The Innocent Death “Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter,” (1924) by American author John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974), is a poem that has five sets of stanzas with four lines in each which are usually called quatrains--a rhyme scheme is in each quatrain as well. The poem deals with a group of neighbors at a funeral dealing with the sudden death of a young girl. Ransom’s main point is that death can be an unexpected, merciless, and permanent event and to show how fragile life can be. The speaker is one of the neighbors of the recently deceased young girl. The character who speaks in the poem does not have a clear gender; therefore, this character will be referred to as a male, for clarity. He is speaking to the neighbors who have gathered at …show more content…
He then says that her current unmoving posture is stunning everyone attending the funeral. He recollects back to how the neighbors used to hear the young girl loudly fighting her shadow from their homes. The young girl would also go down to the pond and harass geese. The geese would be sleeping around the pond until the young girl came running towards them. The geese would be “like a snow cloud” as their white feathers would be scattered all across the green grass. The geese would run around and try to trick the little girl as she chased them. The geese would be crying “Alas” in their goose talk because of the little girl’s endless assault. Her “tireless heart” woke all the geese from their “apple-dreams” and made them fly away to the sky. The speaker then comes back to the present to mention that the church’s bells are ringing and it is time to lay the girl to rest. The poem ends with him saying that at even though the little girl is laying there so very “primly propped.” They all are still disturbed or “vexed” by her current …show more content…
It is easy to ignore the possibility of our friends or family dying at any moment or day. Death always seems categorized with a person being of older age. If an elderly person passes away from a disease or an organ failure in a hospital, it is expected. If a little girl is murdered or died in an accident; then it is an unforeseen tragedy. When at a funeral, the friends and relatives of the deceased all think about the same thing. The memories of the past clash with the reality of the present. They wonder how a person who was previously so full of life and character--now a motionless corpse being placed in a dark hole. The realization that this person will never be seen or interacted with ever again is emotionally crushing. Even if it can be a difficult event to endure, death is an essential part of the cycle of life. Nobody lives forever. Everything must come to an end at some
Using a more innocent, child-like carefree tone in the first stanza, Wilbur tells how a child is woken up, and how she is eased back to bed, demonstrating a carefree tone by making the owl seem friendly and nothing to worry about, "Was an odd question from a forest bird,/ Asking us, if rightly listening to,/ " Who cooks for you?" and "Who cooks for you?"". In the second stanza a more haunting tone is used when the child is put to sleep and the author writes, "And send a small child back to sleep at night/ Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight", when the owl is capturing its prey. Both of these tones used in this poem show how a child's problem is dealt with and provides protection to the child. The author also uses juxtaposition, comparing what the child believes is going on to what is truly happening outside.
Benjamin Franklin once said that “Nothing is certain in life except death...and taxes” (Waliwensky). This phrase has rung in the ears of Americans for many, many years. The phrase has stuck around for an extensive amount of time is because of the irony and actuality behind it. While the expression is meant to focus on the inevitability of taxes, Franklin also makes a point that it is impossible to deny the fact that everyone will eventually die. People get caught up in their day to day lives and forget how precious life is. Death can happen at almost any point. The time where the loss has the most impression, is when it hits the family. A death of a family member demonstrates the relationship that the family members had. In the end, the family is going to be the one people use as reference for the memoir of the person.
In the poem, “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver, the poem is open for interpretation by the reader evoking reflection on their life and experiences. I believe the meaning of the poem is the combination of personal life relevant from the past, present, and events which may happen in the future. The poem demonstrates the demonstrate the simplicity of life through personification of animals and humans being similar in their needs due to the environment, the use of imagery to demonstrate excitement of accomplishment, and relates to the environment in which the author uses imagery and personification to bring out the best in yourself through your imagination similar to the way the author accomplished with the poem.
People die everyday all over the world. In United States, people use hundreds of different words to describe death. Generally, people that grow up in the United States tend to view death as a taboo subject and are seen as a topic that should be kept behind closed doors and contracted with an individual or family. A belief system that so many individuals hold to be true has been shaped over the past century. In this culture, death has become something that is enormously feared and as a result, some people stop living their lives to his or her highest potential because of their fear of dying. The effect that death has pertains to individuals of all ages, gender and ethnicities. But unfortunately, how death is viewed it has become more and
In “As I Lay Dying”, the story explores how, through the death and transport of Addie Bundren, characters with varying situations, personalities, and backgrounds deal with her loss. William Faulkner, the author of the novel, depicts each character with terrifyingly human coping mechanisms in the face of death. Some of the methods illustrated are: denial, existential thinking, depression, anxiety, denouncing of a higher power, and irrational thought and action. The reality is, this book will open up a discussion that is needed in high schools, and show young adults just how death can affect a person, “Because so many youth are impacted by loss, the need for both understanding and support from helping professionals is critical.” (Palmer).
