Death in Literature

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.

We all struggle with our own immortality, many authors use death to declare their thoughts and beliefs on what it feels like, and what happens during the process of death. Stories such as Dorothy Richardson’s “Death” and Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, use a stream of conscious narration to get across to the reader that death is different and one in the same for everyone. Richardson and Porter use the stream of consciousness to add depth to their characters, and to tell the story of their characters experiences before dying and their thoughts of their life. Answers.com tells us that the stream of consciousness is a “literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur”.

Death and loss are tragic, but both inevitable. Both Seamus Heaney in his poem "Mid-Term Break" and W.H. Auden in his poem "Funeral Blues" explore the theme of death and how they dealt with the grief after losing someone they love, but both delved into it in different ways. They talk about the anger, shock and the feeling of emptiness after losing someone.

Death is very frequent in real life and in literature. Mainly when it comes to diseases like cancer. Diseases are a way to drive a plot, link in a theme and draw in symbolism. In The Fault in Our Stars, one of the main characters ,Augustus Waters, lost his leg to a bone type cancer. Even with successful treatment, his cancer still manages to get worse and unfortunately leading him to his death. His death is reflective of the principles governing disease in literature because his treatments was working perfectly fine. Nobody expected for his cancer to come back and attack him harder than before. Also the

Death is part of the human life cycle, approximately 151,600 people die each day. Everyone wonders how they will die, if they suffer, if it’s tragic or if it’s just simply peaceful. In each of the three poems the main focus is death. Each poem shows a different feeling about death. “Thanatopsis” by William Bryant, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult and “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas, all have different meanings of death.

The subject matter of death isn't the theme of this poem. The poem prevails truth being disguised and manipulated over documented history. This not only opens the mind into questioning whether historical events truly happened the way historians say it did, or whether documentation can prove a justification of truth, but it forces the second idea to raise questions whether any of the history being told is true at all. The poem "Richard Bone" carries out this idea strongly. The reason this poem plays an interest in my mind is that it synthesizes to current events happening every day in the real world in a variety of ways. The poem places the tactic of truth versus false and how reality plays with this fundamental game with scenarios of

“Life, no matter how we choose to look at it, is a constant battle. It is the beginning of a struggle that continues until we breathe our last breath” There are many poems representing death affirms individuality and freedom spirit of poets, poems can let many people experience the scream before the death. “Do Not Go Gentle into the Night,” by Dylan Thomas, “Not Waving but Drowning,” by Steve Smith, and “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Housman all built around the sadness theme----Death

In “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” by W.H. Auden the author uses different literary devices to portray the theme of overwhelming grief and loss. In the poem, the speaker is someone who has recently lost a loved one. The person is so distraught that they start issuing harsh demands. The speaker wants everything to stop and all noise to seize. He or she then starts revealing more personal details by telling how much the loved one meant to them. This poem is dramatic and successfully uses literary devices to show how the speaker is feeling in their time of grief. W.H. Auden uses metaphors, personification, and overstatements to reveal the effects of overwhelming grief.

Emily Dickinson is well-known due to the fact that she uses an immense amount of death in her poetry; she is also known as being reclusive and death-obsessed. Although other poets don’t typically use large amounts of death in his or her own poetry, Dickinson decided to take her own path in order to get her point across; meanwhile, some found her obsession with death rather disturbing. On the other hand, death could be interpreted through various forms of symbolism. For example, death can symbolize things such as equality, religion, and journeys. Additionally, death can be used to express the loss of a loved one or even an internal loss of yourself, such as despair. Her poems about death

Death is a natural cause from the human condition. There are three poems that explore death. “Thanatopsis” by William C. Bryant, “Dust in the wind” by Kansas, and Don't fear the reaper.” by Blue Oyster Cult.

Death is an inevitable event that will occur in a life. When, how, and where are the beginnings of questions posed about the topic, and the fear of not knowing this leads it to be a taboo subject in many discussions. Edgar Allan Poe defied this sense of taboo and wrote many works centering on the topic of death. It is Edgar Allan Poe’s discussion of death in his works that reveals the innate human perversion of the discussion of death. The reason for his discussion of death may find roots in his personal life.

Death is a scary thing no one wants to think about it. But if you are a living thing and are human you will die.Everyone around you will die. Nothing that is alive around you today will last for ever. So when it’s time comes, you have to remember the good times and say your goodbyes. “Thanatopsis” written by William Cullen Bryant, “Don’t Fear The Reaper” written by Oyster Cult, “Dust In The Wind” written by Kansas. Each poem talks about death within the poem. They all look at life and death in different ways how to remember life with others around you, there point on when you die how your gone forever. Nobody knows what death is like because they haven’t experienced it. That explains why all three poems look at death differently.

Many of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories and poems deal with death and loss. Many of his character’s have either taken a life or have lost someone close to them. Poe’s short stories tend to deal with the characters causing death, where the poems focus more on the people who are left behind. Overall, the use of death in these stories and poems changes from piece to piece. It causes madness, regret, and sorrow.

"Death, Be Not Proud" by John Donne, "Because I could not stop for Death" and "I heard a Fly buzz - when I died" by Emily Dickinson all have one theme in common: death. Typically, death is associated with negative connotations, but "Death, Be Not Proud" is a more cheerful tale of how death lost its sting. "Because I could not stop for Death" also has a similar theme because. Like the other two poems, "I heard a Fly buzz - when I died" talks about an interruption of a person's death by a fly. "Death. Be Not Proud," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "I heard a Fly buzz - when I died" are all poems revolving around the theme of death.

The astonishing level of agony presented in a person when losing a loved one is described in the poem, “Stop All of the Clocks, Cut off the Telephone” by W.H. Auden. In this poem, the poet describes the pain of ending an intense sensation of love when one of the partners passes away. The inability to cope once one’s love has ended provokes the feeling that life has ended due to the thought of not being able to live alone. This is found in the poem when Auden states, “For nothing now can ever come to any good” (Auden, 16). The author’s use of figures of speech, imagery, and diction allow her audience to understand the speaker’s true emotions over its’ overwhelming grieving period.