Suicide's Note
The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.
--Langston Hughes
Discuss the diction, sound, personification, and tone of this poem. Explore the frame of mind that would create this comparison.
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The author of the poem uses alliteration of the "k" sound in "calm", "cool", and "kiss". There is also a repeated soft "s" sound in "face", "asked", and "kiss". These sounds have a whispered quality without being sinister. I believe the overall tones of this poem are relief and tranquility. The water of the river is smooth and inviting, washing away sadness, soothing it away. Perhaps I'm completely off but for some death comes as a kind of release. The personification comes when one (the speaker in this case) welcomes death as one would a lover, accepting the peace that is offered. It is a bit cliche to think of death as a lover (ie: "to court death") but because death is not an overly discussed topic, it does not seem overused.
I guess I'm eager to discuss this poem because I could immediately relate it to one of my favorite series of books: The Last Herald-Mage trilogy. In the series, the main character refers to death as the "Shadow-Lover". At one point the protagonist and Death meet and share a kiss, when he chooses life and duty over the eternal peace and freedom from pain and loneliness he is offered. "Their tears mingled on his lips...he tasted them in the kiss, his own salt, bitter tears-and Death's sweet-" (Magic's Promise 307). I think this is officially my longest post...
Wikipedia said that Langston Hughes tried to commit suicide a couple of times while hanging out with his unfavorable father. I thought that was interesting.
The title is also very interesting. Instead of Suicide Note, it is Suicide's Note, giving suicide a feeling of personification, making it like a character.
And like how Grace discussed, death sounds very tranquil and seductive. It is "calm" and "cool" and had simply "asked" rather than forced or aggressively persuaded its point.
The diction is quite passive for something about death. It adds on to the tone of how gloried death must be to the speaker. The river (sometimes a sign of death - like in Hades or in Hamlet) is peaceful rather than violent. Life seems to be much more violent and painful than death. It's like a juxtaposition between life and death, but life is not mentioned at all. You just put the two together to compare how death is to anything else. Unconscious comparison. Ish.
Suicide's Note. I really like what Lisa said, the point of how it's Suicide's Note and not Suicide Note so it seems as if suicide is personified. And I really like what Grace said about how the poem seems more like a note to their lover, how the tone makes it a more suave way of speaking. So combining both what Lisa and Grace said, it is suicide that is asking for a chance at someone.
Suicide is something really personal though. It is a decision that could be made by a group of people, or it could be something that an individual has been asking for awhile. I'm just guessing, (assuming) that when someone is getting ready to commit suicide, it's either going to be really difficult or really easy. Suicide isn't really something that is forced on someone, it's more of a beckoning. If you think of death as in something like a heart attack, or being hit by a car, it could be really quick and it almost forces you to die. Or if dying due to a long term disease, it's more slow but it still forces you into the dark abyss. Or fiery inferno, whatever floats your boat. But suicide. That's something else. Suicide, it's your decision to take your own life. So all it can do is beckon to you, all it can do is ask, maybe write a little note and let you know how beautiful and swell death is. The tone of this poem has a very wispy feeling to it, almost as if in a dream. However, the K sound sounds to me as if it were a bit of an attack. K is a hard sound so it's almost a subliminal feeling, that in the nicety of the poem, there is some anger… Maybe not anger, but a more harsh reality.
I also thought the content of the poem, how it's using the river. A lot of time, the river is a symbol of life? Or the roadway of life. Something along those lines. The river is calm at this moment, so during the most unexpected moments in life, suicide comes and claims someone's life. A person may always seem up beat and full of life, and when someone least expects it, they're gone.
I like this poem, but I probably analyzed it wrong. What do yooooou guys think?
I like the shortness of this poem. Although it doesn't explicitly say a lot, I suppose the reader could create meaning to what is said. To me, I get the impression that the person peacefully drowned. As others noted, there is no indication of brute force, rather it seems to have happened gracefully.
