In “Graveyard Blues” the main theme, introduced by the title, is death. The poem is set in a graveyard, and most of the poem occupies the space of the funeral, graveyard, and driving home following this event. Death as a theme is central and the driving force of the poem. In Line 6, the speaker names death, stating, “Death stops the body’s work, the soul’s a journeyman” (Line 6). This line indicates that the body is a victim of death; however, the soul may continue. Regardless, death is ever-present. The speaker repeats multiple times throughout the poem the phrase having to do with laying the body down, repeating “we were laying her down,” (Line 1), “we put her down,” (Line 2), and “leaving her where she lay,” (Line 9). Likewise, at the end of the poem the mother’s headstone is described as a pillow for the speaker, who perhaps reposes on their mother’s grave. These references signify a releasing, a letting go, and the action of laying the body down to rest, a prominent symbol representing death.

While the theme of death stands as a backdrop for the entire poem, in the final lines of the poem the speaker walks amongst death when they state in the present tense, “I wander now among names of the dead” (Line 13).