Elegy What is this? In a simple sense it's a text about a dead person, or, in this case, persons. Before we look at this particular elegy I want us to think about memorial writing in general. It's clearly quite an important part of a social organisation-the way we control and manage death. And it's also an insight into the way we think about individuals in a wide variety of social contexts: * Grand memorial elegies * Small personal ones we place in newspapers, little poems * Obituaries * Letters of consolation in which the writer sets down memories of the dead person * Epitaphs on headstones and plaques We can recognise in all of these there is no direct contact between the writing and the dead person. We can see this in three ways: 1. Our awareness that this is a special kind of writing that cannot exist without the absence of the death person 2. Our acceptance of the intertextual nature of this writing: that there is a way of doing it which takes its meaning from other similar kinds of writing. An official obituary is very formal and stylised. The more unofficial kink in the newspaper columns is also extremely generic. 3. Our sense that the death of a person distances us from them and allows us to make sense of them as a person But what if we thought about this from another angle. Suppose we consider the possibility that memorial writing is not really a special kind of writing but in fact the norm? That all writing is memorial writing that assumes the death (or absence) of its referents? That even when people are alive this is so confusing that we secret... ... middle of paper ... ...writer and the pictures of an amateur sculptor. 31: Unletter'd muse: Muse is an allusion to nine goddesses in Greek mythology. They inspired people to write, sing and dance. Muse is used here metaphorically to refer to a writer inspired to record his thoughts about the people buried in the cemetery. However, the adjective unletter'd indicates that he is an uneducated writer, perhaps a humble member of the community like those buried in the cemetery. 32. Thee: Gray himself. 33. Some kindred . . .fate: Gray is wondering what people would say about him if he died. 34. Haply . . . lawn: Here Gray begins to speculate about how people would assess him after he dies. 35. Listless length: His body 36: Pore upon: Gaze upon; look upon. 37. The Epitaph: Here Gray writes his own epitaph (inscription on a tomb).
...be contained, appearing in Boy’s subconscious desire for escape from the material world his hylic mind thrives in. His death serves as a consequence for living half a life.
The speaker introduces the idea of the natural cycle of life, where something becomes born and eventually dies. This reflects back to the Native culture where the cycle of life was much celebrated. The idea of "death and birth" symbolizes the speaker 's love that was once born to die in the end. It also symbolizes the pleasure and pain that comes with falling in love. She was born again with the new knowledge and pleasure the love had to offer. However, it is an undeniable fact that the same love that gave her so much joy at one point, gave her just as much pain. A part of her past- self had to die in order for the speaker to be reborn.
passed away” holds a significantly sombre and melancholy tone. This is juxtaposed to the living
would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper
The writing style of Edgar Allan Poe shows the writer to be of a dark nature. In this story, he focuses on his fascination of being buried alive. He quotes, “To be buried alive is, beyond question, the most terrific of these [ghastly] extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality.” page 58 paragraph 3. The dark nature is reflected in this quote, showing the supernatural side of Poe which is reflected in his writing and is also a characteristic of Romanticism. Poe uses much detail, as shown in this passage, “The face assumed the usual pinched and sunken outline. The lips were of the usual marble pallor. The eyes were lusterless. There was no warmth. Pulsation had ceased. For three days the body was preserved unburied, during which it had acquired a stony rigidity.” page 59 paragraph 2. The descriptive nature of this writing paints a vivid picture that intrigues the reader to use their imagination and visualize the scene presented in the text. This use of imagery ties with aspects of Romanticism because of the nature of the descriptions Poe uses. Describing the physical features of one who seems dead is a horrifying perspective as not many people thing about the aspects of death.
The speaker’s language towards the woman’s death in “The Last Night that she lived” portrays a yearning attitude that leads to disappointment; which reiterates human discontent with the imperfections of life. The description of woman’s death creates an image of tranquility that causes the speaker to aspire towards death. Her death compares to a reed floating in water without any struggle. The simile paradoxically juxtaposes nature and death because nature’s connotation living things, while death refers to dead things, but death becomes a part of nature. She consents to death, so she quietly dies while those around her refuse to accept her imminent death. The speaker’s description of death sounds like a peaceful experience, like going to sleep, but for eternity. These lines describe her tranquil death, “We waited while She passed—It was a narrow time—Too jostled were Our Souls to speak. At length the notice came. She mentioned, and forgot—Then lightly as a Reed Bent to the water, struggled scarce- Consented, and was dead-“ .Alliteration in “We waited”, emphasizes their impatience of the arrival of her death because of their curiosity about death. The woman’s suffering will be over soon. This is exhibited through the employment of dashes figuratively that form a narrow sentence to show the narrowing time remaining in her life, which creates suspense for the speaker, and also foreshadows that she dies quickly. The line also includes a pun because “notice” refers to the information of her death, and also announcement, which parallels to the soul’s inability to speak. “She mentioned, and forgot—“, refers to her attempt to announce her farewell to everyone, which connects to the previous line’s announcement. The dashes fig...
