Christina Rossetti's 'Afterlife'

According to the Bible, there is life after death. When people die, the body becomes separated from the spirit and the soul. It is the body that remains on earth while the spirit goes back to God (John 11:25). Here, depending on your deeds on earth, the spirit may be accepted into Gods kingdom (heaven) or it may be subjected to punishment through hellfire (Matthew 10:28). (625 words)

The concept of life after death has been around practically as long as life itself. Our beliefs about life after death can have a profound effect on our attitudes toward life. Most individual's beliefs about life after death are directly related to their cultural or religious affiliations. According to Montagu, "Of all the many forms which natural religion has assumed none probably has exerted so deep and far – reaching an influence on human life as the belief in immortality" (1955, p.15).

When God created the universe, he then created humans in His own image. In the beginning everything was perfect. Humans did not know about evil at all until their eyes were opened when they ate the fruit from the tree of life, known as the apple. Once that happened, sin was birthed into us causing us to not only die spiritually, but later experiencing death physically. After us humans die, we either go to heaven or we go to hell for all eternity. Our destiny determines by how we choose to live and what we choose to believe. Our actions should match our beliefs. If we do not believe in God almighty and have faith in his Son, Jesus, then we will go to hell for all eternity.

After reading What’s Heaven by Maria Shriver, I got the opportunity to realize that talking about heaven can be difficult—especially when a child’s grandparent passes away or loved one passes away. For instance, as a child I always thought that human beings live forever; however, as I got older I began to realize that human beings cannot live forever. Nevertheless, as a nineteen-year-old college student, talking about death and heaven is tough and emotional for me; I cannot imagine myself mourning the death of a loved one—specifically, my mother, brothers, sister, aunts, cousins, friends, etc. My mother attempts to have conversations about death and heaven with me: “Kevin, my son, human beings get the chance to live a long-life here on earth;

Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, “The real question of life after death isn 't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.” The idea that death is inevitable is well known by everyone, yet no one is certain as to what happens afterwards. Even though the subject of life after death has been argued for centuries by many philosophers and theologians. In the article Sign Here If You Exist, Jill Sisson Quinn adequately employs figurative language, rhetoric questionings, and personal anecdotes to demonstrate a controversial argument on the topic of life after death.

“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” is a short story written by Katherine Anne Portier about an elderly woman on her deathbed. Granny Weatherall is a very interesting character and the story describes her last thoughts and memories as she lies there taking her last breaths. Granny Weatherall is perceived as an independent and strong-willed character that has lived a full life. As she lies on her deathbed, she drifts in and out of consciousness and seems to not have a full grasp on reality. As she nears the end of her life, the reader is able to understand her thoughts and feelings, and feels how the elderly woman is struggling with coming to terms with dying. The themes in this

Death is a promise by God that we as humans still have not found the courage to accept nor comprehend. Good or bad. Old or young. God has promised us all an eternal resting place in heaven or hell, or even in someone. Where we can live through their thoughts and imagination, get a second chance at life through them. Throughout Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya we see how the dead linger and live in Antonio, unfolding their souls in his inquisitive mind and hand him the bricks to make them a home of his religious ambivalence.

Death is viewed as a gate to meet God and live an eternal life with him. Whatever happens at death is always a mystery. In much religious death once everyone dies they will face judgment by God (Noebel,2006). Death is not the end of life; it is the beginning of eternal existence. Postmodernism has no moral absolutes but rather places responsibility into the hands of the

These ideals are very different from modern-day beliefs about death. Christian views about the afterlife include the two options for our souls after death: heaven- the happy, safe, and comfortable place where the good people go, and hell-the fiery, and dangerous place some go to if they made bad choices on Earth. Others believe in reincarnation, where a person’s soul lives on and takes the form of something else. Many people, no matter their religious stance, want to believe that there is something else after death, because it makes it easier when the time comes. It certainly eases some of the grief and anxiety that people face over death, and is far more comforting than the beliefs that ancient Mesopotamians held about death.

Individuals in society are compelled and feel restricted to follow certain social rules, but for some, their emotions towards the restrictions are negative. Many find different ways to release their constrained emotions, such as art, writing, music and physical activity. In like manner, Christina Rossetti releases her feelings and opinions about restrictions and situations occurring around her, which is evident in her sonnet “A Triad.” Christina Rossetti’s Petrarchan sonnet, “A Triad,” was published in the 1800s; during this period, the image and presentation of women was strict and had to be upheld. In “A Triad,” Rossetti is expressing the lack of variety, labels and freedom of women through the three women illustrated in the poem. The three women are categorized under married and lack of love, ideal woman, and promiscuous. Rossetti’s expressions about the society’s restrictions on women are evident in her use of symbolism of colours and words that are chosen to rhyme.

Historically, different cultures have their own descriptions of the afterlife. Based on statistics, people want to believe in the afterlife; however, we need to approach it from a Biblical point of view. Statistically, most people believe

In this method twelve factors were identified about beliefs about afterlife. Three of the major factors were that 12.1 percent believe in Heave and Hell. 7.9 percent believe in reincarnation and 6.6 percent believed that there ate material objects and sexual desire in the after life. The gender differences that were found are that men are not less likely to believe in afterlife but they were less likely to believe in Heaven, reuniting with loved ones, communication with the living and request for forgiveness before death. Men were more likely the women to believe that there are material objects, that spirits have human form, that there is pain, hunger, thirst and that rituals carried out after death are important. The religious differences they found were that Protestant students were less likely to believe in life-after-death then Roman Catholic students. On the other hand, Protestant students were more likely to believe that there is Hell and that forgiveness needs to be requested to get into Heaven.

that if X can be without Y then X and Y are distinct. This view that a

Life after death is a concept that has been around for many centuries. Many philosophers came to the idea that there had to be something after our life ends. For some, they believe in the afterlife. Another concept is that of reincarnation. Reincarnation is the believe that once the physical body dies, the soul is then reborn as a different being. Some religious teachings are actually said to have skewed some of the details about reincarnation.

Many different religions around the world see the importance in life after death but these beliefs do vary a lot and each religion will believe completely different things. Two core religions in this essay that will be looked into are Islamic and Catholic. What do they believe will happen when someone dies? Is there another life after they die? Heaven? Hell? Or Paradise? Through this you will the importance in the belief of life after death, and the practices, rituals, and prayers that provide evidence and physical proof of how they show this belief. Then to go onto to discuss the wider implications holding onto these beliefs can have.