The Positive Perceptions of Death - Book Report/Review Example

The Perception of 'Death' A Comparison of Four American Romantics No one knows whether death may not even turn out to be the greatest blessings of human beings. And yet people fear it as if they knew for certain it is the greatest evil. Socrates Introduction American romantic poets of the nineteenth century were filled with fresh ideas regarding nature, and man's personality based on innate goodness. Spontaneity, naturalness, and individual viewpoints came to be celebrated as a manifestation of the divine spirit. Individualism among the romantics can also be identified easily, in the different ways in which they contemplated death. Emotions ranging from pure awe, to sheer fright and hatred can be felt in their depiction of death. While some poets have preferred to see death as a gateway to immortality, and eternity; some others have illustrated it as the harbinger of darkness and mystery, eerie and the unknown. Thus, individualism is the common link in the poems of the four poets Bryant, Whitman, Poe and Dickenson. Whereas the poems of the first three were filled with optimism and love for nature, Poe's were filled with conflicts, darkness, loneliness, and negative contexts (Parkes 274). This essay shall analyze the concept of death and afterlife as depicted in the poems of the American romantic poets. It shall argue that the poets viewed death or 'ceasing to exist here' as a transit-phase, an entry into something beyond, which was eternal and deathless by nature. The essay shall take into account the poems of four American romantic poets, William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), Edgar Allen Poe (1809-49), Walt Whitman (1819-1892), and Emily Dickinson (1830-86). Quoting appropriate lines from their poems, the essay shall also show that, Poe's verses hold the same ideas as the others, although his negative portrayal of death is in contrast to the positive images of death as depicted by others. The Positive Perceptions of Death The optimism of Bryant, Whitman, and Dickenson is all too evident their visualization of death too. Though death as a possibility has been considered by Bryant in many of his poems, "Thanatopsis" is probably his most famous poem on death. The title can be roughly understood as 'meditation on death,' and is derived from the Greek word 'Thanatos' - death. Death according to Bryant, is nature's way of letting him know that his present form of existence is over, and is to undergo change, "Thine individual being, shalt thou go / To mix forever with the elements, / To be a brother to the insensible rock" (Bryant lines 26-8). The body disintegrates in death, only to regain its original elemental form from which it was made. Moreover, in death, he shall join the illustrious company of those who were great and dead, "with kings, / The powerful of the earth-the wise, the good" (Bryant lines 35-6). And those who outlive him, shall also join him soon because everyone has to die. Taking a pragmatic view of death, Bryant, drives the message that it was better to live life to the full "So live.." (Bryant line 74). Rather than grieve over death "Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night" it was better to be prepared to go gracefully, when the call comes, "Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch / About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." (Bryant lines 81-2). Another of Bryant's poem, "Hymn To Death" too lauds death as "Deliverer!" as one who has been ordained by God to humble the powerful, "God hath anointed thee to free the oppressed / And crush the oppressor" (lines 34-5). These lines inherently denote that death delivers them from the state of being limited by mortality, into a state of unlimited eternity or deathlessness. Similar to Bryant's positive and pragmatic view of death, is Walt Whitman's conception of death. Whitman's "Song of Myself" is probably the most revealing of all his poems regarding his thoughts on life, death, nature, good and evil. In this poem he explicates that all things, however big or small, good or bad, all are of equal importance to him. It seems as if he is embarking on a journey of philosophical thought in this poem, wherein he ponders over the question asked by a child "What is the grass" (Whitman line 99). He finds it awesome to describe his experience of how each sight, minute sound, mildest taste, and the faintest smell can become spiritually significant, to a poet-realized soul or an aware person like himself. Death is no more stunning or less important than life itself to him. He describes the scene wherein death pervades the place "suicide sprawls on the bloody floor I witness the corpse with its dabbled hair" (lines 152-3) in the same tone as he describes life, as seen in a flock of birds "The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night" (line 245). He states that for him, the cycles of life and death are continuous "the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow" (line 404) and thus he knows his eternal nature (as a part of the Universal Spirit), "I know I am deathless. I exist as I am, that is enough" (lines 406-13). As mentioned by the poet himself, this positive indifference towards the life and death, stems from his knowledge/reading of Hindu scriptures (lines 1100 - 10); they state that, a truly enlightened person perceives life and death as equal and equitable (Bhagavad-Gita Chapters I - XVIII). Whitman, a romantic and a well-known transcendentalist, is unruffled by death "And as to you Death, and you bitter hug of mortality, it is idle to try to alarm me" (line 1287), since he claims to know his true nature of being deathless and a part of the eternal cycle that repeats itself. Emily Dickenson, one of the few most popular women romantics, also likes to romanticize death, as a kindly lover, as a chivalrous gentleman and the like. Dickenson has also contemplated the concept of death in many a poem; she acknowledges that death does leave some pain behind, in the memories of the living. However, she offers a fresh