...life altering events that everyone can expect to endure are love and death. They go hand in hand as they are both common elements used in literature, TV and movies, and music. Either of the two can drastically change a person, both positively or negatively. Both love and death are two elements that every human, every organism, can relate to. We have all witnessed love in one aspect or another- from relationships, to simple pleasures like enjoying your favorite meal. We have also all seen death at some point- people we love, people we didn’t know we loved until it was too late, and all around us in nature. These two aspects of life are fundamental aspects of life. Love is a multifunctional emotion. It can show adoration towards people, places, pets and even inanimate objects. You can also have love for senses- the taste of something, sounds, the way something smells, even the way something feels in your hand. You can experience love anywhere, at any given time. It can be expressed in billions of ways, from a simple, compassionate smile towards a stranger, to much deeper intimacies with a significant other. Love can be a state of mind, in which you show compassion to everyone and everything around you, but goes much deeper than that. People who love the hardest and who have the most open of hearts are usually the ones who have been hurt and broken down the most, and yet they will still put themselves on the line. Love is an equal opportunist and has an effect on everyone in one...
Words: 560 - Pages: 3
...Tilar Bell Allen ENGL 2202 3/19/2015 Death Is Not the End of Love Alice Dunbar Nelson was an influential African American teacher, poet, essayist, social activist, journalist and feminist in the late 19th century. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana she graduated from both high school and college and traveled often throughout her life. Best known for her shorts fictional stories more so than her poetry, influences on the Harlem Renaissance, and political and social activism, Alice Dunbar Nelson had many achievements within the African American community as well as in her literature. Her writings addressed women’s roles in society, intra-racial prejudice, and education, issues of identity, racism, love and sexuality. Also her popular yet chaotic marriage to Paul Laurence Dunbar was widely known and somewhat added to her writing career. Alice Dunbar Nelson experienced two additional failed marriages in her lifetime. Later in her life she wrote less as she became more active in political causes. Alice Dunbar Nelson died in 1935 at age sixty of heart failure. Many of her writings highlighted the life experiences and emotions of African American women in her time. Alice Dunbar Nelson’s first book Violets and Other Tales was one of her earliest works; a collection of short stories and poems. This book was published in 1895 in Boston when she was just twenty years old. Although the book has multiple writings, “Violets” will be the focus of this poem analysis. “Violets” within...
Words: 1780 - Pages: 8
...Love and Death in Keats’ “La Belle Dame Sans Merci ------------------------------------------------- Hereby I certify that the essay conforms to the international copyright and plagiarism rules and regulations. ------------------------------------------------- Student’s signature: Ditti Kovács Boglárka Kiss British Literary Seminar 05 May 2013 Ditti Kovács Boglárka Kiss British Literary Seminar 2013.05.05. Love and Death in Keats’ “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” In poetry the most important things are to express feelings and to tell a story. Obviously most of the time these poems are about life, death, the meaning of life, love, but it can also tell a complete story. Throughout the history, basically every poet has written about love and death. Because of the fact that these themes surround our whole life, it is not surprising that these topics have an impact on people’s mind, and they have to deal with these in a way, and poetry is perfect for this. People have always been interested in the question of death, the unfulfilled love and suffering, and because of the fact that these feelings are related to every people in the world somehow, these poems, which deal with these themes, are considered to be the most beautiful ones. These works can be understood easily, and readers can feel close to the poet’s feelings. In the early 19th century, in Europe, people became interested in the folk roots of literature. Poets want to show the natural, ancient state...
Words: 1947 - Pages: 8
...Shakespeare examines the theme of love. Undoubtedly, he draws upon the wealth of experience in allowing the audience to experience various types of love personified. In his play Shakespeare reveals that love is a complex emotion hovered over an evil cloud of death, is confusing when loved at first sight and is the partner of death.The theme of love in this play is illustrated through the use of cacophony, imagery and metaphor, rhyming couplet and first person. These techniques reveal to the audience how Romeo and Juliet’s love was doomed from the start. The first scene in which love is explored is in the prologue. The quote “death marked love” is portrayed through the technique of cacophony.The effect of cacophony puts a harsh and discrete sound pattern in the reader’s mind and in this case the letters are d, th, m, and rk. The imagery or metaphor stained shows that their love will end in grief and ultimately death. introducing this quote from the beginning expresses that their love was doomed from the start and wasn’t meant to be. The adjective ‘marked’ shows us...
Words: 753 - Pages: 4
...so after his death. Poe once said, “The death of a beautiful woman is the most poetic topic in the world”, that’s “Annabel Lee.” The poem is about a beautiful, but painful memory. The speaker of the poem is remembering his long-lost love, Annabel Lee. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are envious. He retains his love for her even after her death. The poem has since become one of Poe’s most popular works. “Annabel Lee’ follows Poe’s favorite theme, the death of a beautiful woman, which Poe called “the most poetical topic in the world”. The love between the narrator and “Annabel Lee” is so strong and beautiful and pure that even after her death, the love remains alive, eternal, because the souls of the lover remain united. Poe begins the poem by painting a romantic and fairy tale story, telling us that the story we are about to hear happened “many a year ago”. Akin to a fairy story, the author takes us to a kingdom by the sea that existed in the remote past, when both he and his beloved Annabel Lee were (Poe line 1-4) It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; In stanza two, Poe tells us about the mature love he and Annabel Lee share, even though they are just children. By using climax, which is a Poe specialty, the story takes a dark turn when the angels become jealous of their love and result in...
