How does the exploration of the connections between two texts from different times deepen our understanding of what is constant in human nature? The comparative study of the poetry of John Donne and Margaret Edson’s play, W;t, reveals changes in context inform what we value in human nature, specifically in regards to finitude, relationships and humanity. John Donne’s Holy Sonnets, ‘Death be not proud’, ‘This is my playes last scene’ and ‘If poysonous mineralls’ explore the fear of death and the need to belittle it, whereas ‘Hymne to God my God, in my Sicknesse’ (‘Hymne’) and ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ (‘Valediction’) deal with the idealised, spiritual aspects of love and relationships. The need to undermine the power of death is reflected, though expressed differently, in both ‘Death be not proud’ and W;t. In ‘Death be not proud’, the personification of death, the logical argumentative structure and tone of the sonnet cohesively highlight the idea that death is not the absolute end, and can be transcended through a religious belief in salvation. 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”.
Wilmer Ortiz Ortiz 1 John Benvenuto English 102 March 8, 2013 The Unseen Line Between Life and Death Throughout history we have seen evidence of man’s obsession with mortality. In an effort to understand the unknown, writers create stories through literature that give readers an explanation they can grasp. This writing about our impermanence shows just how insecure and un-accepting we can be of this unavoidable fate. Literature often has the ability to show just how vulnerable humans can be, and yet somehow manage to find elegant, beautiful and dignified ways to show. Three
Unless you have experienced it yourself you cannot understand it. Updike and his poetry, and Rhys with her short story they describe death and impermanence in their own ways. When Rhys describes life after death in I Used to Live Here Once and Updike describes not everything is permanent like in Dog’s Death by John Updike I see that both are talking about forms of death. While they both talk about it, one tells what it would be like after you die and the other describes the pain, and sadness leading to it. Through out the short story and poem I realized that the authors used tone, and symbolism in their literary work as described in our textbooks.
Symbolism is a concept the author, Shirley Jackson displays throughout her short story, “The Lottery”. The story represents several aspects of society. It shows how one does not realize how fragile a life is. The story displays the cruelty of ancient society and how it is still present in today’s world. Shirley Jackson uses symbolism in the story to represent ancient rituals being symbolic of religion, death, and life itself.
Immediately Duffy portrays to us the suffering Mrs Lazarus is going through; “I had wept for night and a day,” from this we also see Duffy is speaking on behalf of Mrs Lazarus, with her voice and narrative, showing she is giving Mrs Lazarus a voice. The whole poem is based upon the pain, hurt, and loss, love, mourning of Mrs Lazarus and how she finally moved on but then was ripped away from her through his resurrection. “Howled, shrieked, clawed,” this shows that Mrs Lazarus was physically out of control; Duffy gives her animal like expression, suggesting her behaviour was un-human like. Furthermore the word “shrieked” is a violent verb suggesting self harm. Duffy, as Mrs Lazarus, later explains the grief has led her to throwing up; “retched,” this shows that Mrs Lazarus has led herself to tormenting herself, as she is self harming and throwing up.
Part of the subtitle Hardy added is to promote additional questions; particularly how it would of at that time, making opinions differentiate about the novel. A crucial element of the novel is the way Hardy causes events to lead to and foreshadow one another, especially pertinent in the theme of death which duplicates itself during the novel. First we are presented with the death of the family’s horse where ‘ Prince lay alongside still and stark; his eyes half open’ and then Tess’ baby Sorrow that died due to its ‘breathing grew more difficult’. During numerous travels Tess encounters a group of wounded pheasants left by hunters, she can’t stand to see their suffering so ends up snapping their necks and killing them all. Tess wishes she could end her own suffering the same as she did with the pheasants saying ‘I wish it were now’ which reflects all the ‘pure’ things dying and not her, who wishes for it to the most.
An Inspector Calls An inspector calls by J.b Priestly is a play which focuses on the responsibilities and consequences of each character in the play During the play the audience discover who is the most to blame for the death, of the young lady Eva Smith In Brumley, a large house set in 1912. A family were celebrating the engagement of Miss Sheila Birling and Mr Gerard Croft. During the celebration an inspector known as inspector Goole interrupted them about an incident at the infirmary. He informed them about a suicide. A young lady known as Eva Smith died a slow and painful death by drinking disinfectant.
He begins to draw others into the tragedy of Eva Smith’s life and death. He attracts the sympathy and compassion of Sheila and of the audience by his clear and hard-hitting description of the girls misery. After the inspector informs Sheila, she portrays a distressed and agitated type of behaviour. On page 17 she says ‘Sorry! Its just I cant help thinking about this girl-destroying her life so horribly.’ This shows Sheila feels commiseration and sensitivity towards Eva and her death which comes across as genuine regret when she realises she could be linked to her suicide.
Not only are their lives wasted, gone without the holy ritual of funeral, but the lives of their loved ones at home are also ruined. This poem starts off at a quick pace, and then continues to decelerate throughout the poem, drawing to a slow, solemn and sombre close. Throughout this poem the traditional feel of an elaborate ceremonial of a Victorian style funeral is constantly compared and contrasted to the ways in which men died in the war. The title 'Anthem for Doomed Youth,' with anthems usually being associated with love and passion, is very deliberately ironic. It is a way in which Owen shows how ridiculous he really thought the war was.
The perspective from which the writer tells the story "The Dead'' is in the third-person limited point of view. Although the narrator describes the action of many of the characters and even situations of some events Gabriel does not witness, only Gabriel's thoughts are given. Joyce's writing style is also relevant when discussing the theme proposed. In his short story ‘‘The Dead,’’ James Joyce symbolically presents his critical view of Dublin society, and it is noticeable that Joyce’s Irish experiences are essential to his writings and provide all of the settings for his fiction and much of their subject matter. To better understand the society he criticizes it is important to know that in the nineteenth century the European society was essentially bourgeois and the literature was solidly anchored in this social world.