The Suicide by Louis MacNeice

969 Words2 Pages

The Suicide by Louis MacNeice

The poem "The Suicide" by Louis MacNeice is a mind-expanding and touching poem based around the poets work experiences and sequentially describes the aftermath of the death of his former office colleague, who met his fate by suicide. I feel melancholied having read this poem and it leaves in the mind blanks for the reader to answer.

For my first point of view I am going to show an example of the many humorous lines in the poem in which is made humorous by the internal characters missing the main point:

" And this, ladies and gentlemen, whom I am not in fact

Conducting, was his office all those minutes ago"

These lines are the introduction to the poem and gives a mental vision of a Holiday rep showing holiday makers a landmark of interest or a game show host introducing a new competitor into a show and in both these cases they are using the dead colleagues body as there example which furthermore gives the impression that the holiday makers are not really interested in the dead body as such but are using it to their enjoyment rather than feeling sorry for the dead man which then suggests them missing the point. The lines are said in a sarcastic tone as it is supposed to be a sorrowful few lines but the poet instead makes them into a comical few lines. It is also worth mentioning that we as readers are also just as bad as the holiday makers gawping at the dead body because only now is he worthy of chat and interest whereas in the past he may have been rejected or disliked which is again is an example of us using the dead person as social chat or to make us more popular by talking about it in public.

My next point I am going to arise is the first of my found causes of death within the poem:

" In the intray, the ash in the ashtray "

This is an example of word choice used by the poet to create word impact on the reader and suggests the man committed suicide because he had a life-threatening disease, for example Lung Cancer, which caused by smoking and didn't want to live through the pain of a slow death so he took his own life to prevent this. The lines also suggest his life is in ashes-burnt out.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Death Is Not Master By May Miller

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sakinofsky, I. (2007). The Aftermath of Suicide: Managing Survivors' Bereavement. Canadian Journal Of Psychiatry, 52129S-136S.

    Read More

  • Suicide And Suicide In America, By E. R. Frank

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    Depression is the most common mental illness and the reason why many people commit suicide. It is commonly found when people fail to cope effectively with stress or experience painful, disturbing or traumatic events that overwhelm them. Suicide has become one of the main cause of death for young adults in Canada, leaving only tragic incidents behind; around 4000 Canadians die every year by committing suicide (“Canadian Mental Health Association”). America, by E.R. Frank, is about a young child, who goes through a lot of emotional and physical pain due to the people around him. When he is older, America hesitates to tell anyone about the traumatic events that he had gone through. America’s emotional state is damaged by his mother, Browning, and the whole system. In general, these people caused America to suffer emotionally and mentally. They did not take good care of America, forced him to think

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Suicide Note By Janice Mirikitani

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1987, Janice Mirikitani wrote and published a poem titled Suicide Note. The speaker of the poem, a female, Asian American college student who commits suicide after receiving slightly-less-than-perfect grades, gives repeated apologies to her parents and tells them exactly how she feels in a suicide note - one most probably addressed to them. In the poem, Mirikitani conveys a sad and somber mood while implementing an extended metaphor to compare the speaker to a bird.

    Read More

  • Compare & Contrast 6 Poems

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    I will discuss the similarities by which these poems explore themes of death and violence through the language, structure and imagery used. In some of the poems I will explore the characters’ motivation for targeting their anger and need to kill towards individuals they know personally whereas others take out their frustration on innocent strangers. On the other hand, the remaining poems I will consider view death in a completely different way by exploring the raw emotions that come with losing a loved one.

    Read More

  • The Death by James Joyce

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    In James Joyce’s “The Dead” Joyce uses a winter setting to create his scene. Many writers use nature to show human nature and the human condition. Joyce’s use of snow to cast light on characters and convey the meaning for events provide an analysis of the themes throughout “The Dead.” Snow has many interpretations. It can be beauty, as it outlines vegetation and adds definition to their shapes. It can be seen as a symbolism of innocence and new beginnings. Snow can be seen as the beginning or the end of life as it usually means the end of one life as plants that it falls on die. It also means new life as it melts it brings to light new life. Gabriel the main character of “The Dead” mimics the snow in much this way. Gabriel is a man who really doesn’t know where he belongs and doesn’t know who he should be. He represents a world covered in snow, a blank slate. When he arrives to the party it begins to snow covering his clothes in an oppressive manner. This is similar to his role as an Irish man. Which is a restrictive, cold and oppressing routine to him. He even is trapped by his cautious and inhibited personality. His wife however is the opposite. She is a free spirit, who loves adventure and wants more from life. This creates conflict for him as he has difficulty talking to women. They talk about Michael her love from when she was young, and how even though he was sick he traveled to see her off on her trip through the snow and cold. Gabriel for the first time displays true emotions as she sleeps by letting tears roll down his face and he stares into the whiteness of the snow. This shows the beginning of him being a new man. Snow at the beginning of the story is seen as oppressive diminishing life as if...

