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Spirits of the Dead

Good Essays

When someone who we care deeply for passes away, it can be heartbreaking. However, with time, most people come to realize that it is a part of life. The person's body has left the Earth, but their spirit has not. In some cases, people see a reincarnation of spirit in other living things. In other cases, people realize their loved one's spirit is with them forever. In his nonfiction, biographical short story Buckeye, writer Scott Sanders sees his passed father's spirit in other living things, and learns to let go of his death and appreciate that his spirit will always be with him wherever he goes. A similar situation is found in "Spirits Of The Dead," a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, which structures and meaning show an evolution, a movement from sadness and depression to anger, to closure in utter resignation. The poet writes about his wife, Virginia's death and how he goes through the process of mourning to acceptance. Lastly, in "All is Well," poet Canon Henry Scott Holland tells the reader that when the speaker of this experience, his spirit will be alive in the next room and that he will still remain as the same person he was throughout life. These two poems and this short story all have the same theme, spirits of our dearly beloved live on in the world around us. For Sanders, his father spirit is in a red-tailed hawk. For Poe, spirits of the dead are in the dew-drops of the grass. For the characters in Holland's stories, the spirits are in the next room. We choose to

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