In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, the narrator uses foreshadowing, irony, and symbolism. “Here’s a small fact, you are going to die” (3). As readers, we are engaged in the story because we are part of the story. The narrator, who is a personified death, is referring to the readers when he says “you”. Here, it is foreshadowed that many people, including the reader, will die in the near future. This is verbally ironic because death refers to this as a “small fact”, even though the subject of death is usually considered a significant and sensitive topic. This statement symbolizes the insignificance that narrator feels towards human life. In The Book Thief, death lets us know about crucial events that will happen later in the book to keep the readers interested. Literary devices such as foreshadowing, irony, and symbolism keep the reader engaged in the story and portray certain thematic ideas.
"The boundaries which divide Life and Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where one ends, and where the other begins?" Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial (Bartlett, 642). To venture into the world of Edgar Allan Poe is to embark on a journey to a land filled with perversities of the mind, soul, and body. The joyless existence carved out by his writings is one of lost love, mental anguish, and the premature withering of his subjects. Poe wrote in a style that characterized the sufferings he endured throughout in his pitiful life. From the death of his parents while he was still a child, to the repeated frailty of his love life, to the neuroses of his later years, his life was a ceaseless continuum of one mind-warping tragedy after another.
In the first instance, death is portrayed as a “bear” (2) that reaches out seasonally. This is then followed by a man whom “ comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse / / to buy me…” This ever-changing persona that encapsulates death brings forth a curiosity about death and its presence in the living world. In the second stanza, “measles-pox” (6) is an illness used to portray death’s existence in a distinctive embodiment. This uncertainty creates the illusion of warmth and welcomenesss and is further demonstrated through the reproduction of death as an eminent figure. Further inspection allows the reader to understand death as a swift encounter. The quick imagery brought forth by words such as “snaps” and “shut” provoke a sense of startle in which the audience may dispel any idea of expectedness in death’s coming. This essential idea of apparent arrival transitions to a slower, foreseeable fate where one can imagine the enduring pain experienced “an iceberg between shoulder blades” (line 8). This shift characterizes the constant adaptation in appearance that death acquires. Moreover, the idea of warmth radiating from death’s presence reemerges with the introduction to a “cottage of darkness” (line 10), which to some may bring about a feeling of pleasantry and comfort. It is important to note that line 10 was the sole occurrence of a rhetorical question that the speaker
The narrator fantasizes death. “So I take phosphates . . . forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again” (pg. 1). The narrator is taken away from her
The opening line “I cannot let you die” (Line 1) represents how much the persona loves the reader and wants that she/he should not die. Immediately, the persona explains her love by saying “I block factual death” (Line 2). This shows that she doesn’t want you to die and she could block death with any fact. Again the second line ‘I’ is used to explain the persona’s love with ‘you’ that she can use any fact to block the death. The binary of “I” in the first two lines and use of ‘you’ before the last word “due” explains the relationship between ‘I’, ‘you’ and ‘death’ in the second line. The binary use of ‘I’ in first two lines and closing them with rhyming words ‘die’ and ‘death’ create the punch line of the first stanza that no one wants his/her loved ones to die and they could try to block death using any fact they can. The link of first two lines in with line 7 and 8, that by blocking death she will “There fix you shining / In a place of sun” (Line 7, 8). The interesting link between the first two lines of Stanza 1 and last two lines reinforce the feelings of love and hate for death that everyone will block death to let their loved one shine like the
The main event is the death of the child, which has happened previously to the beginning of the poem. This event foreshadows the death of the marriage which will happen after the poem. The husband and wife go through the grief process in many different ways. The wife believes that her husband does not understand her or the grief in which she feels. Online 10, she shouts at him, “You couldn't care!...
The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether it's on television or newspaper, you'll probably hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death affects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.
There are several death related motifs present in the poem. For instance, the poem opens with a passage from Dante’s Inferno, foreshadowing the theme of death in the poem. The speaker says “I know the voices dying with a dying fall.” He also references Lazarus from the Bible, who was raised from the dead, further developing the death motif. The speaker also seems to be looking back on life, referring to past experiences and his aging, as if he believes his death is imminent. He seems to have an obsession with hiding his age. According to the Psychoanalytic Criticism Chapter, the greater our fear of something is, the greater our obsession becomes (24). The speaker's fear of death has lead him to wear clothes that are fashionable for young people, such as rolling his trousers, and goes to great lengths to cover his age in other ways, such as parting his hair behind to cover a bald spot. The last stanza of the poem has a rather depressing and sad ending, a result of fear of
Although a scene of a funeral home might come to mind when a reader first hears a short story aptly named “The Dead,” the tale actually takes place in the festive setting of a winter dance at the home of the two aunts of the main character, Gabriel Conroy. James Joyce’s short story “The Dead” has a literal title, because its main concept is death – both physical death and spiritual death.