Life and Death

‹ 8 · Outline · 10 ›

9.Mourning, funeral rites and remembrance

9a.Grief for the dead and the bond with them

See also: Emotion 6c · Love 7d · Friendship 9c · Family 6c

Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22

• p. 48Uncertainty whether Odysseus is alive or dead; man soon tires of lamentation.read · scan
• p. 149Odysseus asks whether disease or Artemis slew his mother; she died of grief.read · scan

Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44

• p. 5–6Respecting death and recalling forefathers strengthens the good in men.read · scan
• p. 33Yen Yuan's death leaves the Master crying that Heaven has undone him.read · scan

Euripides, HippolytusVol. 8

• p. 367The death of great men leaves a bitter cry from a mourning nation.read · scan

Buddhist WritingsVol. 45

• p. 635–636The Buddha's imminent passing into Nirvana is mourned as the vanishing of the Light of the World.read · scan

Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9

• p. 42–44Old age and brevity of remaining life make grief for the dead friend bearable.read · scan

Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13

• p. 355Evander thinks he has lived too long beyond nature's goal and burying his son is unnatural; he waits only for vengeance.read · scan

Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9

• p. 282–283Grief at a great man's absence and the dead's swift forgetting by heirs.read · scan

Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2

• p. 259–260Mourning at tombs is ridiculous; the dead are unaware, not made immortal, and the body is foul matter.read · scan

Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7

• p. 48–49Friend dies of fever after recovery; to Augustine all he beheld was death.read · scan
• p. 49–50He loathed living yet feared dying, hating death that took his friend; wondered others lived.read · scan
• p. 51The death of a friend brings a huge load of misery.read · scan
• p. 51He loved one who must die as though he would never die.read · scan
• p. 139–140Verecundus's death after conversion spares them sorrow at not counting him among the faithful.read · scan
• p. 155–156Death is part of the natural condition, yet human feeling has power over him.read · scan

BeowulfVol. 49

• p. 65–66The last of his clan laments the fall of his people and dies mourning; treasure outlasts the dead.read · scan
• p. 86–87The people mourn their lifeless lord and the dragon dead beside him, ending their earth-hall joys.read · scan

The Song of RolandVol. 49

• p. 180–182Karl prays for death rather than bearing such grief and hopes to lie beside the fallen.read · scan

The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49

• p. 356–357Gudrun wishes to join Sigurd among the dead.read · scan

Traditional BalladsVol. 40

• p. 106–108Murray's killing is lamented; his lady will long await his return.read · scan
• p. 112–114George Campbell's riderless horse returns, signaling his death.read · scan

Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35

• p. 134Percivale accepts his mother's death, saying all must change the life.read · scan
• p. 204Launcelot finds King Bagdemagus's tomb, mourns Gawaine's slaying, and learns of the knights' losses.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

• p. 224Utopians mourn unwilling deaths in silence but celebrate cheerful deaths with singing, honoring the departed's merry death.read · scan

Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31

• p. 104The Pope rebukes his grief: there is no remedy against death.read · scan
• p. 142The Pope dies; Cellini weeps and kisses his feet, hoping for a new patron.read · scan
• p. 364–365News that his infant son was smothered by the nurse brings his greatest grief.read · scan

Michel de Montaigne, Of FriendshipVol. 32

• p. 83–84Loss of the friend by death darkens the rest of his life.read · scan
• p. 84–85The friend's death is a ruin for both; he laments surviving.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

• p. 252The lamenter bears her body unwillingly and seeks a hidden sepulchre.read · scan

William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46

• p. 315Lear carries dead Cordelia, tests her breath with a feather, and hopes she lives amid grief.read · scan

Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47

• p. 505–509Death makes Jane poor; forget the dead, love the living.read · scan

William Drummond, PoemsVol. 40

• p. 327–328Loss of the beloved, taken from earth to tune the spheres.read · scan

Robert Herrick, PoemsVol. 40

• p. 334–336Mad maid mourns her love's grave.read · scan

Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15

• p. 344Donne longs to share his wife's grave, seeing death as a bed together.read · scan

Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15

• p. 378Donne wept and preached her funeral sermon; she rests in her quiet grave.read · scan

John Milton, Poems Written During the Civil War and the Protectorate, 1642-1658Vol. 4

• p. 86Wife rescued from death as Alcestis was, only in dream.read · scan

Abraham Cowley, PoemsVol. 40

• p. 366–368Death of the friend leaves the poet alone and weary of the world.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

• p. 159Examples of noble death touch us only when we share a bond with the dead.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48

• p. 334–335Death completes the Christian's sacrifice; father's true loss was at baptism, so mourn not like heathen without hope.read · scan

John Dryden, PoemsVol. 40

• p. 387–388Chloris can restore the dead from tombs but recalls every life but his.read · scan

Jonathan Swift, On the Death of Esther Johnson [Stella]Vol. 27

• p. 122Swift records the evening of Stella's death and begins to set down her life and character.read · scan

William Hamilton of Bangour, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 574–576Her lover lay a corpse by nightfall; her joy that day turned to mourning.read · scan
• p. 576The mourning bride is told her lover lies a corpse and heeds nothing of her sighs.read · scan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19

