Death is the unavoidable part of our daily lives. In the poems, “Shrike Tree” by Lucia Perillo and “Plums Falling Well” by Linda Gregg, the poets discussed the plot with an accepting attitude towards death because it is part of the natural life cycle. In our society, we tend to hide and avoid death; However, Shrikes and the plums in the poems face death with an open manner. Their attitudes towards death indicate the shrikes and plums are not afraid to die.
In William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis,” Bryant speaks of death, saying that it is just a part of nature, as if he is trying to tell us that we should not be afraid of dying. When analyzing Bryant’s “Thanatopsis”; I find that there are many different ways that Bryant’s poem can be interpreted, and I can see that the shift, attitude, connotation, and meter are all big factors in his poem. Bryant’s “Thanatopsis,” is very much about death, and how it is closely related with nature. In the beginning Bryant acts as if death is something scary and sad, “…last bitter hour come like a blight…” (line 9) and “… the all beholding sun shall see no more…” (line 18), then towards the end he changes, acting as if he has come to peace with it, and accepted that everyone will die, “Yet not to thine eternal resting-place shalt thou retire alone…” (lines 31-32) and “… like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.”
In the essay “I’m Jumping Off the Bridge,” Kevin Sampsell argues that life has more meaning to it than what is recognizable in order to convince the audience that no matter what feelings one has inside, assuming that there is no one and nothing to live for is not the truth. Sampsell deals with his struggles of depression and harmful thoughts after he meets a man at his job that expresses his feelings and desires to commit suicide by jumping off of a bridge. In this essay, Sampsell uses morose word choices to effectively show insight, heartbreak, and the responsibilities that involve one’s life after death. He is eloquent in his description of pain and desolation and has a rhetorical appeal, oriented around pathos, in his relatability. The reader
Since the beginning of time, people have always wondered where they would go after they die. Did they live a worthy life and deserve everlasting paradise, or did they live a life worthy of eternal suffering? Zora Neale Hurston and Donald Justice, through the poem "Incident in a Rose Garden" and the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God treat the subject of a common fate. While both authors convey a common theme, Hurston emphasizes the difference in racial privileges, while Justice highlights the difference in social privileges. Although both authors display similar themes, Hurston and Justice use symbolism and alliteration respectively.
The rose bush grew just outside the prison doors and has been there for a very long time. It is seen as imperfect because, while it may look beautiful, each rose has its own thorns. Hawthorne explains, “It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow” (Hawthorne 46). This quote shows that the rose bush can be interpreted differently by every reader. It can be seen as good or bad because it is by the prison and has thorns, but it also has beauty.
In the poem “Incident in a Rose Garden” by Donald Justice, Justice brings light to the idea that “death does not discriminate,” by using multiple writing techinques such as Personification and Similies. Justice uses the personification of death throughout the poem, painting death as a being rather than an experience in order too give the reader more insight into life seen through the Masters perspective. When the Gardener confides in his master he has encountered death, the Master warns death off, “This is my property, Sir. I welcome only friends here,” You can see through this example the Masters usage of “Sir” that he views death as a person, which shows why the Master would feel comfortable talking down too death, as he is used to being
Many fantasize when and how will die and so, Carver’s writing of Chekhov helped imagine what his might be like. The story uses “good death” to stabilize the idea of human imagination. “Errand” uses imagination
Death is an inevitable reality; once it approaches it cannot be stopped. The difference between life and death is thoroughly explained in Virginia Woolf’s “Death of the Moth.” The utilization of rhetorical devices by Woolf such as tone, pathos, symbolism, similes and metaphors to convey this message captivates the reader making them experience powerful emotions which were once unknown to them. Virginia Woolf describes her subjective self in her narration while conveying her pain to the readers.
• In our society the death is taboo subject, nobody talks or thinks about it. Yet it is maybe only sure thing in life. I believe that in her essay “The Death of the Moth’’ Virginia Wolf sends us strong message about life and inevitable death. Whole essay is in fact symbolic as moth represents life energy itself.
When death is thought of, we typically mourn. We fall into a state of understood social depression and usually give ourselves an allotted time to recover from our loss. Death is not normally viewed as beautiful. However in “The Death of a Toad,” Wilbur takes a brutal death a makes it simply beautiful. The use of vivid imagery and diction and organized syntax and structure provide a sense of beauty to one toad’s death.
The attitudes to grief over the loss of a loved one are presented in two thoroughly different ways in the two poems of ‘Funeral Blues’ and ‘Remember’. Some differences include the tone towards death as ‘Funeral Blues’ was written with a more mocking, sarcastic tone towards death and grieving the loss of a loved one, (even though it was later interpreted as a genuine expression of grief after the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral” in 1994), whereas ‘Remember’ has a more sincere and heartfelt tone towards death. In addition, ‘Funeral Blues’ is entirely negative towards death not only forbidding themselves from moving on but also forbidding the world from moving on after the tragic passing of the loved one, whilst ‘Remember’ gives the griever
With further analysis and a more in depth look at its message, it is an essay filled with literary devices, diction, detailed descriptions, and use of contrast that provide us with a clear perspective on Virginia Woolf 's acknowledgment of our ultimate destiny with death. Throughout the essay Woolf did an
In “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”, Emily Dickinson uses imagery and symbols to establish the cycle of life and uses examples to establish the inevitability of death. This poem describes the speaker’s journey to the afterlife with death. Dickinson uses distinct images, such as a sunset, the horses’ heads, and the carriage ride to establish the cycle of life after death. Dickinson artfully uses symbols such as a child, a field of grain, and a sunset to establish the cycle of life and its different stages. Dickinson utilizes the example of the busyness of the speaker and the death of the sun to establish the inevitability of death.
Further, situational irony is present through the reaction that Louise Mallard has after learning about her husband’s death. Upon first learning of her husband’s death she is very devastated and distraught. As soon as she is alone in the bathroom however, it is clear to the readers she is not as upset. In fact she is slightly relieved in that “she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (235).
Carl Sandburg, a novelist and poet, emphasizes ideas such as love, death, and many other themes in most of his works. He has complied many poems and novels throughout his career and many of his poems have been published in A Magazine of Verse (PBS). Overtime, the American people grew very fond of Sandburg, and he was commemorated as the “Poet of the People” in the United States. In “Cool Tombs”, Sandburg uses rousing diction and imagery to depict death as peaceful and restful, rather than frightening and terminal. Sandburg used stirring diction to convey death as peaceful.
