In poetry, a bier often represents the public rituals of death, mourning, and burial. The word can emphasize whether a person is honored by grieving attendants or dies unnoticed and alone. Because it is associated with funerals, it commonly carries connotations of grief, dignity, social status, and mortality.

A bier is not the coffin itself. It is the support, platform, or frame that holds or carries the coffin or body. The term comes from Old English and Germanic roots associated with a carrying frame or litter. In older poetry, “bier” is often used because its short, solemn sound suits elegies, funeral scenes, and meditations on death. Related terms include coffin, catafalque, hearse, funeral procession, and pallbearer. A catafalque is a more formal raised platform on which a coffin lies in state, while a bier may be simpler and portable. In Smith’s poem, the bier also reinforces a central theme: although the dead beggar receives no social honor or family mourning, death ultimately makes him equal with “the great.”