perspective of death in one of her poems - she muses that some people stated living only after their death, meaning that their lives were so lifeless and dull (poem 816 "A Death-Blow is a Life-Blow to some"). However, her enchantment with death is best portrayed in the poem "Because I could not stop for Death" (poem 712), where she personifies death as a "kindly" gentleman (line 2). She indicates that she is so impressed by his "civility" that she decided to push aside her "labor;" he is chivalrous, and takes care enough to ride slowly for her, make her journey smooth (lines 5-8). Dickenson paints a very rosy and romantic picture of death, as though it was a date out with a young man, in this poem. She further describes how they pass through school, where children play, and then field of fully ripe grains, and then twilight as the sun sets, all symbolizing the gradual progress of life from childhood to old age (lines 9-12). The event of death and the rituals associated with death also add to the image, as is seen in her reference to becoming "quivering and chill" in a "gossamer...gown" while passing into a "house" which was a "swelling of the ground" meaning grave (lines 13-20). In the last stanza of the poem, she completes her vivid imagery of traveling with death, stating that she very much enjoyed it; furthermore, because they were actually traveling into eternity - which is never-ending, she felt that the centuries that had lapsed since she set out on her journey with death, were 'shorter than the day" (lines 21-24). It is thus clear that Dickenson not only viewed death in a positive light, she also went further than the other two poets, and romanticized death as a 'kindly' gentleman who escorted her "toward eternity" (line 24). Poe's Darkness of Death Poe, as mentioned earlier, focused on exploring the individual as bundle of emotional contradictions, wherein strong but unseen forces, such as death, tear one apart, and lead one into isolation and despair (Adapted from Parkes 274). Death, in Poe's verses, is rather a harbinger of sorrow, sadness and suffering, and is eternal; there is no escape from this state of damnation. Many poems of Poe have the subtle undercurrent of death and its morbid power depicted in them, like for example, "Lenore" wherein the guilt of murder of his young, rich, but sick wife, haunts a young man, tormenting him and condemning him to sorrow; however, the strength of the supernatural dark forces are best illustrated in his poem "The Raven." Death has already saddened him by snatching his dear wife 'Lenore;' in this poem, the spirit of his dead wife, seems to come back just to torture him, in the forma of a raven. He spins his tale of how the raven appeared when the poet was dreaming, dreary and sleepless, in the mystery of a midnight one December. The words "darkness," "doubting, dreaming," "mystery" "whisper" and so on he paints an image of the raven as a spirit, from the mysterious, unknown, dark realm of death and afterlife, "By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore" (Poe line 44). Furthermore, the raven seemed to warn him that his state of sorrow was eternal, since every time he tried to console himself that the bird shall soon leave him it cried the refrain "nevermore" (lines 60-72). Death, it appears in Poe's world of dark romanticism, led him into an eternal spell of sorrow, pushing him into emotional and intellectual death, from which there was no redemption or escape. Thus he cries that the raven was a "Prophet!... thing of evil - prophet still, if bird or devil" (line 91). That he viewed death as a gateway to eternal sorrow is clear in the closing lines of this poem "And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor / Shall be lifted - nevermore!" (Poe lines 107-8). Poe's perception of death was pessimistic, with connotations of a dark, evil, hidden but powerful force that wrecked human happiness with vengeance. However, he too believed death as a gateway, albeit to realms of darker despair, which was unchangeable and eternal. In this respect he had a common string of thought with the other positive romantics, in their contemplation of death. Conclusion Bryant, Whitman, Dickenson and Poe were four well American romantics, who meditated on the concept of death, in their poems. While the first three were positive about death and painted brighter images of death, Poe preferred to romanticize death as a dark power with evil intentions, which pushed human beings into misery and isolation. Though Poe differed from the other three poets in his darker perception of death, all the four poets shared a common belief that death itself was not an end. It was rather a gateway, a process which opened the doors to another state that was permanent, irreversible and eternal. This underlying common link, amidst the obvious differences in their thoughts of death, provides interesting avenues for further research in future. List of Works Cited Bhagavad-Gita. Published by Sri Jayath Lal Goenka. Gita Press, Ghorakhpur. India. (2006). Bryant, Cullen William. "Thanatopsis" Online version in PoemHunter.com Accessed on May 3, 2007. http://poemhunter.com/poem/thanatopsis/ Bryant, Cullen William. "Hymn To Death" Online version in PoemHunter.com Accessed on May 3, 2007. http://poemhunter.com/poem/hymn-to-death/ Dickenson, Emily. "Because I could Not stop for Death." An Anthology - American Literature 1890-1965, ed. Egbert S. Oliver, Eurasia Publishing House, New Delhi, 1986. p. 332. Parkes, Bamford Henry. The United States of America: A History New York Knopf, (1953): pp 274 ff. Poe, Allen Edgar. "The Raven" (1845). In An Anthology American Literature of the Nineteenth Century. Ed. Fisher Samuelson & Reninger Vaid. New Delhi. Eurasia Publishing House. pp. 190-3. Socrates. Cited in Death Quotes Online version accessed on May 3, 2007. http://www.deardeath.com/death_quotes.htm Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself" An Anthology American Literature of the Nineteenth Century. Ed. Fisher Samuelson & Reninger Vaid. New Delhi. Eurasia Publishing House. pp. 305-54. Read More