Calming down is fused with unrest, peace with worries. In this Hell, one is tortured by remorse and pleasures without any hope for relief. From this baseness one may move only upwards, to more elevated levels of existence. The retreat from the vile multitude leads to retreat for contemplation. The revival comes gradually.
Death has here no overtones of threat, but of rest.
Smiling Regret is resurging from water, where the dying Sun is to fall asleep. Regret is purifying and purified by ablution. In this context, one should consider the refreshing air of the night as the final point of life-renewal in the poem. I wish, however, to emphasise that both in Bodkin's an in my view, the emotional significance of this imagery is not so much in the absolute contents of these images, as in their capacity of entering into an emotional sequence. The mere occurrence of the death and rebirth pattern is no warrant for aesthetic value.