As people near the time of their deaths, they begin to reflect upon the history and events of their own lives. Both John Keats’ “When I have Fears” and Henry Longfellow’s “Mezzo Cammin” reflect upon the speakers’ fears and thoughts of death. However, the conclusions between these two poems end quite differently. Although both reflect upon Death’s grasp, Keats’ displays an appreciation and subtle satisfaction with the wonders of life, while Longfellow morbidly mourns his past inactions and fears what events the future may bring.
In the two sonnets, “Remember” by Christina Rossetti and “The Cross of Snow” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the authors address death and remembrance indicating similarities when exploring grieving process but also demonstrate its differences through literary techniques. They both utilized symbolism, imagery, and metaphorical language but showed differences in tone.
The two poems, Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe and Remember by Christina Rossetti, contain similarities and differences. Both poems are about death and contribute to the meaning of death. The first poem is about the poet expressing his feelings about the death of a girl named Annabel Lee. In the other poem, it’s about the poet wanting to be remembered. Throughout the two poems, they share and differ in poetic structures, which helps the reader savvy the meaning of the poems. Overall the two poems share and contrast the poem structures of lyric poems, type of poem, and rhyme
Emily Dickinson’s “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died” describes a death speaker looks back the moment of his or her death. Using the objects like the storm, the fly and the melancholy of the people around to express the mood of the speaker, Dickinson reveals that faces the death, the speaker is afraid at first, but finally, the speaker finds the calmness and peace inside herself or himself. Like “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died”, "After Death" also addresses a moment before death. Rossetti uses the death as a compensation of the tragic love “He did not love me living; but once dead”. Two poems both use brief imagery and setting to describe the atmosphere before death, however, Dickinson focus on the change of mood and environment, while
Rossetti, in the above lines, presents her self before her god with an openness of character and strength of faith. She pleads to be judged and her surrender to His will accepted. Like a typical mystic, she surrenders her self before the larger Self and requests submergence into that. She found her refuge in God only. According to C M Bowra, “only in God could she find a finally satisfying object for the abounding love which was the
Both Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Dirge Without Music” and Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” are poems that discuss the emotional repercussions of death and dying. Grieving the loss of a loved one can be an extremely excruciating experience. At times one may feel suffocated by the sorrow and are desperate for a way to find relief from these intense emotions that are apparent in the grieving process. This is where works of literature can be therapeutic when dealing with difficult emotions. Poetry can be extremely helpful in this sense as one of its purposes is to emphasize certain feelings, ones that we feel but are not sure how to process. It can bring to life what we wish we could do or say, but are not able to. By cross-referencing
Death has captured the mind very early on and since then it has driven us to create some of the most powerful images in the world. In this essay I am going to discuss why art often symbolizes death and some of the complex ways in which art represents death.
Links between death and darkness, death and night, and death and a permanent ending are ones that have been made over and over throughout history. Similarly, the idea of death as a deliverance from the sufferings of human existence and as the journey to something better is recurrent in art and literature, but also in many religious beliefs. By playing with both tropes simultaneously, Thomas and Dowson offer a vulnerable and realistic portrayal of many people’s feelings about death. The duality, the uncertainty, seems conflicting but instead it widens the scope of the poems and offers a broader depiction of this inevitable human phenomenon. Neither poet gives a definitive answer as to what his belief about what lies beyond death is and yet, neither poems feel incomplete. They both pose a question rather than giving an answer, a tentative exploration instead of firm
In the second stanza, the narrator’s attention falls upon the mourners around her. She sees the onlookers in terms of sight and sound. Their strained eyes and gathered breath imply that they have waited for the “last Onset” (), which is the final moment of death, for a long time. And they are prepared for the arrival of the “King”, who is the personification of death.
Since the beginning of time, people have many different ways of going about the idea of death and what the afterlife may hold for them, whether they’ll be reunited with family and friends or if they’ll be reincarnated or, maybe nothing at all. This is true for writers, poets and artists. William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis”, Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” they all center their idea death, but approach it differently and conveys their points differently. One glorifies death, one says life is meaningless and the other glorifies life.
Since its earliest days, mankind has unceasingly pondered mortality and the frailty of human life. Death has often been regarded as a mysterious and inevitable force of nature. As such, the idea of death is a recurring theme throughout the periods of historical art.
In the first stanza of “Remember”, Rossetti allows the reader to explore the narrator’s thought about death. When she writes “……Gone far away into the silent land;/ When you can no more hold me by the hand….” the narrator believes that death is final because that connection cannot ever be re-established regardless of how much one wants it. The “silent land” and “gone away” are metaphors for death, and when the narrator says that no one will be able to “hold me (her) by the hand”, this symbolises the one thing death takes, the physical presence of the person. Likewise, Auden’s “Stop all of the Clocks”, explores death with imperatives. Auden writes “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,/ Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,/ Silence the pianos and with muffled drum/Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.” Because the narrator wants life to cease, because with the death of their loved one, there is no purpose in life and it simply cannot (……..) .
It is natural to fear death, or to lack in understanding of the matter. One thing that we all know, though, is that death will come. In this poem the speaker is reminded of that sad truth, and relearns how to live her own life. Her life is of more value now that she is reminded of her death to come. The poem itself brings the two main ideas of gratefulness and acceptance and gives it to the reader. The poem teaches us that life is a gift. It teaches us that a vast mystery of the unknown such as death, can actually enable us to appreciate the little things that are often
One of the greatest truths in the universe is that everyone at some point will experience death. Though it is irrefutable, each individual experiences a different feeling in regard to this truth: some are indifferent, they do not feel there is any point in thinking about death, some seek greatness in life, solely so that they will be remembered once they die, and some choose to fear death, they worry about its approach. In her poem “Life,” Anna Laetitia Barbauld tackles the concept of death. The speaker in the poem attempts to mask her fearful attitude towards death, which is revealed in the structure of the poem, her thoughts on what results from death, and the unpredictable nature of death.
Although death occurs in the world each and every day, each individual has their own way of coping and responding to the subject. An individual may be grieving the death of a loved one, or contemplating their own fate with death. When dealing with the topic of death, an individual may feel disconnected from humanity, and lose sight of their place in the wider universe. The vast spectrum of experiences is a personal journey, and a poet can depict their own experiences as a coping mechanism for their emotions. Fiona Sze-Lorrain’s poem ‘When the Title Took Its Life’ (2013) highlights the persona’s inner conflict of committing suicide, and questions their sadness. In contrast, Anne Sexton’s poem, ‘The Truth the Dead Know’ (1962), depicts the persona’s