Words: 1061 - Pages: 5
...LOVE In Romeo and Juliet, love is definitely one of the dominant themes but it differs in its forms. There are various types of love throughout the play; such as in the beginning of the play where Romeo displays a more childish and superficial love for Rosaline. This changed very quickly as soon he became infatuated with this irrational love he felt for Juliet. The play is filled with intense passion and romantic gestures between the individuals and it focuses on the romantic love surrounding them. Throughout the play, love is portrayed as an overpowering and controlling emotion that's overtakes all other loyalties or values that they may have previously cared for. The love that Romeo and Juliet shared consumed them completely, but it was also very hasty and rushed. There were many different manifestations of love in this play; such as physical, passionate and spiritual. Family and friends were being pushed away as the two lovers became engulfed with one another and this was when problems arose. Juliet spoke ‘deny thy father and refuse thy name, or if thou wit not, be but sworn my love, and ill no longer be a Capulet’. Her undying devotion to Romeo soon became an overpowering force in which she began to ignore all common sense and rational thoughts. The love in this play was not a pretty, idealized emotion that always ended perfectly, though it was always intimate and passionate. But with that passion came new obstacles and problems for themselves and the people surrounding...
Words: 692 - Pages: 3
...Theme Layers: Many themes are present throughout Romeo and Juliet. One that is most relevant is love as a cause of violence. Some examples of this occurring are the deaths of Romeo, Juliet, Paris, Tybalt, and Mercutio. None of these deaths would have occurred without love or passion. Romeo and Juliet fell in love at first at first sight and sacrificed their life for their love. Romeo wanting to see Rosaline lead to him going to the party, which is where downfall of the story occurs with the many deaths. If Romeo had never gone to the party, Tybalt would have never had a reason to kill Romeo. Love was the cause of violence when Romeo crashed the Capulet’s party. Romeo went to the party because of his love of Rosaline. At the party, Romeo and...
Words: 590 - Pages: 3
...The Love and Grief of the speaker for Annabel Lee Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” is one of his most famous and well-loved poems and contains themes that appear in many of Poe’s work, such as the death and burial of a beautiful woman, undying love, and deification of her memory. It was written in 1849 and was published shortly only after Poe’s death that same year. Aside from “The Raven”, “Annabel Lee” as Brod Bagert stated is marked by a deep sadness over the loss of a loved one (4). Seeing as the structure of the poem is almost as if someone were telling a story, the audience may very well be any attentive group of listeners, listening to a love story. In the poem, the speaker is an individual love-struck by Annabel Lee. The poem's speaker describes his love and the love he shares with Annabel Lee, which began many years ago in a so-called "kingdom by the sea". Though they were young, their love for one another burned with such an intensity that as the speaker tells even the powerful forces such as death can’t keep him and Annabel Lee apart. The poem, as Dawn Sova noted recounts a love so powerful that even the angels feel envious of the bond, which transcends death and overcomes both human and cosmic forces that seek to “dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee”. (25) Every day, so overrun by grief and love, the individual (the speaker) goes into the grave of his Annabel Lee by the sea to lie down with her. Who is Annabel Lee? Let us find out...
Words: 2441 - Pages: 10
...There are three main concepts within the short story. Pride, love and death. Pride; there’s not much to say. Brother ends up doing anything to Doodle for his own pride. Brother has done actions for his own pride instead of doing it for Doodle’s well-being. When Brother and Doodle showed Mama, Daddy and aunt Nicey that Doodle can walk brother thought, “They did not know that I did it for myself, that pride.” When Brother taught Doodle how to walk he did it for his own pride. Little did Doodle know Brother wasn’t...
Words: 436 - Pages: 2
...Romeo and Juliet Love is one of the most powerful human experiences. It is what makes life most worth living and it has started wars and destroyed families. There are many forms in love; universal, romantic, religious, erotic, platonic, friendly, brotherly, familial love, etc. But, what was Romeo and Juliet’s type love? Romeo and Juliet's love is romantic love which is “the highest expression of spiritual longings, the source of feelings that reach an unparalleled depth and intensity. The key to this notion is the idea of love as a function of "sympathetic imagination," the capacity to enter into another's feelings, enabling the move toward a basic unity of self and other.”(Source D) In the play Romeo and Juliet, the theme of love was the reason for the many decisions made. William Shakespeare portrays just how serious, even dangerous, love can be and how a huge role it played throughout the story in time, decision making, and even death. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, time plays a crucial part in Romeo and Juliet's love. Everywhere in the book everyone is always rushing. “Haste” is the word that was constantly used; meaning swiftness, speed, or quickness. You would even say that Romeo and Juliet’s marriage was rushed. For example: “Then plainly...