Grace summed up the sound elements of this poem beautifully. The repetition of the ‘k’ sound gives it this soft hardness (yes, I’m aware that is completely oxymoronic) when read aloud. By a ‘soft hardness’, I mean to describe how it is smooth to read, while still holding a sharpness. The tone seems softer somehow, with the sharp ‘k’ sounds studding it so it doesn’t seem [I]too[/I] soft. As Grace described, it holds a certain tranquility. Because the poem is so concise, I experienced it in silence—it sounds muted, calm, and peaceful. It doesn’t sound like the kind of things we associate suicide with—things like pain and emotion. Suicide takes on a new face, beckoning forth the speaker gently and gracefully, as would a friend or a lover. As those before me have pointed out, the title helps to personify suicide. The insinuation that the note belongs to suicide, and not the speaker, makes me think that the note is suicide’s promise [I]to[/I] the speaker of more peace. A note asking for a kiss, one kiss, and then the speaker can have all the peace he or she desires.
"Suicide's Note" is about suicide. Despite this, Hughes' poem is surprisingly not morbid---the tone isn't macabre in the slightest, though you'd think the subject would make it so.
Along with the lovely metaphor and the three-line, twelve-word brevity, that sort of tone makes this poem refreshing and ingenious, in my opinion.
There's no deep suffering or angst (though I hate to use that word) here. If there's a tortured soul behind this thought to end it all, there's no indication of it here. Just smooth "k-" and "-s". Smooth release.
A suicidal person wouldn't see death as something horrific or morbid, I think. It would be a glorious release from "the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to..." Death would bring... happiness?
That's nicely personified here as a sweet kiss from a calm, cool lover.
Beautifully succinct with a really poetic personification, I think.
Like Grace mentioned, the "k" sounds really jump out. It's interesting that the three words with those sounds, calm, cool, and kiss, don't match with what the poem is about, suicide. They're completely unexpected and by having all 3 have the same sound, this difference is highlighted.
Another thing that I noticed immediately was how, without the title, the words of the poem wouldn't have packed half of their punch. The poem could have been about anything. A kid might have been playing in a river or something. But, Langston Hughes specifically added the title and suddenly what seemed a light poem had tons more depth.
Hughes' use of personification and the diction employed with it is aid in how striking the poem is. For example, the use of the word kiss stands out. Usually, a kiss is considered to be a great thing. It is one of the best ways to show someone you love them. In this case, if the river is kissing you, essentially, death is kissing you.
What's also interesting is how it seems to be death trying to persuade someone to die. Describing drowning as cool and seemingly peaceful makes it more appealing. It wouldn't be a terrible way to die, according to this poem.
On a side note, this poem really reminds me of Hamlet. It makes me think of Ophelia's death by drowning, which was most likely a suicide. In her mad mind, drowning might well have seemed just like a kiss that would take away her pain.
I am going to take this time to look at the face that is presented in this poem. Some may say that it is the face of the river staring at the speaker of the poem, but I feel that is wrong. The river is not in fact being personified. The face is quite simply the reflected face of the person in the poem. They are looking at themselves; the river is not looking at them. Thus the personification is not of the river asking for a kiss but of the reflection asking for a kiss.
This, then, adds a whole new layer onto the meaning of this poem. It shows that the speaker brought this upon themselves and asks them self if this is what they really want. It is the suicidal part of the speaker’s personality speaking and inviting--their own thoughts being reflected back and given an opportunity to speak of the calm and pleasurable aspects of death. Why not succumb to its desires?
Suicide's Note
The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.
-Langston Hughes
I agree with what Grace said about the alliteration of the "k" and "s" sounds giving the poem a more tranquil and calm tone. Also, I thought that it was interesting how Langston Hughes personified Suicide and wrote this poem in suicide's point if view. In that case, the river that asked for a kiss would be a person who was trying to commit suicide and who was embracing death by giving suicide a kiss.
I also agree with Jackson that the length of the poem and how few words there are makes a larger or more significant statement than if the poem had many lines.
I think Lisa mentioned the title, and I would also like to comment on this. The title along with the river which "Asked me for a kiss" give the impression of a suicide being something pleasant, something that would be nice to do, but it is a sly suicide, masking it as a mere kiss, when it is planning to completely engulf him in a relationship from which he would not be able to escape.
The personification of the "calm cool face" further imposes the idea that the river places a front which appears kind.
The tone, as David said, is hardly macabre. It appears to me that the speaker is (enlightened?) for not having succumbed to the will of the note sent by Suicide. The frame of mind might be one who is feeling not whole, so to speak, but rather than fill their need with nothingness they fill it with something. If that makes sense.
Just noticed that some people commented on the brevity of the poem: yeah, it creates a more powerful tone, but I feel that it also leaves too much to interpretation, possibly purposely so; brevity is the soul of wit. From that saying, the poem can be viewed as having no further explanation, for anything else would be redundant.
