Conscientious Objector

In “Conscientious Objector,” death is anthropomorphized, or described as if it was a human. There is one moment where death could be seen as an animal, or animal-like: When the speaker says, “With his hoof on my breast” (Line 7), the pronoun “his” can refer to both the horse that death rides and death itself. The he/him pronouns throughout the poem refer to the character of Death, whose name is capitalized. In the previous sentence, the possessive pronoun “his” in “his whip” (Line 6) clearly refers to a human, or human-like, figure who rides and whips the horse. Additionally, horses can be referred to using he/him pronouns, and the gender of the horse that death rides is not revealed before this point in the poem.

However, the rest of the poem clearly characterizes death as human. Death rides a horse and is described as a businessman. Millay describes death as having “business” (Line 3), and twice repeats the word “business”—in front of two separate locations—when it is only grammatically necessary to once include the word. Millay’s characterization of death as a businessman is developed with the diction “pay-roll” (Line 8). However, the business in which death is involved is violent. He uses violence when asking the speaker for information, which happens before she uses the word payroll. This implies a job in law enforcement, the military, or organized crime.

Death is characterized not only as human, but as a criminal or enemy. He not only uses violent tactics, such as the aforementioned whip, to get the speaker to supply locations of animals and people, but he also tries to bribe the speaker. They say, “Though he promise me much” (Line 10), they refuse to inform on the location of “any man’s door” (Line 10). He tries to hire the speaker as a “spy” (Line 11). This, in combination with Millay’s title, implies that death is a war criminal. “Conscientious Objector” is a phrase referring to someone who refuses to fight in a war because of their conscience (or morals). Another phrase for a conscientious objector is a pacifist, which Millay was for most of her life.

Millay presents Death’s need for an informant alongside descriptions of him as fallible, or in need of assistance. For instance, death could use the speaker’s help to mount his horse, but the speaker refuses to “give him a leg up” (Line 5). Also, he needs auditory and visual information. He wants the speaker to tell him things; Millay repeats the phrase “tell him” in Lines 6, 7, and 9. He also wants the speaker to “map” (Line 10) locations, which is to provide visual information. These sensory needs are contrasted with the inevitability of dying, which the speaker and other humans experience, but death does not.