The last line in the poem “and since they were not the ones dead, turned to their own affairs” lacks the emotions the reader would expect a person to feel after a death of a close family member. But instead, it carries a neutral tone which implies that death doesn’t even matter anymore because it happened too often that the value of life became really low, these people are too poor so in order to survive, they must move on so that their lives can continue. A horrible sensory image was presented in the poem when the “saw leaped out at the boy’s hand” and is continued throughout the poem when “the boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh…the hand was gone already…and that ended it”, this shows emphasis to the numbness the child felt. The poem continues with the same cold tone without any expression of emotion or feelings included except for pain, which emphasizes the lack of sympathy given. Not only did the death of this child placed no effect on anyone in the society but he was also immediately forgotten as he has left nothing special enough behind for people to remember him, so “since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs”. This proves that life still carries on the same way whether he is present or not, as he is insignificant and that his death
Very interesting how the narrator starts her story with a glimpse into a reflection of her life by saying, “Tell me things I won't mind forgetting.” I had to re-read the story several times to get an understanding where is the beginning of the story, middle and end. It seems to me that the narrator is struggling to compels herself to contain her pain. As a reader, I also felt that pain that I feel some sympathy for her. Several years ago, my co-worker had died from complications of pneumonia, and I can connect through the eyes of the author why humans use gallows humor to comfort themselves. The in-patient says, “The only thing is," she says, "is where's Resurrection?” Another contrast why the author alluded to why it is important to
It is inevitable that we will all die it is a fact that everyone must come to terms with. There comes a time in everyone’s life that they must face death; a friend’s tragic accident, a family member’s passing or their own battles with diseases. When faced with the idea of death people will act in different ways some may find it therapeutic to apologize for the negative they have done, some may want to spend time with loved ones to ease the future pain, and others may decide that their life was not what they believed. The story Death Constant Beyond Love tells us about a man named Senator Sanchez who is living a happy life with his wife and five kids. That is until he is told by doctors that he only has a short time to live. Death is
John Crowe Ransom’s “Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter is a classic example of a poem, mourning a death. The title name suggest that the girl was no family member or relative of the poet and was just the daughter of some John Whiteside suggesting that there was no close relation of the poet and the girl. As we go through the poem for the first time it appears to us that it’s a poem about a girl’s past activities who later dies but after several readings and contemplation we come to know that the poet was emotionally attached to the girl, feeling her pain and her loss. It is a 5 stanza poem which moves us from her past to present, from ‘Lightness’ to ‘darkness’. The first stanza is about the reaction of the neighbours while the four stanzas
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.
Growing up I always heard the saying "all good things must come to an end," but I never thought about it that deeply. Sure, everything has an end, like a book or a movie series or even a day. Everything has and always will have an end to them whether we want, need or anticipate it. While I was aware of this I had never had something that affected me enough to make me sad that it was coming to an end until this summer.
The poet orders his listener to behold a “solitary Highland lass” reaping and singing by herself in a field. He says that anyone passing by should either stop here, or “gently pass” so as not to disturb her. As she “cuts and binds the grain” she “sings a melancholy strain,” and the valley overflows with the beautiful, sad sound. The speaker says that the sound is more welcome than any chant of the nightingale to weary travelers in the desert, and that the cuckoo-bird in spring never sang with a voice so thrilling. Impatient, the poet asks, “Will no one tell me what she sings?” He speculates that her song might be about “old, unhappy, far-off things, / And battles long ago,” or that it might be humbler, a simple song about “matter of today.” Whatever she sings about, he says, he listened “motionless and still,” and as he traveled up the
“Ordinary people” everywhere are faced day after day with the ever so common tragedy of losing a loved one. As we all know death is inevitable. We live with this harsh reality in the back of our mind’s eye. Only when we are shoved in the depths of despair can we truly understand the multitude of emotions brought forth. Although people may try to be empathetic, no one can truly grasp the rawness felt inside of a shattered heart until death has knocked at their door. We live in an environment where death is invisible and denied, yet we have become desensitized to it. These inconsistencies appear in the extent to which families are personally affected by death—whether they
Ever noticed an elderly couple performing normal daily activities and think to yourself, what would they do without one another? Many of us have elderly relatives who are either married or have someone with whom they have a tight bond with, such as a best friend, and we believe they keep each other alive. We are all born to die, but how we cope with death is different. When someone dies, persons affected may feel depressed, sad and even angry. Looking at death from a different perspective, such as a loved one going to a better place, instead of a loss can cause relatives to celebrate. This is usually the case when the cause of death is natural. When death of a spouse is because of a traumatic event, love ones are left with
It is unbelievable how we take things for granted. Plans are made for each day, and we do not think twice about those plans. Unfortunately, they can change in the blink of an eye. I never personally thought much about it, until I was faced with the shock and tragedy of the death