I've changed my mind on the frame of mind: it was the speaker's brief encounter with a thought of a suicide in the river.
The first thing I experienced after reading this poem was a strong and vivid image in my mind. I saw a misty glass like river, flat and almost motionless. A wide river that has no bottom. A ghost like figure is bent, poised over the river, drawn into it almost in a trance. Sinking slowly towards the surface then immersion into the icy waters. I agree that the face in the river is a reflection, especially since it is paired with a kiss. I thought the use of "a kiss" in the poem was really amazing diction since something so simple has so many implications. I kiss isn't plunging into a river head first, its a slow drawing near. I imagine the kiss to be like two people staring into each others eyes for a long time and then gravitating towards each other. Except instead of a lover the speaker is gravitating towards death. Its not a raging emotional decision, but unpredicted and natural. The river asks for a kiss, it doesn't demand one. Like just the tranquility and coolness of the water invites one to draw near. The speaker sounds to be more mesmerized by the river and the darkness below than the act of ending their life. It makes the suicide sound beautiful rather than horrible.
To add to that....
I really liked this poem because it is so short and ambiguous. It leaves a lot to the interpretation of the reader but gives them enough information to find meaning. I like that it invites readers to contemplate meaning instead of forcing harsh images on them. Both ways are good ways to convey meaning in art, but one is more subtle and one is more harsh. Harsh images are important to force readers/viewers to acknowledge something "not pretty" about life, like the poem we read about world war 1. But subtle images are equally powerful in the mystery and mood they create. Like a painting of a corpse in bathtub or a painting of a bathtub alone in a room, both can be the same thing but both create very different moods. I think a vague image works well for the topic suicide since its something most people recognize already as existing but made into a beautiful poem readers must think about it differently.
I like this poem mostly because its easy to think of in terms of a painting.
I almost just wrote that this poem seemed very calm and cool to me...then I realized both those words are used in the poem. So instead I'll say that the poem felt very serene. It's relaxed, and to me seems almost explanatory. As if what was written came after the suicide somehow.
This poem took a kiss, something that is traditionally used to show affection, and applied it to suicide. However, where it not for the title of the poem, I think suicide would be the last thing to come to mind while reading this poem. Without the title, I personally would imagine the speaker bending down for a drink, at least at first glance.
After reading others' posts: I agree with the sounds of the K and S giving the poem a wispy quality. I would even say that those sounds, combined with the title and content, give it a fey-like quality. And the title, Suicide's Note, helps explain why I felt as if the poem sounded to be written after the fact. I also really liked what Thanh started to get at with the river. I think it does symbolize life in this poem. Stopping to kiss the river would then obviously symbolize suicide, and the choice involved with that. On the other hand, slipping and falling into the river might be an accidental death, and following the river all the way to its end at the ocean would be death by old age.
I've gotta say, I enjoyed this poem. It's really short, but there is a lot you can get out of it. Now, if only Scott would post a clever movie analogy...
The simplicity of the poem is (as others had mentioned) indisputably, what is the most powerful and the easiest to gravitate towards. It allows the reader to adapt their own view and interpret it as they may, or simply just “fill in the blanks”. The tone seems to be quite peaceful and the equanimity that the speaker must have. As well as the constant repetition of “k”, create this calming effect. I also think that it was interesting how Lisa pointed out the Suicide’s Note, and possession that it seems to have. And suicide notes tend to be quite harsh or bitter, or leaving the reader feeling some sort of discomfort, yet this was much more gentle and has an overall harmonious feeling, which is a quite striking contrast.
In addition, when I first saw the last line “asked me for a kiss”, I immediately thought of the phrase “the kiss of death” which I think means something that is ultimately going to be fatal, or destructive, or possibly lead to failure. Which then lead me to believe that the speaker must have thought that his life would eventually lead to failure or destruction, or instead maybe that the “river”(whatever it maybe metaphorically) is this destruction and fatality. However, I don’t know, I may be completely wrong about this, but I thought that was an interesting line, to me the most powerful.
