when it uses a symbol to represent death. Some examples can be, from the poem "Sonnet 43" when it says at the end, "Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall love thee after death." Another can be in the poem "Ah, Are You digging on My Grave?". when the phrase says "I am sorry, but I quite forgot it was your resting-place" . One more other example can be from the poem, "My Last Duchess", when the phrase says, "Looking as she were alive..." saying that she is dead.
The great poets commonly take up the subject of death in their works, but it is rare to see a great poet treat death in such a sustained and deeply personal way as Tennyson does. Many of his greatest works were written in the aftermath of the death of his closest friend, Arthur Henry Hallam.