The bird’s darkness matches the morbid and depressing tone of the poem and represents lost love and death and symbolizes "Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. The beginning of this poem largely highlights the elements of darkness and death as Poe describes the atmosphere by employing techniques such as metaphors, alliteration and the use of ironic words to create symbolism. The phrase ‘Midnight dreary’ suggests that it is a dark, cold and wet night and midnight is also related to evil so this indicates that there is evil activity that is about to happen. ‘Bleak December’ symbolizes the lifeless month due to the season of winter which represents death. The metaphor ‘each separate dying ember, wrought its ghost upon the floor’ is used contribute to the mood.
In the concluding couplet, Donne affirms that after “one short sleepe” imposed upon us by death, we wake to the eternal life of salvation and in that life of the soul, “death shall be no more”. This subject of death and its aftermath is indicative of the societal values in Donne’s context, where death was an omnipresent entity and mortality rates were low as a result of limited scientific and medical knowledge. Subsequently, advancements in science and medicine in the context of W;t alter the perception of death, which is portrayed through Vivian’s constant use of gallows humour throughout the play as a theatrical device in confronting her fear of death. Contrary to Donne’s time, in which religion was very much central in one’s life, the 1990s mark a time where the lack of religious dimension and faith resulted
Harwood highlights the extreme contrast in ones perception of love, life and death when influenced by either philosophy or poetry. In ‘The Violets’ Harwood explores the inevitable nature of passing time, that this passing gives rise to change and loss. The inevitability of the approach of death in the poem is seen through the figurative language and simile of sunset images ‘the melting west stripped like ice-cream’ symbolic of the inevitable approach. The connecting image of the violets are used throughout the poem ‘frail melancholy flowers’, ‘spring violets’ and ‘gathered flowers’ these images act as a metaphor representative of the stages of life. Each image is representative of high and low phases of life and ‘gathered flowers’ is suggestive of the end of life.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a gothic romance of two prohibited lovers who face the consequences of their shared adultery. In the last chapter which serves as an epilogue; informs the reader of the events following Dimmesdale’s death and reports on the fates of the major characters. Hawthorn uses a series of Rhetorical Devices – such as Irony, symbolism, and imagery- to explain that the admission of sin leads to redemption and forgiveness. Irony is a major role in this last chapter; it helps the reader understand the point Hawthorne is trying to deliver. He uses Chillingworth actions as an irony act, as an example, that even the evilest person can still reach redemption and forgiveness; as long as they accept their sin and the consequences.
He describes death as being, "the profile of night Ortiz 3 slanted against morning"(590)”. This metaphor causes death to become something unknown, unseen and unfamiliar. Komunyakaa suggests that death is like nighttime; it is dark and, therefore, has a feeling of unfamiliarity about it. As a result, Yusef Komunyakaa presents death as something we should fear and fight against, while Woody Allen presents death as a natural inevitability we must all face. In the short story, “The Red Convertible,” by Louise Erdrich, death is represented in an unexpected situation.
Collins has a strong sense of reality about death in how it is not always fair. In the poem entitled “On The Death Of A Next-Door Neighbor,” Collins explains death through the use of personification, “If only death had consulted his cracked leather map, / then bent to wipe the fog / from the windshield with an empty sleeve” (71). Collins personifies death by giving it human actions and need of assistance, but having no body, to show that it is only with us in spirit. This poem portrays death by showing that it is not to be feared, but rather accepted, because it is in everyone’s future. Making death into a person is a creative technique because it makes it so real.
Death is the main theme of both sonnets but the tone may differ a little. The tone of Sonnet 71 is a sad but at the same time concern and apologetic, in the other hand the tone of Sonnet 73 is only sad. In both poems the writers are embracing death and are trying to say goodbye to their love ones. In Sonnet 71 we see it more accurately “Nay, if you read this line, remember not the hand that writ it; for I love you so that I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot if thinking on me then should make you woe”; as well we see how the tone is because even though he is sad he is going to die he is more concern about his beloved, he doesn’t want her to suffer when he is gone “Lest the wise world should look into your moan, And mock you with me after I am gone..” In Sonnet 73 we may think the writer is sad and is only trying to say goodbye, but in lines 13 and 14 _“ This is thou perceives, which makes thy love more strong. To love that well which _thou must leave ere long” there is a twist in which we may observe he is talking to his beloved and how their love is going to live forever.
He saw things “obscene as cancer” (23) which is a bold image when death for a country is supposed to be sweet and proper. In fact, the title “Dulce et Decorum Est”, meaning it is sweet and proper, is ironic. Somehow dying for your country is supposed to be honorable and great while “blood/ [comes]
Is it noble to put up with the struggles and the difficulties in life or simply ending them all at once by dying? His questions are left to be answered by himself. Hamlet compares that sleeping is similar to dying because it ends all the heartache and shocks that life consists of. To be able to sleep is to also to dream by putting aside the commotion and stress of life behind an individual. Hamlet’s speech reveals his in depth on the idea of suicide and death.
For example, the “slumber” and consequent “harsh birth” in Sleep and the death conveyed in Beach Burial are imminent and inevitable parts of human life. For example, Beach Burial is able to lament both the “convoy of dead sailors” while at the same time focusing on an individual “unknown seaman.” This gives the poem the power of combined universality and particularity of reference. This is again mirrored in Sleep through the portrayal of the universal concept of birth, while still marginalising the subject through the second person “you” used in the first stanza. Both poems also delve into the totality of nature and Slessor executes this through using intermittent references of the ocean throughout both poems. In Sleep, the “huger waves” immediately evoke an image of the ocean; however, this may be used as a metaphor for the all-encompassing nature of a mother’s womb.