I do think Grace perfectly identified the use of audible emotion in this poem. Water in poetry, to me, has always represented mystery. Often it's been feared. Often revered, rarely, (I think because it's such a difficult think to achieve with any kind of poetic satisfaction for the reader) used as a kind of friend. Someone who might ask you for a kiss. Someone who might invite you in. Or someone who can lead one to their surface, but can't force one to plunge. That has to be one's own choice. All that river can do is whisper sweet, enticing words to convince one. I envision the river as a kind of serpent-- Adam and Eve style.
But I could be totally off base, here.
I do think Grace perfectly identified the use of audible emotion in this poem. Water in poetry, to me, has always represented mystery. Often it's been feared. Often revered, rarely, (I think because it's such a difficult think to achieve with any kind of poetic satisfaction for the reader) used as a kind of friend. Someone who might ask you for a kiss. Someone who might invite you in. Or someone who can lead one to their surface, but can't force one to plunge. That has to be one's own choice. All that river can do is whisper sweet, enticing words to convince one. I envision the river as a kind of serpent-- Adam and Eve style.
But I could be totally off base, here.
The best thing I like about this poem, other then it being 3 lines, is that we don't really know exactly what it means and because of its length we have to guess a little. We will never know if, maybe, just maybe, Suicide is actually the persons name(You never know what people are going to name their kids these days, I heard on the radio a couple days ago, while driving to AP Lit in fact, that some people named their child Adolf Hitler...)and on his note it said these three mysteriously mysterious lines. It's a bad guess, I'll admit that, but it's the best knew idea I can possibly squeeze out of this thing without repeating what someone else has already said. It's also really interesting what Lisa said about Langston Hughes attempting to commit suicide, maybe he was thinking about doing it in a river. I forgot who said it first but I agree with them about the whole title thing, this would be an extremely confusing poem without the title.
For a poem of three lines, it’s amazing how many inferences can be pulled from it, and how much depth it contains. As Grace mentioned, the alliteration that Hughes used instantly captured my attention. The repeated “k” sounds as embodied in “calm, cool” is pleasing to the ear and the much more subtle and softer use of the “s” sound as seen in “face”, “asked”, “kiss” provide a contrast to that relatively harsher “k” sound. But, what’s most striking about the poem is the personification used to describe the river and the subsequent use of that personification to introduce a passive, forlorn tone to the poem. Hughes describes the river as a living entity, with a face capable of seduction and lips capable of giving kisses. By suggesting that the river asked for a kiss from the speaker, Hughes shows the suicide in a passive, almost accidental light. Through the diction, it can be inferred that the speaker was not actively seeking to end his life; rather it was a mere accident. The River had asked for a kiss from the speaker, and the speaker was obliged to give it. The speaker is almost apologetic about having ended his life, stressing the passive nature of his (I’m assuming It’s a man as Lisa pointed out that Hughes tried to commit suicide numerous times) suicide. The kiss of death had sought him out and his life was swept away by the fast moving water. Through the imagery of water, the poem embodies a refreshing elegance that is rarely associated with a morbid subject such as suicide. I think it’s a welcome change. On the outside, there’s nothing remotely macabre about this poem (which is refreshing and provides a nice contrast to stereotypical suicide notes), but I believe there is something sinister and morbid beneath the calm exterior. For example, as others mentioned, the river cite in the poem could be a reference to Hade’s river which ferries the dead to the Hell.
The poem gave me the imagery of a person leaning towards a river and releasing his/her will to live. When you hear the word suicide the words “calm” and “kiss” don’t come into mind. You think more of a desperate last attempt to be released from pain. Hughes personifies death by symbolizing it with river. The kiss of the river is the kiss of death.
Hughes is speaking from the mind of a person who doesn’t fear the prospect of death, but welcomes it as a calm and refreshing end. The poem seems like a romanticized note without any tones of resentment, anger, sorrow, or fear. Hughes’ tranquil tone regarding a morbid subject provides a powerful feeling in the poem. The brevity to the poem doesn’t take away from the strength in its meaning.
One thing that I noticed right away is that “The calm,” has a line of its own. Most prose would say instead “The calm, cool face of the river,” but by giving “The calm,” a line of its own, I think it sets it apart and adds emphasis and a calm, meditative feeling to it. Calm is also not the ideal setting for a suicide, I would think that thrashing waters would be more ideal if the preferred end result is death. Calm and cool makes me wonder why the speaker is committing suicide.