Words: 1658 - Pages: 7
...comes to love. These themes can make people in love reach high, however sometimes they can also lead to their ruin. The actions which come from fate, chance, and free will can be drastic when it comes to love, and because of this the outcome can vary from happily ever after to tragedy. In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare fate, chance, and free will play a major role throughout the tragic love story. Not only are these themes seen all through the play but they are particularly seen in their deaths. Fate was a main theme in the play including their deaths. There are multiple examples of fate having a hand in their deaths. One example of fate leading to their deaths is that they were fated to meet and fall in love, however due to their families feud their love was fated to not work out. This means that from the beginning their love was doomed to fail, since they loved each other more than anything else the only way for it to fail would be for them to die. Another example would be that once Juliet took the sleepy potion...
Words: 656 - Pages: 3
...Moreover, in Kawabata’s novels, he explores sensuality and death. In Thousand Cranes, Kawabata presents themes that are twisted yet perverse. The story involves incest, eroticism, and unrequited love. Charged sexual energy, guilt, and dread warp the characters into caricatures of the optimistic adolescents that they were at the beginning of the novel. Throughout the novel, Kawabata capitalizes on dramatic sexuality and death (). In “The Izu Dancer,” the main character, a young man who is eerily similar to Kawabata, idealizes a fledgling dancer that he encounters, neglecting to acknowledge the grotesqueness that peeks from behind her flirtatious mask (). The story ends on a bitter note; the main character parts from the dancer, echoing...
Words: 1086 - Pages: 5
...There are many themes in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet; the most important themes are love, death and grief. These themes are displayed in the play in a number of scenes and incidents. Romeo and Juliet is the most famous and oldest recorded love story in the English literary tradition. Love is naturally the play’s dominant and most important theme this play may be over 400 years old but, is still relevant today due to popular and common themes in modern times. Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet is about two teenagers who fall in love at first sight, but is forbidden and unrequited because the two families (Capulet and Montague) are feuding. The lack of communication between the two in this play leads to both of the lovers taking their own lives so they can be eternally together. Love is unsurprisingly the play’s most overriding and most significant theme. The love that Shakespeare ultimately portrays in the play is a youthful lust that the kind of love that Romeo and Juliet display leads the star crossed lovers to enact a selfish isolation from their parent’s demands and expectations around them. Romeo and Juliet avoid their commitments to anyone else and choose to act selflessly only towards one another. Romeo and Juliet’s youthful lust is one of many reasons why their relationship grows so intense so quickly. Throughout the play, Shakespeare only describes Romeo and Juliet's love as a short-term burst of youthful passion. In most of his work, considering that no other relationships...
Words: 456 - Pages: 2
...chieftest mourner The story is all about the death of the narrator's uncle. It is a story with a focal point focused on love and innocence in the context of death. At the establishing point of the story, the first story lines already shows a tint of innocence and simplicity but the gloomy tone of the story is already felt. The situation is just a very typical scenario in the Philippines but through the writer's prolific used of diction and imagery a common situation is turned into something new - a work of art. As you look at it, the plot is so simple. But what will move most of the readers is the author's command of language and smooth flow of situations. In economic terms, the reader can easily predict that the characters are somehow wealthy considering that the narrator, who happens to be the niece of the dead poet is boarding at the big girls' college in Manila, the presence of a conference room and the regular use of Spanish language. These are matters that only well-off families can afford and practiced. The story is so culture bounded and is so reflective of our society. Some reflective traits are the delicadeza system being practiced, the unfaithfulness of husbands, presence of gossipers, scandals in public and ridiculous funeral set-up with two different camps in opposite sides. A minimal Spanish colonialism practices is also being reflective in the story through the practiced of delicadeza system and the regular used of Spanish language. Along the way, the reader can...
Words: 4066 - Pages: 17
...Anthony livingston Dr.Lemaster Final paper 05/02/14 Diversity of Love Love can be an intensive feeling of lust from one individual to another, as well as an obsession that leads to people doing unusual things. The different types of love conveyed between the stories “A rose for Emily” and “Hamlet and Ophelia” are over compassionate ties and misleading love associations. Between these two stories the true dimensions portrayed of love are both ordinary and extreme. Once reading these books a reader can conclude that love itself can make you do some crazy things. “A rose for Emily” is a fictional analysis of horror or gothic tales between an over protective father, a psychotic spoiled daddy’s girl, and her lover. The relationship shown here between the girl and her father can be perceived as a typical father-daughter scenario played into today’s society. As most fathers, Emily’s dad never saw anyone up to his standards for his beloved daughter. With this being said Emily was never allowed to date or find a man’s love beyond her father’s. This put her in a distressful emotional state when she had to come to terms with her father passing away. Emily was an extremely over-bearing individual when it came to love. Her family and father had always been highly overrated people. They looked at other human-beings who did not fit their upbringings as “outsiders” and below them. In this narrative, the citizens of the town which Emily resides in are very judgmental when it comes...
Words: 1361 - Pages: 6
