My Number by Billy Collins

In this poem, the speaker personifies death in order to express his fear and nervousness regarding death's approaching him.  The speaker first personifies death in a subdued way, talking about the things that death can do, such as "tampering with air brakes, scattering cancer cells like seeds, loosening the wooden beams of roller coaster" (5-8).  Progressively, the acts in this list become more dramatic and scarier ways to die.  By having a list of scary ways to die, as opposed to common and peaceful ways, such as in one's sleep, the speaker is expressing some fear in death and how it will come to get him.  Then, the speaker personifies death in a very stereotypical, frightening manner, where he is "shaking open the familiar cloak, its hood raised like the head of a crow; and removing the scythe from the trunk" (13-15).  Here, the speaker is clearly conveying his terror of death, as death is being portrayed as a dark, violent being, that is ready to slaughter anything in its path.  Throughout the poem, the author expresses concern for death not being able to find him since he lives in a "hidden cottage," but in the end, he explains what he would do if death were to find him (9).  He would "start talking [his] way out of this," which truly shows how fearful he is for death's eminent visit (17).