Attitudes to mortality - Relationship and comparison between texts.

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Attitudes to mortality

Relationship and comparison between texts

 

Mortality is defined as state of being subject to death and it means that all men are mortal and that no can escape death if it concerns a human. The words origin comes from the late English through the old French from Latin mortalitas, with ‘mort’ meaning death. The following poems deal with mortality in different ways, but all showing that death is unavoidable and that often it can influence other people.

 

Death be not proud by John Donne

The voice of this poem personifies death talking to death as if it’s a person and throughout the poem has an argument revealing his feeling and insulting death, making this speech a very dramatic monologue.

        The poem begins by contradicting death’s authority, showing that he isn’t afraid of death and that death isn’t as powerful as it seems

“ Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so”

“ Die not poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me,” is a peculiar concept to understand therefore deliberately arouses the reader’s curiosity, making this poem interesting as the poet is challenging death.

Donne continues by giving a reflection of death, which is the state while we are asleep and also gives an image of being dead. He explains that death takes away the good people who die young and along with them their body and their soul is delivered to heaven, which is part of Christian belief. Donne mocks death even more when he calls death “ a slave of Fate, chance, kings and desperate man.”

 This implies that death can only exist through these factors and without them death is weak and would have no control. By saying this he means that death is unfortunate one as he is to exist alongside poison, war and sickness. Form that point on he puts down death in a way that shows that death isn’t all mighty as people and other means can easily imitate death as they can give that appearance of being dead, in fact he says that these means achieve this a lot better than death’s “stroke”. Donne gives this impression by asking death,

“Why swell’st thou then,” showing death that shouldn’t be so proud of what he does. The last two lines portray the other part of the Christian belief in this poem. He says that it takes only a short period of time until “we wake eternally,” indicating heaven. The last line in particular has a great significance to Christian because when he states that there will be no more death eventually and so is referring to Christ’s death. Since Christ died, he defeated death by rising again, as this shows that there is something after death and that death isn’t the end and so explains the last sentence, “Death thou shalt die”

He shows this traditional belief in a cunning way by not once mentioning Jesus or his death, but many people would understand this type of approach. Because of his method this poem is a very intriguing and thoughtful since this poem basically entails the whole Christian belief, which he seems to shares.

Overall this poem is a very confident poem as it shows the strength of religious influence was especially in that period giving people hope and also make them think about death in an interesting way.

Lines on the death of Mr. Levett by Johnson

This poem describes the life and contribution of a man, Levett, what he meant to people, how they are affected. His profession was very like that of a doctor. Unlike Donne’s poem he focuses on one aspect of the effect of death, in this case on one person whereas Donne wrote about death in general.

        The poem begins by explaining that we live in hope and that sooner or later everything we treasure, “social comforts” will eventually leave. In this poem Johnson implies that the social comforts include people, friends. He refers to Mr. Levett, making this verse the introduction, showing at the same time that this poem has personal meaning as well, but it also gives a general statement about living in society, shown in the first verse,

“As on we toil from day to day.”

        Then he describes the nature of Mr. Levett, revealing that everyone who knew him liked, probably admired and respected him, which Johnson writes in the second verse,

“Of ev’ry friendless name the friend.

        In verse three Johnson further explains Levett’s personality of which part is his good qualities, which he calls “unrefined”, meaning rough, because he wasn’t a cultured aristocrat. He suggests that Mr. Levett was still a good man without the noble qualities, which often define the meaning of a ‘good man’

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        Mr. Levett was someone who was always prepared when someone needed help. Johnson uses the term “Nature”, which is personified, meaning human race. When someone was desperately ill and was nearly dying, Levett was able to cure people with his remedies, which worked well, without boasting or showing off. He says this in verse three,

“The pow’r of art without the show”

  In this verse Johnson dramatises the fact that ill people were on the verge of dying, by personifying death and so illustrates an image. He also uses metaphors to create this effect such as the one ...

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