These interesting verses about mortality delve into the inevitability of death and the changing nature of life. They also explore the fragility of existence, prompting reflections on the meaning and legacy one leaves behind.
Poets confront the impermanence of being, the passage of time, and the acceptance of mortality. These poems may evoke sorrow and resilience, encouraging readers to live fully and cherish their moments, knowing that life is a fleeting gift.
‘Brilliance’ by Mark Doty describes a dying man who wants to control his own life. He eventually opens himself up to new experiences.
'Brilliance' is fundamentally a poem about mortality. It muses on how people understand and cope with the knowledge that they will soon die. The man in the poem is in a position that not everyone has the opportunity to experience: he knows that he is dying and can make decisions about what to do with his remaining time. His initial philosophy of negation and intense preparation is contrasted with Maggie's philosophy of enjoyment. Ultimately, Maggie's ideas about what the man should do with his time win out, and he agrees to get goldfish.
‘On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book’ muses over the inevitability of death and the importance of leaving behind a meaningful legacy.
The main topic of Turner's poem is mortality, or more specifically, the understanding that death is an inevitable part of life. Rather than find this a bleak reality, the speaker looks at the fly's passing as a rousing reminder to embrace the "peril...beside us day by day." One day the book of life will close on us and all our memories, experiences, and material property will amount to nothing "half as lovely as these wings." In some ways, the sonnet issues a challenge to leave something beautiful behind like the fly.
‘You Will Know When You Get There’ by Allen Curnow embraces the inevitability of death via the figurative imagery of a descent into the sea.
Curnow's poem shares an unconventional but startlingly logical approach toward death. If mortality is destined to take us all without resistance, then it's better to make peace with that sooner rather than later. That way we might meet our respective ends with some semblance of autonomy, dignity, and acceptance as the man in the poem.
Nobody comes up from the sea as late as this
in the day and the season, and nobody else goes down
‘Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed From a Skull’ was written in 1808 and expresses Byron’s disdainful thoughts surrounding death.
Without a doubt the main topic explored in Byron's poem is mortality. The speaker takes the form of a disembodied skull and their words serve to illustrate just how helpless humanity is in the face of death. Life and all its joys are exceptionally short-lived compared to death's eternity, leaving them resigned to its inevitability as well as what it takes away. This is why they're so enthused about the wine: now they can once more partake in the "aid" of others by supplying them with the chance to "rhyme and revel with the death."
‘Small Female Skull’ by Carol Ann Duffy explores the speaker’s intimate and profound experience of holding her skull.
The skull is a clear reminder of mortality. Through her interactions, Duffy contemplates the fragility of life and the inevitable end awaiting everyone. The poem is a meditation on understanding and accepting this reality.
With some surprise, I balance my small female skull in my hands.
‘Sonnet 3’ is a Procreation Sonnet addressing Fair Youth while emphasizing the significance of procreation.
The truth of mortality drives the speaker's arguments as he reminds the Fair Youth of life's transience and the significance of leaving a legacy before death. The speaker questions how the young man could be so selfish as to jeopardize his own immortality by refusing to procreate. The closing lines, 'But if thou live rememb'red not to be, Die single, and thine image dies with thee,' emphasize the harsh truth of mortality, suggesting that without progeny, there is no escape from mortality's unyielding reality.
Keats’ ‘When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be’ contemplates existential fears concerning mortality and how they thwart aspirations.
The poem depicts the universal truths of human existence and the inherent fear of death. The speaker's anxieties about dying before fulfilling his aspirations resonate with the existential concerns shared by all humans. Through introspective musings, the poem portrays the fragility and transience of life, emphasizing the inevitability of mortality. The speaker's contemplation of death as the ultimate reality evokes an existential dread, prompting readers to confront their own mortality and contemplate the brevity of life.
In ‘Blessed by the indifference…’, facing the loss of his wife, the speaker tries to distract himself from the looming presence of death.
Confronted with the unavertable death of his wife, Lucinda Gane, Christopher Reid dwells on mortality despite his efforts to distract himself. This poem addresses not only Lucinda's mortality, but the mortality of the human race at large. The poem ends with an epiphany, as Reid acknowledges that death is a certainty in a life that is well-lived. He is reminded of this by the sun, who equally reminds him of human insignificance. It refers to the lifespan of humans as 'paltry currency', which conflicts in Reid's head with the importance of his wife's final 'days and hours'.
'Yours more or less for the asking.
Of course I accept your paltry currency, your small change
‘The Death of the Hired Man’ by Robert Frost delves into human relationships, compassion, and the passage of time through the interactions of its characters and the evocative imagery of a rural setting.
The poem pervasively explores mortality, emphasizing the shared human experience of facing death. The characters confront the reality of Silas's impending death, prompting reflections on the transient nature of life and the inevitability of mortality that unites all humans.
Warren returned—too soon, it seemed to her,
Slipped to her side, caught up her hand and waited.
‘A Final Sonnet’ by Ted Berrigan is a meditative poem that follows a man’s disjointed thoughts as he struggles to comprehend death.
Ted Berrigan's poem is a meditation on human mortality that describes how we cope with the inevitability of death. The speaker reflects on life's fleeting nature and how seemingly important events are unimportant on a cosmic scale. He concludes with a greeting to his friend, choosing to focus on the present instead of his future death.
‘I heard a Fly Buzz – when I died’ by Emily Dickinson is an unforgettable depiction of the moments before death. The speaker emphasizes the stillness of the room and the movements of a single fly.
The speaker's death is nearing and its impossible to really ignore what is about to happen.
Sonnet 73, ‘That time of year thou mayst in me behold’, explores love’s resilience in the face of human transience.
Mortality is the primary motif in this sonnet as the speaker underscores his aging and impending death. Mortality is accepted as the ultimate truth of human existence. The poem conveys that the human age is unlike the cyclical phenomena of nature, such as seasons, and progresses towards the finality of life. The power of love is shown to be the greatest solace for a meaningful life journey in the shadow of mortality.
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
‘Vitae Summa Brevis’ by Ernest Dowson is a short melancholic poem about the all too brief nature of life’s joys and the suddenness of its tragedies.
Without a doubt, the poem's central topic is the brevity of humankind's mortality and the certainty of our departure from life into death. Nothing in life is very long, and all is subject to sudden transitions: be that a love souring or a life suddenly ending. Ernest Dowson himself was intimately acquainted with such tragedy.
Donne’s ‘Death, be not proud,’ rooted in the Christian idea of the afterlife, challenges the personified death, exposing its illusory power.
Mortality is typically considered an ultimate truth, with death as its enforcer. This poem, however, challenges the permanence of mortality, suggesting human life is immortal. The speaker argues that death cannot truly kill anyone; it merely facilitates the soul's journey to the afterlife, erasing the fear of mortality. Furthermore, he portrays death as more pleasurable than sleep, gently ushering humans to the much-anticipated afterlife. Thus, the poem redefines mortality, presenting it as a transient state rather than a permanent end.
This poem demonstrates the full breadth of emotions one can expereince when visiting the tomb of a deceased person.
Like many people, Keats uses the death of another person to reflect on mortality more broadly, including his own. The fragility of life is emphasised in the poem, as well as the fleeting nature of it in the face of the wider, natural world.
The town, the churchyard, and the setting sun, The clouds, the trees, the rounded hills all seem, Though beautiful, cold — strange — as in a dream I dreamed long ago, now new begun.
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