The speaker, through the use of diction and punctuation, communicates that she feels this is not a bad thing. The reader can see that it was more of a passing, or moving on to something better. However, there was still a sadness amongst those who came to witness the passing. The house was quiet and the poem conveys the sense of the uneasy tension that existed. However the speaker mentions that the witnesses held some jealousy for what the dying was passing on to. We can see that though the woman's dying was a sad event, it was not the end for the her or for the witnesses.
The poem tells the reader that "It was a Common Night except for the Dying." The witnesses all "noticed smallest things - Things overlooked before." They "waited while She passed," which was, for her, "a narrow time." The dying "struggled scarce" before she died, and then "[consenting]" she was "dead." The uneasy witnesses who had been "out and in" of "Her final Room," "placed the Hair - and drew the Head erect" out of respect. The fact that the woman was dying became a main factor in the lives of all the living who witnessed the occurrence. They all wandered uneasily in and out of the room where the woman was dying, and the diction, such as "jostled," "Italicized." and "great light upon our minds," clearly indicates that they were uncomfortable in this setting. However, despite their unease, both the speaker and the witnesses knew that this was not an end for the dying. In fact it is mention that they are "[jealous]" of what she is "passing" on to. The attitude of the speaker towards the woman's is not a dramatic one. Instead, because the speaker knows that the dying did not struggle or experience pain and because the speaker looks at it from a religious stand point, the attitude is one of acceptance and even hope.
As stated before, the witnesses present at the woman's dying, all "noticed smallest things - things overlooked before.