    Read More

  • Comparison of Robert Frost's and Seamus Heaney’s poetry,

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ttachment or emotion. Again, Heaney repeats the use of a discourse marker, to highlight how vividly he remembers the terrible time “Next morning, I went up into the room”. In contrast to the rest of the poem, Heaney finally writes more personally, beginning with the personal pronoun “I”. He describes his memory with an atmosphere that is soft and peaceful “Snowdrops and Candles soothed the bedside” as opposed to the harsh and angry adjectives previously used such as “stanched” and “crying”. With this, Heaney is becoming more and more intimate with his time alone with his brother’s body, and can finally get peace of mind about the death, but still finding the inevitable sadness one feels with the loss of a loved one “A four foot box, a foot for every year”, indirectly telling the reader how young his brother was, and describing that how unfortunate the death was.

    Read More

  • The Sleeper Literary Analysis Essay

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Mary Oliver's 'When Death Comes'

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • I Of The Storm: Understanding The Suicidal Mind By David Lester

    1388 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the preface of I of the Storm, Lester introduces his purpose for writing this book. He states that, although he is a suicidologist and has published many things on suicide, he doesn’t know exactly why it is that people kill themselves. Lester is a former President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, and has PhDs from Cambridge University and Brandeis University, making him qualified to speak on this matter. I of the Storm is mainly direct toward those who wish to understand suicide and why people commit it. His book is very informative, using analyses of examples and statistics to delve into the patterns of those who kill themselves to see why

    Read More

  • Death by Thomas Nagel

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Thomas Nagel’s “Death,” he questions whether death is a bad thing, if it is assumed that death is the permanent end of our existence. Besides addressing whether death is a bad thing, Nagel focuses on whether or not it is something that people should be fearful of. He also explores whether death is evil. Death is defined as permanent death, without any form of consciousness, while evil is defined as the deprivation of some quality or characteristic. In his conclusion, he reaffirms that conscious existence ends at death and that there is no subject to experience death and death ultimately deprives a person of life. Therefore, he states that Death actually deprives a person of conscious existence and the ability to experience. The ability to experience is open ended and future oriented. If a person cannot permanently experience in the future, it is a bad or an evil. A person is harmed by deprivation. Finally, he claims that death is an evil and a person is harmed even though the person does not experience the harm.

    Read More

  • The Use of Death in Poetry

    409 Words  | 1 Pages

    Poems reveal many inside thoughts of the speaker that can be interpreted by the reader. Death is expressed quite often in poetic work because of the simplicity to be able to express feelings. Suicide, for an example, is a form of death that may be used in poetry and is usually portrayed in a negative fashion. Surprisingly, some poems that involve death have a positive outcome. There are views found in poetry relating to suicide as a form of death that are both positive and negative. Suicide as a negative perspective is a common form of death displayed in poetry. A very good example of death brought upon by suicide is “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson. In the passage, “And he was rich-yes, richer than a king,” Robinson describes the wealth and riches in which he lived. Richard seemed to be a person without problems. Later at the end of the poem in line fifteen the speaker says, “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head.” In one’s opinion, it may appear that money, wealth, and power is not everything. Perhaps Richard Cory was miserable because of the way people gazed at him which describes his suicide. Theoretically, the reader has to try to interpret the poem because of the lack of evidence explaining the reason of Cory’s suicide. This poem is an example of death in a negative perspective. Another poem that explains suicide as a form of death, but in a somewhat positive fashion, is “Résumé” by Dorothy Parker.

    Read More

  • Because I Could Not Stop For Death By Emily Dickinson

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    In poetry, death is referred as the end of literature and it is associated with feeling of sorrows. However Emily Dickinson demonstrates that death is not the end of literature or feeling of sadness but death is a new element of inspiration in poetry and is the beginning of a new chapter in our life. In the poem ‘’Because I Could Not Stop for Death’, she discusses the encounter of a women with death, who passed away centuries ago. Dickenson uses metaphors and similes to show that the process of dying can be an enjoyable moment by appreciating the good moments in life, and by respecting death rather than fearing it. Also Dickinson portrays death in a humorous way as she compares it to man seducing her to go to her death as well, to childhood games that show the innocence of this encounter (Bloom). The poem is a reflection of how unpredictable death can be. Death is a scary process in life that should not be feared because it should be celebrate as new start.

    Read More

  • The Last Night That She Lived

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.

    Read More

  • Funeral Blues Analysis Essay

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Toward the end of the poem, Auden begins to use hyperboles to demonstrate how his world feels diminished after the passing of his lover. For instance, when Auden writes, “I thought that love would last for ever,” he is using a hyperbole because at some point we all die so therefore, by logical reason, it is impossible for a love to truly last forever. When Auden later writes, “Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood,” he is expressing how his physical world too may as well be over because he has lost his one true love. In some aspects, he wants nature to heed his grief; “He wants the world to reflect the emptiness within him.” Auden has successfully incorporated the use of hyperboles throughout his poem Funeral Blues to further prove the harsh reality of how it feels for the love of your life to die and to be left with nothing but

    Read More

More about The Suicide by Louis MacNeice

Open Document