This poem appears to be a dramatic monologue, spoken by the character at a moment when he/she was approaching death. Using key terms within the last stanza, we can infer the speaker is approaching death. Therefore, the tone of the poem should be that of sadness or despair, but as one can see, the speaker is trying to convey hope towards the end of the poem (representing the end of life). The rhyme scheme …showed first 75 words of 508 total…

…showed last 75 words of 508 total…are together, symbolizing the joining of the life of Christ with the life of man, as he was human while on earth. Going back to the rhyming sequence, in each stanza there are two sets of three lines that rhyme, symbolizing the number thirty-three, which was the age that Christ was crucified and resurrected at Easter. In addition, the sets of three symbolize the three days Christ was in the tomb prior to his resurrection.