The word “kiss” also stands out. When speaking of suicide, something that usually brings happy feelings like a kiss doesn’t seem to belong. When the speaker says that the river asked for a kiss (personification of the river) it indicates that the pleasant feelings the speaker has and the welcoming of the idea of suicide.
When the speaker refers to the face of the river (more personification of the river) it makes me feel like the speaker has a relationship with the river, like this is not the first time they have been together.
I like that because of the length of this poem a lot of it is open to interpretation. I think that that is part of its charm. It makes you think for yourself what the poem is saying, and helps you to dig beneath the surface, without a lot of other distractions that can be found in longer poems.
Back for a second round of thoughts, but this time with "feedback" for a few other posts that I thought were nice.
>I really liked this poem because it is so short and ambiguous.
Krista's nicely pointed out the thing that I, too, most liked about this poem: its brevity contributes to its ambiguity and interpretability.
The words are few, but they smolder with meaning. "What meaning, though?"
Within the white space, the mind wanders to explore this question. A calm river, a kiss... a suicide? Picturesque.
The scene evokes different images for different people (some interpretations that made me think follow), and I really feel [so far] that that's precisely what makes this great.
Too bad that I didn't realize this until like 7:30.
Maybe Hughes meant something specific. A personal anecdote, maybe.
Does it matter? Yeah, kind of--context is interesting.
But then again, kind of not.
Hell, maybe what how we each interpret the poem says something about us. Getting kind of psychoanalytic, but seriously.
>A lot of time, the river is a symbol of life? Or the roadway of life. . . A person may always seem up beat and full of life, and when someone least expects it, they're gone.
>. . . the note is suicide’s promise to the speaker of more peace. A note asking for a kiss, one kiss, and then the speaker can have all the peace he or she desires.
>Thus the personification is not of the river asking for a kiss but of the reflection asking for a kiss. . . It shows that the speaker brought this upon themselves and asks them self if this is what they really want.
>. . . it was the speaker's brief encounter with a thought of a suicide in the river.
I liked these.
>Suicide is actually the persons name
oh my god that's seriously brilliant
What Lisa said about the poem being titled Suicide’s Note rather than Suicide Note I found to be really interesting. The personification of suicide gives the poem an intriguing quality. Suicide leaving a suicide note- how it would describe such a death.
To me, the poem doesn’t seem to have any quality of sadness or depression, but simply a sense of release. A sense of relief from everything and just the feeling of peace. Part of what gives the poem this is the river having a face and asking for a kiss. As though the river was a person beckoning the speaker to them.
I absolutely love the personification Hughes uses in this poem. His likening of suicide to a gentle kiss imbues the act with a kind of intimacy that I find astonishing, that underscores just how immensely personal a decision it is to take one’s life. It makes me wonder how Hughes felt when writing the poem, how his character felt after choosing to “kiss” the river. What might ever make a decision such as suicide as simple and almost natural as Hughes makes it seem? To what depths must an individual fall to rationalize as the poem’s speaker does, to feel almost invited to their demise?
As others have mentioned, Hughes’ use of soft sounds and phrases lends the poem a tender, sympathetic feel that makes the speaker’s decision all the more meaningful. Through the brief description of the river with its “calm, cool face”, one gets a sense of the respite the river promises, the relief that death will surely bring; through the river’s plea for a kiss, one can glimpse the kind of relationship established between the river and the speaker, the friendship that appears enduring – there seems to be familiarity, there appears an understanding, as though the speaker has been to the river before, has been asked the same question but has yet to give an answer. The poem is quite contemplative in sound and just as thoughtful in tone, in nature. Perhaps it is of no importance whether or not the speaker has answered the river’s question. Perhaps the speaker hasn’t even answered the question, hasn’t jumped to kiss the river. Perhaps all that matters is that the question has been asked and that the speaker is considering it.
This poem reminded me of stories I have heard about how when shipwrecked people, deserted in the middle of the ocean, become very dehydrated and start to hallucinate. Often supposedly seeing something under the water, like a drinking fountain or ice cream or whatever. Tempted by this false image they swim to depths, desiring the unattainable, meanwhile hastening their death.
However implausible this may seem compared to the likeliness of the river showing a reflection or the river coaxing the person to suicide, I think it is merely a case of a mentally distraught person hallucinating and seeing a loved one just beneath the surface, longing to be reunited.
Maybe I am putting too much thought into a 3 line poem, adding baseless analysis, but at the very least it is original, you got to give me credit for that.
