Criticism In Duino Elegies By Rainer Maria Rilke

Every individual in this world will encounter grief throughout their lifetimes. It could be caused from the loss of a pet, a bad break up, losing a job, or losing a loved one. The body’s natural response is to grieve, every ones grieving process is unique and different in its own way. This paper will discuss the stages of grief by researching a book called “Lament for a Son” and how the author of the book ( Wolterstorff) found joy after his loss. The author of this paper will analyze and review what is the meaning and significance of death in light of the Christian narrative, as well as how the hope of resurrection can play a role in comforting Wolterstorff.

By biological logic, we human beings will face death sooner or later in our life and death has its very own ways to approach us - a sudden deadly strike, a critical sickness, a tragic accident, a prolonged endurance of brutal treatment, or just an aging biological end. To deal with the prospect of death come different passive or active reactions; some may be scared and anxious to see death, some try to run away from it, and some by their own choice make death come faster. But Viktor Frankl, through his work Man’s Search for Meaning, and Bryan Doyle; in his essay “His Last Game” show us choices to confront the death, bring it to our deepest feelings, meaningful satisfaction. To me, the spirit of the prisoners at deadly concentration camps, Frankl’s Logotherapy theory of “. . . striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” (99), as well as the calmness of Doyle’s brother on his last ride, like an awaken bell, remind us of how precious life is, how we should find the significance in every act of living, determine to live a meaningful life at any circumstances; hence, when death comes, we can accept it without anxiety nor regrets.

Death is inevitable. Death is unforeseeable. Death is unknown. One of the most difficult aspects of life is the prospect of death. In Lament for A Son, Wolterstorff reflects on the agony and lamentation of losing his son in a tragic accident (Wolterstorff, 1987). He explains the grief and pain associated with the death of someone close (Wolterstorff, 1987). One of the main themes present is the premature death of the author’s son, which alludes to the five stages of grief (Wolterstorff, 1987) (Kübler-Ross, 1972). The last stage is the stage of acceptance (Kübler-Ross, 1972). Death is possibly one of the most difficult things to accept and understand. Through the analysis of Wolterstorff’s Lament for a Son, this paper will attempt to understand finding joy in loss, the meaning of death in the light of the Christian narrative, and the role of hope in the resurrection.

Imagine ink like darkness for the rest of your life, never to see the light again. Imagine never hearing the words of love oozing out of your beloved’s mouth and wrapping your body with warming comfort. Imagine never feeling the gentle touch of a man or woman ever again. Imagine slumber but for eternity where your organs decay and you are no more than a mere frame of bones. Imagine death. Byron states, “all tragedies end in death” and I agree wholeheartedly. In prolonging unhappiness of life there is still peace that one’s life is still whole and that they are alive, however in death there is no light at the end of the tunnel, it is just pure darkness. Vivacious, colorful and musical, Moulin Rouge and dreary, dark and full of betrayal Shakespeare’s King Lear, though very contrasting texts have one thing in common, they both end in death. This essay shows the similarities between these two texts in order to prove that Byron’s statement “all tragedies end in death” is indeed true.

This is expressed by the multiple examples of old men whom regret certain aspects of their lives and defy death even when they know their time is up. The speaker is urging his father to fight against old age and death. The meaning and subject of the poem influence the tone and mood. The tone is one of frustration and insistence. Thomas is slightly angry and demanding. His words are not a request, they are an order. The mood of the poem is is serious and solemn due to the poem focusing mainly on the issue of death. This mood and tone is created by words such as “burn”(2), “Grieved”(11) and “rage”(3) along with phrases such as “crying how bright”(7), “forked no lightning”(5), “near death”(13) and “fierce tears”(17). The insistent feeling is also created by the repetition of the lines “Do not go gentle into that good night”(1), and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”(3). The figurative language used also affect how the meaning, tone and mood are interpreted.

Within many poems in “Experience” images of religion are juxtaposed to those of “dew” which represents materialism. This is used to show the corruptness of the images of the Church and religion as being simple and ever-present. Throughout the “songs of Innocence” there are not many ongoing themes, there is only one on-going theme, that of the Church being ever-present. In “Experience” many other themes are present, such as materialism, giving a more complex image.

Heidegger takes up an old idea that death is not the event which ends life but a profound reality which in-forms it, and he seeks to take this truth so fully into our being that we are compelled to embrace authentic existence and leave the world of false sociableness (Dollimore 161-162)

Within all these theoretical standpoints, the theme and process of coming to terms with death and relationship could be regarded as the essence of an existential quest; one

In the poems “The Wanderer” and “The Dream of the Rood,” anonymous authors give way to the idea that an Almighty God will solve every problem a person has by doing two things: 1) drawing upon the memories of a warrior who has lost everything near and dear to him due to war, and 2) entering the dream of a man who has been exiled and isolated. Each piece takes its reader through the trials and tribulations that one may not relate to in this era, yet the reader is still there alongside the character wanting them to find peace with their world and themselves. Initially, it is believed that the characters will overcome their hardships and achieve the happiness they seek. However, as the reader delves deeper into the character’s story, there is an overwhelming sense of incompleteness. What actually happens at the end of each piece is not written in stone - telling us the story is not whole - nor has a conclusion been reached. The intrapersonal thoughts being shared with the reader reveal the obstacles that keep an overall wholeness from occurring.

Love makes people become selfish, but it is also makes the world greater. In this poem, the world that the speaker lives and loves is not limited in “my North, my South, my East and West / my working week and my Sunday rest” (9-10), it spreads to “My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song (11). The poem’s imagery dominates most of the third stanza giving readers an image of a peaceful world in which everything is in order. However, the last sentence of the stanza is the decisive element. This element not only destroys the inner world of the speaker, but it also sends out the message that love or life is mortal.

This essay will address the theme of death in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12 (1609) and George Herbert’s poem Virtue (1633). Both Shakespeare and Herbert explore notions of death in their poems, in terms of the tension between the psychical and the spiritual in a religious context. However, where they differ is that Shakespeare places emphasis on the importance of the corporeal, and of what is left behind on earth after death. In contrast, Herbert focuses on the impermanence of the physical, instead advocating a focus on the eternal life of the soul in heaven.

It is human nature to interpret and reinterpret life and find meaning of one’s place in the world. Without such knowledge, or belief for that matter, any possibility of humanity is lost. Hence, humans are plagued with the necessity to interpret themselves and their connections to their surroundings—both human and physical. Because one’s connections and contexts for interpretation are endless in some sense, humans are inherently a divided self—the culmination of all given interpretations they make for themselves and interpretations from others. In addition, this totality of interpretations through the lens selves as being what is around you, it follows that poetic-rhetorical language is necessary in discussion of the divided self.

Several poems in the anthology explore the intensity of human emotion. Explore this theme, referring to these three poems in detail and by referencing at least three other poems from your wider reading.’

These feelings or abundance and well-being, according to Mark Bracher, make it quite simple for the reader to look at death calmly and accept their own mortality as consequence of a rich and fulfilling life (Bracher 1990, 634). Bracher accuses the poem of pretence

Todesfuge is an important work by Paul Celan, who is a famous lyric poet in Contemporary German Literature. The poem embodies the artistic features of the poet’s early poetry, with rich rich artistic appeal, but also contains profound thoughts, therefore, it could be one of the masterpieces that is qualified as a representative for postwar German Literature.