My Number by Billy Collins and I had heard it's a fight by Edwin Denby

Thesis: In the poems My Number by Billy Collins and I had heard it’s a fight by Edwin Denby the two speakers display their contrasting views on death’s intentions.

1.      The speaker in My Number describes death as malevolent, while the speaker in I had heard it’s a fight describes death as a warning.

a.       The speaker in My Number questions the actions of Death as the speaker wonders if Death is “tampering with air brakes” or “scattering cancer cells like seeds” (6-7). The Death in the poem is analogous to the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper sets out with the sole intention to kill, just as Death is described by the speaker in the poem. The speaker fears death unlike the speaker in I had heard it’s a fight.

b.      The speaker in I had heard it’s a fight says that when death is encountered, “in agony you clutch / At a straw, you rattle, and that will fix you” (3-4). Unlike the speaker in My Number, this speaker does not fear death. Rather, the speaker welcomes death as a wake-up call. After the speaker comes in contact with death, the speaker “Cut out liquor, went to the gym” (11). In order to keep living, the speaker had to experience death’s warning.

2.      The speaker in My Number will continue to avoid death, while the speaker in I had heard it’s a fight will continue to live due to death’s warning.

a.       The first time the speaker in My Number encounters death, the speaker says he will “start talking my way out of this” (17). The speaker wants to evade death as long as possible, for the speaker does not trust death. The speaker believes that death’s intentions are solely malevolent, and that the first time the speaker encounters death, the speaker will die. The speaker tries to convince himself that death is very far away, but the speaker is aware that death could be very close by as well.

b.      The first time the speaker in I had heard it’s a fight encounters death, the speaker eventually describes it as “so crazy it gives me a kick” (13). The kick is what saves the speaker’s life, for the kick is the motivation for the speaker to change his life for the better. The speaker does not fear death, for the speaker knows that death is always lingering close by. Rather, the speaker trusts that his encounter with death is what was needed in order to kick bad habits and continue living. The main difference between the two speakers is that the speaker in My Number personifies death as a dark, plotting figure while the speaker in I had heard it’s a fight describes death as a necessary evil in order to keep for dying too young due to poor habits.