Analysis Of Fiona Sze-Lorrain's When The Title Took Its Life

In the poem “The Truth the Dead Know,” Anne Sexton narrates her struggle to overcome the desolation and sorrow caused by the death of her parents. Throughout the poem there is an attempt to discover the truth, meaning, and nature of death. Sexton demonstrates that death can be understood through its relationship with life. Death is shown to erode physicality, divide people, and escape definition as even nature and religion fail to provide comfort and an understanding of death.

In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.

In “Whoever We Are, Loss Finds us and Defines Us”, by Anna Quindlen, she brings forth the discussion grief's grip on the lives of the living. Wounds of death can heal with the passing of time, but in this instance, the hurt lives on. Published in New York, New York on June 5, 1994, this is one of many Quindlen published in the New York Times, centered on death's aftermath. This article, written in response to the death of Quindlen’s sister-in-law, and is focused on an audience who has, currently is, or will experience death. Quindlen-a columnist for the New York Times and Newsweek, Pulitzer Prize winner and author-has written six bestselling novels (Every Last One, Rise and Shine, Object Lessons, One True Thing, and Black and Blue) and has

Death is something that at some point will come to each of us and has been explored in many forms of literature. “The Raven” and “Incident in a Rose Garden” are two poems that explore common beliefs and misconceptions about death. Though both poems differ in setting, tone, and mood there are surprising similarities in the literary tools they use and in the messages they attempt to convey. The setting and mood establish the tone and feel of a poem. In “The Raven” we are launched into a bleak and dreary winters night where a depressed narrator pines for his dead girlfriend.

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

Each individual has a unique way of coping with death, and this is evident throughout Christina Rossetti’s, “Remember” and W. H. Auden’s “Stop all of the Clocks”.

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 its on television or newpaper, you'll probobly 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 effects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.

Death is a controversial and sensitive subject. When discussing death, several questions come to mind about what happens in our afterlife, such as: where do you go and what do you see? Emily Dickinson is a poet who explores her curiosity of death and the afterlife through her creative writing ability. She displays different views on death by writing two contrasting poems: one of a softer side and another of a more ridged and scary side. When looking at dissimilar observations of death it can be seen how private and special it is; it is also understood that death is inevitable so coping with it can be taken in different ways. Emily Dickinson’s poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died” show both

Regardless of race, caste, religion, or age, every human has wondered about the one fact of life that unifies us all: What is death? Both poems, “Death of a Young Son by Drowning” by Margaret Atwood and “Because I could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson share a common subject of death. Using figurative language, both poems illustrate distinct takes on a similar topic.

As Laurell K Hamilton once said, “death is the last intimate thing we ever do”. It comes in different ways and at different times, but death comes for all of us. In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Edna is faced with enormous heartache and desperation that she feels she has no other choice but to take her own life. This is paralleled in The Tooth and The Lottery, two short stories by Shirley Jackson. Both stories feature a character who is met with their death at unexpected moments in their lives, but in very different situations. The event of death plays a central role in these three works.

The disjunction of the mother and her son provides the external conflict. The speaker talks about how the child is being forcefully taken away from his slave mother. For example, the speaker talks about how the “cruel hands” (21) take away the only thing that makes her “breaking heart” (24) complete. Most of the conflict can be visualized by the vivid imagery that the speaker provides. The reader is given the visual image of “the look of grief and dread” (3) in which the mother can be seen with. Also, the reader can see how the woman’s son “clings to her side” (14) because he is looking for safety beside his mother. The reader can hear the “bitter shrieks” (37) of the mother as she was dealing with the agony of the broken bond between her and her child. The sound demonstrates the suffering that slavery brings upon the mothers. There are figurative images that emphasis the idea that the descriptive imagery shows. One of the metaphors that is used is when the speaker states, “his love has been a joyous light”. This can let the reader conclude that the mother certainly needs her child in order to be content. However, with the pain of seeing her son go, the event is devastating to her. Personification is utilized in the poem by depicting that the “bitter shrieks” (37) of the mother are so full of sorrow that they “disturb the listening air”

Personification is a type of figurative language one uses to give abstract ideas human-like characteristics. Dickinson uses personification in this poem because it allows the reader to understand death in a more intimate way. Death became so real to her and to her contemporaries because of the time in which she lived. Through her life experiences, the poet became intimate with death. Because of all the disease and epidemics in her lifetime, many of her loved ones passed away. These deaths were very "intense breaks in her life" (Murray). Some critics suggest that the death of her cousin was the inspiration for this poem (Semansky). In any event, death had a large impact on Dickinson's life. This impact explains why she writes so descriptively about it. In this poem, death is personified as a gentleman caller taking the lady out for a carriage ride. This personification gives the reader a better image of the writer's idea of the coming of death.

Culture is a defining thing in every person’s life, and affects them and how they perceive the world. In the poem “Without Title,” the theme is that leaving behind one’s former way of life, culture, and family can lead to the loss of joy, identity, and joy in culture. In this poem by Diane Glancy, it has different ways of showing this loss of culture and identity. Without Title uses a lot of figurative language to show this. Line 14 says, “I remember the animal tracks of the car,”. This shows how the author knows the culture she used to have and recognizes that it is gone and there is no true part of her culture now. She calls car tracks, animal tracks, which is something she would have seen if she had gotten to stay with her people and family. These all have a wistful longing feel in the poem, one of sadness. In the final part of the poem it says, “The red buffalo painted on his chest. Oh, I couldn’t see it but it was there,” This can be a representation of the author’s father’s lost culture, how he still has it be he is not allowed to show it at all, so he just keeps it to himself. In both it shows all the father and the author have left of their culture, their memories, and physical reminders. It shows a loss of identity, and that they both miss it. When the author says her father, “brought home horns and hides,” it can also be representing any piece of his former culture that he tried to bring back into the home, but his wife says to “get rid of them.” The wife could say

In “Wanting to die”, Anne Sexton illustrates an analogy that compares her desire to commit suicide and an addiction. Sexton writes this confessional poem to clearly and powerfully express her feelings for death and how she perceives it. Sexton is obsessed with death and believes that it gives her purpose which is why she has to commit suicide. Sexton believes that death will put her to rest and that she is meant to be with it, as if it were alive.

Emily Dickinson once said, “Dying is a wild night and a new road.” Some people welcome death with open arms while others cower in fear when confronted in the arms of death. Through the use of ambiguity, metaphors, personification and paradoxes Emily Dickinson still gives readers a sense of vagueness on how she feels about dying. Emily Dickinson inventively expresses the nature of death in the poems, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280)”, “I Heard a fly Buzz—When I Died—(465)“ and “Because I could not stop for Death—(712)”.