I really liked Grace's comment about the whispering quality of the "k" sounds and soft "s" sounds. Death is obviously inviting to the speaker (or so the poem....SAYS. Just for you, JD). The river asks the speaker for a kiss, personifying the river and putting the intent of suicide in the mind of the river, not the speaker. It's as if the river whispers to the speaker, and the idea originating from somewhere else eases the speaker's concious on his decision and he can just relax and find peace and serenity in his decision.
I think this poem has a very deep meaning in it despite its length. This poem personifies the river by giving it a face and enabling it to ask for a kiss. As I read this, it immediately created a very soothing atmosphere that has no trace of fear. The diction such as calm, cool, and kiss adds to the relaxing scene. However, I feel that the speaker wanting to jump into the river also includes a suicidal connotation. The "Cool face of the river" refers to the emotionless state of the river and its indifference to life or death. However, the river asking for a kiss refers to the temptation of jumping into the river and "calming" ones' body and mind permanently, hence the title, "Suicide's Note." In this poem, death has no shame or regret, but rather a state in which one can replace all fears and preoccupations for a state of relaxation.
Like many others, I too like the hushed, whisper-like quality of this poem that comes because of the “k” sounds in “calm,” “cool,” and “kiss” and the “s” sounds in “face,” “asked,” and “kiss.” This alliteration gives a somewhat eerie feel to the poem and really gives the impression of a suicide. A suicide or a murder has a much different feel to it than a normal death. There is a greater emptiness that comes from suicide and I think that this really captures that feeling. But my favorite part is how alluring and almost seductive the thought/theme of suicide is in this poem. To me the speaker sounds almost helpless to resist the idea of suicide. “The calm, cool face of the river asked me for a kiss,” and who was the speaker that he could deny such a request? Death is an alluring figure, it haunts all of us, those in our youth much less so, but the silent threat remains. On a lesser scale death is like sleep. After a horrible day all you want to do is to lie down, go to sleep and not have to worry about what happened that day, or what will happen tomorrow. Death, though no one know for sure what happens after death, appears to be a more permanent sleep, a way to get away from everything awful, or even mediocre, that the world has to offer. A river, like in the poem, is kind of like this. You cannot always see beneath the surface, but on a scorching summer’s day the cool water draws you in and if you’re not careful, it can chew you up, spit you out, and leave you to fend for yourself. Anyhow, I think I am starting to ramble so I’ll end it with that and ask for your feedback.
This is an interesting poem. Its short and without the title, I would not have been able to know that it talks about suicide. The title implies, like said before, that suicide is a "thing" that is leaving a note. Suicide is like the Grim reaper. It is an entity that exsists and is able to leave a note.Its kiss of death.
The concept of suicide is written in light terms. The word calm abd cool and kiss generally tend to be atleast somewhat positive words.
I think knowing that hughes was contemplating suicide helps to shed some light on his language on suicide.
The calm nature of the poem fits with the fact that Hughes contemplated suicide many times
Suicide's note, to me, invokes a sense of relief in leaving life. I can just picture the river, soft and unconditionally affectionate, accepting any who collapse in its embrace. It communicates a feeling of bliss-- the ability to wash away the many plagues of existence indefinitely, to rest, to fall open armed into the love of the river.
The first thing that caught my eye, as it did many, was the title of the poem, Suicide's Note. This poem belonged or was written by suicide itself, which gives the poem a whole new perspective and tone. A suicide note you'd expect to be depressing, however Suicide's Note is surreal and tranquil. Words like calm, cool, kiss and the imagery of the river help achieve that.
Grace was very keen on picking up the alliteration. The repetition of the sound is what makes the poem beautiful. When I read the poem out loud, I find myself reading all the words that start with the 'k' sound slower... weird.
Since this is suicide's note, I would say that the “calm, cool face of the river” is describing the face of the dying person. Amidst its unattractiveness, isn't there a point just before 'death' where a person's body gives up, where you can tell in the person's face that they have lost control and have accepted the kiss of death, that their once tense and nervous muscles have relaxed? I think that Hughes is describing this moment in the poem. In this case, the river is being personified to be the dying person.
I also see personification in the poem in the title. Suicide is given an entity and is someone who the note belongs to. Suicide is also personified when it is referred to as 'me' and when the poem shows that he/she is being asked of something.
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