How Do The Poets In The Selection Of Pre 1914 Poems You Have Read,

How Do The Poets In The Selection Of Pre 1914 Poems You Have Read,

Present Different Attitudes To Death? Which Do You Find Most

Convincing? What Influences Their Views?

Different people have different attitudes to death. Some are afraid,

some don't care. A difference of opinion is definitely shown in the

selection of poems I have read. "Song" and "Remember" by Christina

Rossetti suggest that she is not too bothered about death. It seems

that Christina Rossetti sees death as the end, whereas William

Wordsworth who wrote "We are Seven" has the attitude that love carries

on and is remembered after death. Although " We are Seven" takes on a

childish, almost stubborn view, the point it makes is, death cannot

separate people. "Two of us in the church-yard lie, my sister and my

brother, and in the church-yard cottage I dwell near them with my

mother."

Personally, I think Christina Rossetti's poems are most convincing as

she has expressed her opinions in a realistic way. This is closely

followed by "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshee Shelley, because using a

metaphor has generalised what most people think about death. I think

William Wordsworth's poem "We are Seven" is less convincing as it is

very childish " The little maid would have her will" to me, this gives

the picture of a spoilt child refusing to back down until she gets her

own way! This may have been done on purpose, but it is not convincing

to the adult reader because by the time you approach your adult years

you are more mature and your views have been moulded by society to a

certain extent.

After reading the poems, I cannot see a specific pattern in which they

all follow, although there is more than one category that the poems

fall into. For example "Remember" by Christina Rossetti and

"Ozymadias" by Percy Byshee Shelley are sonnets (a traditional form of

love poetry) and "At Home" and "Song" by Christina Rossetti and "We

are seven" by William Wordsworth seem to be telling a story, or giving

instructions. "When I am dead, my dearest, sing no sad songs for me"

"We are seven is broken up into many stanza's, each stanza developing

and moving on from the previous one. It also has a definite end, which

all stories have. Christina Rossetti and Percy Byshee Shelley used the

sonnet form to write a poem about death, as the poems were for a lover

as opposed to about a lover. This still links the traditional subject

of love sonnets and these two unique sonnets about death.

In "We are seven" by William Wordsworth the little girl doesn't want