Life&Death

"Death is a mirror which reflects the van gesticulations of the living. Death defines life;a death depicts a life immutable forms; we do not change except to disappear." 

                             - ("Day of the Dead", page 54, Octavio Paz) 

The day of the dead passage created interesting ideas about death and life. It argued that death was only as important as we let it be and that it was simply a fact of life we must accept. I thought of many other poets that had written about dealing with death. Surprisingly, I realized that two of my all time favorite poems are about death. These two poems are "Anna Bell Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe  and "Because Death Could Not Stop for Me" by Emily Dickinson. I love these poems for two separate reasons. I love the Emily Dickinson poem because of the extremely solemn and tranquil way she approaches death in her poem.

"He kindly stopped for me –  The Carriage held but just Ourselves –  And Immortality. We slowly drove – He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure"

Jackson talks about death almost as an old friend that is bringing her to a casual lunch. 

I love the Poe poem because it does not describe death as a friend but rather as a conquerable enemy. Poe acknowledges that while death may have separated him and his beloved wife for a while, their love is still as strong as ever. 

I wondered what made these famous poets take such different approaches to death. 

I think it comes down to what each persons experience with death is. Dickinson is famously known for having had mental issues. Her issues may have made death appear like rest and relaxation. Poe's relationship with death was a close one. He constantly thought and wrote about it. It was familiar and he felt he knew it well enough that his love could conquer it. 

Paz, Dickinson, and Poe offer different words about death but I feel that their experiences all bring familiarity to death which is why none of them really fear it. Perhaps the reason people fear death so much is simply because so many people have such little experience with it.