Tod und Verklärung is divided into four sections, played without pause, each corresponding to a particular section of the poem. The following is a breakdown of those sections.

I. Largo. “In a small bare room, dimly lit by a candle stump, a sick man
lies on his bed. Exhausted by a violent struggle with death, he lies
asleep. In the stillness of the room, like a portent of impending
death, only the quiet ticking of a clock is heard. A melancholy smile
lights the invalid’s pale face: does he dream of golden childhood as he
lingers on the border of life?”

II. Allegro molto agitato. “But death grants him little sleep or time for
dreams. He shakes his prey brutally to begin the battle afresh. The
drive to live, the might of death! What a terrifying contest! Neither
wins the victory and once more silence reigns.”

III. Meno mosso, ma sempre alla breve. “Exhausted from the battle,
sleepless, as in a delirium, the sick man now sees his life pass before him,
step by step, scene by scene. First the rosy dawn of childhood, radiant,
innocent; then the boy’s aggressive games, testing, building his
strength—and so maturing for the battles of manhood, to strive with
burning passion for the highest goals of life: to transfigure all that
seems to him most noble, giving it still more exalted form—this alone
has been the high aim of his whole existence. Coldly, scornfully, the
world set obstacle upon obstacle in his way. When he believed himself
near his goal, a thunderous voice cried: ‘Halt!’ But a voice within him
still urged him on, crying: ‘Make each hindrance a new rung in your
upward climb.’ Undaunted he followed the exalted quest. Still in his
death agony he seeks the unreached goal of his ceaseless striving,
seeks it, but alas, still in vain. Though it grows closer, clearer,
grander, it never can be grasped entire or perfected in his soul. The
final iron hammerblow of death rings out, breaks his earthy frame, and
covers his eyes with eternal night.”

IV. Moderato. “But from the endless realms of heavenly space a mighty
resonance returns to him bearing what he longed for here below and
sought in vain: redemption, transfiguration.”