How Precious And Valuable Life Actually By J. Peter Meinke

Robert Frost and William Shakespeare have been celebrated by many people because of their ability to express themselves through the written word. Here we are years after their deaths analyzing these fascinating poems about life and death. It’s clear they had similar thoughts about this subject at the time of these writings, even though their characters could not have been more opposite. For both poets, life is too

James Rachels claims that morality is absolute. In his article Mortality is Not Relative, he discusses the fallacies of Cultural Relativism as well as the Cultural Differences Argument. Rachels believes that all cultures have some values in common and that there is way less disagreement between them than it seems. He brings up the example of the Eskimo’s and how they choose to kill the infants that they cannot take care of, “The Eskimo’s values are not all that different from our values. It is only that life forces upon them choices that we do not have to make” (Rachels). Another example of this would be how in some cultures it is wrong to eat cows because they believe that the souls of their ancestors and deceased are reincarnated into the cow. In our culture we would not eat our grandparents either, the only difference is we do not believe that they become cows, thus we would have no problem eating cows. “Now do we want to say that their values are different than ours? No, the difference lies elsewhere. The difference is in our belief systems, not in our values” (Rachels).

The first stanza, which contains the son’s childish speech, is short, only three lines. However, by the stanza which contains the son’s angry talkback, the stanza is double in length, having four lines. Each line represents a literal level of maturity and growth that the son has gained. As time moves on, he is able to gain more and more experience in life. As his experience accumulates over time, so does his hostility. His terse, childish begging for his father to simply read another story turns to an angry speech about how he no longer beleievs in his father as an authority figure. Despite this, the son’s psyche changes back, as all this maturation is played out in the father’s head, and when he returns, he is back to his childish self, bu this stanza is the longest in the poem. This suggests that when someone is able to mature enough, they are able to comprehend more of the world than they did before, and are able to act

Repetition at the end of each stanza is effectively used to reinforce the message to fight back against death. The son implores his father to hang on any way he can and begs him to use joy or tears or anger to remain in this life. Other men, be they wise or frivolous, serious or

Could make a small boy dizzy” (Lines 1-2). Meaning The father has been drinking, and not just a little. He's so intoxicated that even the smell of his breath could make a small boy, like his son, feel a bit woozy. This gives a first impression of a father being intoxicated who has the ability to harm the child. For most it is not a great situation when a drunken adult presents himself to a child. This poem could be seen as a depiction of a young boy’s experience of abuse from his father. “But I hang on like death” seems to show a child’s frightful feeling from having to face a drunken father. The image in my head here is that of the father and his child waltzing around the kitchen with the boy having to hold on like death. The word death could have been intended to emphasize the helplessness of the child against his drunken

In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, racism and prejudice are clearly evident and talked about throughout the novel. The novel expresses the oppression of the blacks under a white-ruled society through the narrator, Grant. Grant is a well-educated black man who struggles to free himself from the oppression he has felt from the white community. Despite the fact that he is educated and a teacher, he initially lacks the vigor needed to take the first step against black discrimination. He has all this intellect, but does not realize until later on that it is not only intelligence he needs to overcome the oppression, but self-assertion, too. Education does not prove your intellectual worth in society; rather, it is what you do during difficult times that define your intelligence and strong character not just to yourself, but to the world.

others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” My precept is that it lies at the heart of all

With the use of imagery, the poet communicates to the reader the emotional bond between the father and his son. In the first stanza of the poem, the he illustrates a clear picture between the son and the father. "The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy But I hung on like death Such waltzing was not easy." the poet is saying that the father may not be the best father in the world with his breath smelling like whiskey, but despite that, the son hangs on like death. The simile the poet

William James, an American philosopher and psychologist once said “believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” Life, regardless of how close it lies to death, is worth keeping. The poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, by Dylan Thomas is a son’s appeal to a fading father. He shows his father that men from all walks of life confront death, however, they still war against it. Thomas uses figurative language to classify men into four different categories to persuade his father to realize that a life, regardless of how it was lived, should be fought for.

Life isn't easy, and for those whose lives are dwindling, the fact of mortality is hard to

They tend to let death take their life away befre even enjoying the world and its nature. He also goes to say things go from dull and depressing to outright dismal. This poem also shows that you must live your life for you and not other people or try to follow what others are doing. The decision

Many people have both feared and questioned death throughout the ages but when it’s time to die, two kinds of people emerge: those who accept it and wait to die, and those who keep fighting. Dylan Thomas describe the importance of continuing to fight in his poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, which he wrote for his dying father. Firstly, there is lots of symbolism in the poem, which helps to develop the theme of never giving up. Secondly, the author uses many literary devices, which help to develop the main theme of the text, which is to never stop fighting. Lastly, there is lots of imagery used to help develop the theme of persevering until the end even more. Death is all around us but it is important to persevere and keep fighting

Poetry is an art form that has often been highly regarded. It brings together some of the most complex forms of writing in the English language. Two poems that focus on the same topic may sometimes, have completely different views and provide perspectives that may not have been considered by the other. Two of these Poems are Let Me Die A Youngman’s Death by Roger McGough and On Death by Anne Killigrew. The former poem by Roger McGough talks of how the speaker does not wish to die the peaceful death of an elderly person but rather the chaotic death of a young man. In death is nothing at all the speaker proposes that all should be as happy as before his death, and not view it in such a negative and secretive light.

According to Webster's dictionary, life is "the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body; a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings."

Today for the first time, I began to take a serious look at how I wish to live out my last days. Honestly, before today I have never given much thought to this idea, but the reality of life being finite has resonated with me. Over the past few months, several close friends and acquaintances have died. Most of them were very unexpected and their loved ones were left confounded in trying to make last minute decisions. I don’t want this burden to be cast on my family. I want all of my loved one’s to know exactly what measures I want taken during my hospitalization; if I am in a position where I can’t communicate for myself. My first step was conveying this to my family, letting them know that I will be preparing a booklet chronicling my desires. Of course when I began to speak to my family members about death, I was confronted with essentially the same response, “Let’s not talk about that. You will be around for a long time yet.” My thoughts immediately took me to Schechter’s “The Whole Death Catalog” and Phillip Aries. Aries described the 20th Century as being an era marked with “forbidden death.” Implying the whole process of death was “shameful and hidden.” (Schechter, page 15) So of course I responded to my family’s words, with how Death was imminent. It is our selfish nature to want to hold on to life forever; but no matter how hard we clinch, we eventually lose our grip. My mother then told me to tell my sisters because she won’t be here when I die. My