Analysis Of A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning

The loss of loved one is a tragic event in one’s life that causes a deep feeling of depression, but through his letter, Shaw does not express this. Through his diction and use of detail, Shaw conveys a peaceful and at times, comical attitude towards the passing of his mother.

Infant mortality is a major issue the world struggles with. Today, with advances in medicine and technology, the infant mortality rate decreases every year. However, in the past and in other developing countries, access to resources necessary to having and raising a healthy child are not available. In the article “Death Without Weeping”, the author, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, discusses about her time spent at Alto do Cruzeiro, Brazil. Hughes goes on to explain why the infant mortality rate was high in Alto do Cruzeiro. She also discusses how the women and children are treated in the community.

Similarly, the phrase ‘the next moment, you are no longer there’ is perhaps suggesting that he was shocked at seeing her go so suddenly. However, the fact that when she next reappears she is ‘perfectly framed shows us that the joy of seeing her after thinking she has gone for good is a surprise to him. ‘Fragrant survivors of last night’s frost’ shows us that the flowers are strong, which is a suggestion that their love is strong. In the fourth verse the phrase ‘my heart misses a beat at love for you’ shows us that the love was so intense that time seemed to stop too. ‘Knowing a time will come when you are no longer there’ shows us that he is not looking forward to that time and that he knows it is inevitable. ‘Meanwhile let us make sure we clasp each shared moment’ shows us that he wants to make sure they use their time together wisely, and ‘in cupped hands, like water we dare not spill’ shows us they know that their time together is precious.

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

Abstractly, it almost seems as though the other characters in the book look down on his for this not because he is not mourning, but rather because he is not mourning in the way they are. This sheds light on the overall theme of the novel, that of people being cast out of society because their views and methods do not line up with the accepted ways of society.

The theme of parental mourning has been a universal one throughout the centuries. In the literature on bereavement, writers repeat certain themes, thoughts, and reflections; they talk of the powerful and often conflicting emotions involved in "the pain of grief and the

According to Worden’s Four Tasks of Mourning, when someone loses a loved one to death, there are certain things that need to be accomplished before the person can move on with life. Worden suggests that there are four stages that needs to be completed before someone could successfully mourn. Each of the stages that are described seem to correlate with the mourning process that Mitch experienced. The first stage is to accept the reality of the loss. Due to Mitch experiencing anticipatory grief, once he realized that death is inevitable, he began to express his feelings about the death and dying process, and then agreed to meet every Tuesday because he knew that Morrie would die soon. Once Morrie actually died, Mitch

When a loved when is gone it feels like a hole in the world. With much grief he says, “Never again will anyone inhabit the world the way he did. Questions I have can never now get answers. The world is emptier. My son is gone. Only a hole remains, Avoid, a gap, never to be filled”(33). This phrase describes his emotions and how he views the world without his son. The author gives advice on what to say to someone who is mourning. He says to never say its Ok because its never okay and death is awful. “ What I need to hear from you is that you recognize how painful it is. I need to hear from you that you are with me in my desperation” (34). When some passes away no one really knows what his or her loved ones are feeling because each death is unique and each person is different. The wisest of words don’t even make the pain go away, and all that can be done is lending an ear to listen, a shoulder to lean on.

To fully understand the causes and particularly the effects that bereavement can have on someone’s life, especially if you have been fortunate to not have been touched with the experience, will help with understanding what someone is going through and how it can alter their behavior. The intensity in which someone experiences their loss of a person is dependent on the closeness of the relationship and the suddenness of the passing, even religion amongst many other factors. “The way a person

The poem "The Race" from The Father by Sharon Olds utilizes imagery, repetition, and personification. The author portrays a poem of a daughter who is trying to get home to her ill father. Throughout the poem the author utilize descriptive details to allude the readers the experience the young woman was passing through in order to reach her father. The poem utilizes repetition to convey to the reader about the events that she was passing through in order to reach her father. Lines 1-5 "When I got to the airport I rushed up to the desk, bought a ticket, ten minutes later they told me the flight was cancelled,the doctors had said my father would not live through the night and the flight was cancelled.

These sections allow for a change in emotion as each represents a separate part of the ‘homecoming’: Saigon describes the packaging of the bodies and how the soldiers are zipped up in green plastic bags; the flight represents the travel home, which metaphorically could also be their souls to heaven; and the third section is the arrival of the bodies in Australia. The use of pronouns gives the first two sections an emotionless feel as we do not learn specific names or information about the victims. However, when the scene changes to urban Australia in the final section the emotion changes to grief and regret for the families. The emotion of the speaker is indicated by signature language, the poet describing how “telegrams tremble like leaves from a wintering tree” and “small towns where dogs in the frozen sunset raise muzzles in mute salute”. Comparing the telegrams fluttering to the ground to leaves falling from a tree in winter reinforces our assumption of the tragic news contained within the telegrams: the “wintering tree” is clearly a metaphor for death and hence we know that enclosed within the telegrams is notification of the soldiers’ demise. Equally moving is the reference to man’s best friend mourning its loss, the poet describing how the dogs respectfully acknowledge the precious

To the married couple there was something different about the date. “This date means more than any other date ever meant; because it’s the year when things are as they are all over the world and that’s why it’s the end” (Bradbury 3). Bradbury’s theme throughout the short story was long-standing in regards of acceptance. The married couple tried to find a justification for it being the last night of the world but they did not argue against it. That night, the married couple spent their last few hours together. The husband asked, “Do you want to cry?” (Bradbury 4), the wife answered, “I don’t think so” (Bradbury 4). Through this Bradbury was able to portray certainty that both characters knew and understood that fear was not presented upon the last night of the world. Bradbury also allowed the married couple to understand that although the world was ending the two have been good to each other. Through this, Bradbury gave the married couple comfort as they kissed each other goodnight on their last night of the world. All the events Bradbury incorporated throughout the short story allowed the married couple to accept they could not change the outcome nor include their feelings into the last night of the

Both the “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson contain age-old themes. These themes focus on inevitable feelings and events of life; love and death. Although both “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” contain the two themes, they differ greatly in how they are presented and what they represent. In “Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” a husband traveling away from his wife is consoling her.

Grief and its effects is considered in this paper with the purpose of better understanding how it affects a person. Grief is a natural reaction to loss and change which affects all aspects of a person’s life: the physical, emotional, psychological, behavioral, and spiritual. Grief is not expected but will be experienced in a variety of ways such as experienced, sudden, gradual or anticipated. While most people will experience loss at one time in their lives, not everyone responds in the same way or goes through the same process to recover and heal.

The poem that I have selected for this essay is “Talking to Grief” by Denise Levertov. I chose this poem because it talks about grief. It also talks about the place that grief should have in a person’s life. The poem describes grief, and compares it to a “homeless dog.” It also describes how a dog deserves its own place in the house, instead of living under a porch or being homeless. This poem talks about how a person can be aware that grief is present, but that it is not always acknowledged and accepted. We all experience grief in different ways, and for different reasons. Everyone deals with grief in their own personal way. This poem describes a point in a person’s life when they are ready to accept grief as a part of their life