• p. 9The beloved dead are mourned as those whom Fate bereaved of life's fair hours.read · scan

Thomas Chatterton, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 558–559A maid mourns her dead lover lying in the grave under the willow tree; death's coldness pervades the refrain.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

• p. 364–365Mary a departed shade; lover asks where her blissful rest is.read · scan

Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26

• p. 460–461The baron dies and the household mourns.read · scan
• p. 467–468Wedding and funeral follow each other closely.read · scan

William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 600–602Grief at the grave of a child, and Matthew himself now in his grave.read · scan
• p. 602–604Aging and the loss of his dead children weigh on Matthew; the wiser mind mourns what age leaves behind.read · scan
• p. 604–606Bereavement over a friend who would have loved the picture changes his view of life.read · scan
• p. 645–647She fears he is in a dungeon, desert or drowned, and doubts communion of living and dead.read · scan
• p. 668–670Child sees death as no severance; the adult's logic that the dead are not counted is rebuffed.read · scan

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 717–719Sir Leoline finds his lady dead; each matin bell knells back to a world of death.read · scan

Charles Lamb, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 735–736Friends dead or departed; Hester's death mourned and the unknown shore hinted.read · scan

Thomas Moore, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 816–818Friends fall like leaves; the speaker feels alone in a deserted banquet-hall.read · scan
• p. 818–820The lone rose is scattered with dead companions and the speaker wishes to follow soon.read · scan

Leigh Hunt, Deaths of Little ChildrenVol. 27

• p. 286Memory of the beloved dead turns from pain into pleasure; a grave links childhood and manhood, mortality and immortality.read · scan

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17

• p. 98The mother dies and her grave becomes the place of memory.read · scan
• p. 152Snow-white falls dead and the dwarfs mourn over her bier.read · scan
• p. 195A beloved child dies and returns by night from the grave; his rest depends on the mother's tears ceasing.read · scan

Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25

• p. 449Wife's death reported: 'all is over at Abbotsford.'read · scan
• p. 449–450Scott gazes on his dead wife's altered face, which mocks life; the body is not his Charlotte.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, CompensationVol. 5

• p. 102A friend's death, though felt as privation, later proves a guide that ends an epoch and opens new growth.read · scan

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 931–932She weighs whether he would miss her if she lay dead, and chooses earth with him over heaven.read · scan

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1267–1269The departed visit the speaker at evening; the loved one is now a saint in heavenread · scan

John Greenleaf Whittier, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1338–1340Life and death rest on divine mercy; he longs for dear ones gone.read · scan

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 975–976The voice of the dead becomes living to the walker; lost loved ones.read · scan
• p. 1035–1036Death may give more life to love; he asks why love is spiced with the dust of death, which makes love dearer.read · scan
• p. 1047–1049Maud is dead; the slain man's rings and the mother's hair remind of mortality; the speaker faces his own death.read · scan

William Makepeace Thackeray, Jonathan SwiftVol. 28

• p. 8Stella's death and Swift's last five years with an impaired intellect under keepers.read · scan

Robert Browning, A Blot in the 'ScutcheonVol. 18

• p. 402Tresham dies, remembered by those he leaves.read · scan

Robert Browning, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1072–1073Love may outlast death: "What's death? You'll love me yet!"read · scan
• p. 1079–1080Old speaker mourns Evelyn's death; Galuppi's music recalls Venetians long dead.read · scan
• p. 1108–1109Speaker mourns the dead beloved; asks whether she pities him.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

• p. 39–40A death sobers the crew, bringing kindness and quiet, with a rude eulogy for the lost man.read · scan
• p. 129Child's death met with celebration instead of mourning.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23

• p. 385–386Death and change lend the past a new character.read · scan
• p. 398–400Dana stands at his friend's tomb; John's death leaves no trace, not even a known grave: 'the time that comes to all'.read · scan

Walt Whitman, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1419–1420The dead do not suffer; the living bear the suffering of loss.read · scan

William Johnson Cory, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1113–1114Mourns a dead friend; death takes all except memory; prefers sweet human life to distant heavens.read · scan

George Meredith, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1144–1145Life on death or death on life is painted; he fears her fading like the harvest, and wants her soul held from death.read · scan

Alexander Smith, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1146–1147Her death leaves him bereft; Death has told her more than the world knows.read · scan

William Morris, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1192–1193He cannot ease death's fear; the sweet days die, yet those remembered cannot be dead.read · scan

9b.Funeral rites, burial and the unburied dead

See also: Custom and Convention 8a · Honor 11a · Religion 5c · Emotion 6e

Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22

• p. 51Weeping and cutting hair are the only due paid to the dead.read · scan
• p. 146–147The unburied ghost recounts his accidental death; Odysseus weeps in compassion for his comrade.read · scan
• p. 162Elpenor's burial rites, and Circe's remark that those who went alive to Hades die twice while others die once.read · scan
• p. 260The shroud for Laertes is woven against the day death brings him low; Penelope fears blame if he lacked a winding sheet.read · scan
• p. 321Description of mourning, cremation, burial of bones and tomb for the dead hero.read · scan
• p. 327He fears his son dead at sea, denied burial rites that are the due of the departed.read · scan

Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8

• p. 23–24Warriors' remains are a light urn of ash, heavy to the soul.read · scan

Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33

• p. 42Treatment of the dead body: mourning, embalming and preservation.read · scan
• p. 42Preparation and preservation of the dead body.read · scan

Euripides, The BacchaeVol. 8

• p. 425–427Cadmus brings the dismembered body of Pentheus found on the mountain.read · scan

Plato, PhaedoVol. 2

• p. 110–111Socrates distinguishes himself from his corpse, asking Crito not to grieve or say he is buried.read · scan

Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13

• p. 128Polydore's ghost speaks from the bleeding tree; the Trojans perform funeral rites, a tomb and altars for his soul.read · scan
• p. 210Misenus lies dead, drowned by Triton, and his unburied ghost pollutes the host; funeral honors are demanded.read · scan
• p. 210The Trojans build a funeral pile, wash and mourn the body of Misenus.read · scan
• p. 210Misenus is burned, his ashes urned, and a tomb raised so his fame endures; Aeneas then goes to the underworld.read · scan
• p. 305She mourns that she could not close his eyes or give funeral rites.read · scan
• p. 355Funeral rites are the last respect the living owe the dead, shielding their shadows from contempt.read · scan

Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33

• p. 107Funeral rites are simple: pyre, arms of the dead, turf sepulchre; elaborate monuments burden the deceased.read · scan

BeowulfVol. 49

• p. 5Scyld's funeral: he is laid in a treasure-laden ship and given to the sea, mourned by his men.read · scan
• p. 15–18Beowulf foresees being devoured if he dies, sparing his host any burial.read · scan
• p. 34–36The funeral pyre consumes the slain of both peoples, whose flower is gone.read · scan
• p. 88Funeral preparations and a bier for the dead king; he will rest in the shelter of God.read · scan
• p. 88–91Beowulf is cremated on a great pyre amid mourning, and a barrow raised over his ashes and the treasure.read · scan

Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16

• p. 131–132She sickens and dies within fifty days; he buries her and has Kur'an recitations and alms performed.read · scan
• p. 145He wakes to find the second damsel beheaded and buries her secretly.read · scan

Songs from the Elder EddaVol. 49

• p. 383–386She directs the funeral burg where all who died at Sigurd's death will lie and be burned togetherread · scan
• p. 421–423Gudrun calls for a funeral pyre and for Sigurd to return from Hell; she wishes the fire to thaw her heart.read · scan

The Song of RolandVol. 49

• p. 182–184The Franks tend and embalm their dead with spices and wine.read · scan

The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49

• p. 337Brynhild dies and is burned beside Sigurd with his son and attendants in an ordered funeral pyre.read · scan

Traditional BalladsVol. 40

• p. 72–74Slain knight is devoured by scavengers or buried by the doe; death is indifferent.read · scan

Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35

• p. 159Uwaine dies of his wound, is mourned and buried as a king's son.read · scan

Amerigo Vespucci, Amerigo Vespucci's Account of His First VoyageVol. 43

• p. 28Burial customs include food and water placed at the dead man's head, without ceremonies of lamentation.read · scan

Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31

• p. 419Cellini wants a sarcophagus at Christ's feet to lie in when dead; Bandinello dies before finishing his Pietà.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

• p. 85Villagers prepare to attend the shepherd-student's death and burial with great pomp.read · scan
• p. 97Chrysostom's funeral: the shepherd's body is laid in the grave by the rock according to his testament.read · scan

John Fletcher, Aspatia's Song; MelancholyVol. 40

• p. 321–322A garland is laid on a hearse; gentle earth on a buried body.read · scan

John Webster, Call for the Robin-RedbreastVol. 40

• p. 322–323Funeral dirge asks birds and small creatures to cover the unburied dead, and keep the wolf from digging them up.read · scan

John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4

• p. 415A heroic life ended by a noble death; funeral rites and burial preparations.read · scan

Jonathan Swift, On the Death of Esther Johnson [Stella]Vol. 27

• p. 124–125Swift, too ill to attend the funeral, is moved away from the church light.read · scan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19

• p. 124–127News of death, burial at Padua and masses for the dead.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

• p. 391–392Coffins, corpses and relics of murder and gibbets displayed in the kirk.read · scan

Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 562–563The kirkyard and a child gone to her long home; the setting sun as image of a good end.read · scan

William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 612–614Ruth's broken life and foreseen burial with a Christian psalm.read · scan

Robert Surtees, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 769–770Barthram is shot, waked, mourned and buried at midnight, with a friar singing for his soul.read · scan

George Gordon, Lord Byron, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 804The brother's death and hasty shallow burial in the cave are dramatized.read · scan

Charles Wolfe, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 822–823A hasty, unceremonious nighttime burial of a fallen hero, his grave left unmarked.read · scan

Percy Bysshe Shelley, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 859–860Damp death quenches the lips and limbs of the young poet as mourners prepare him.read · scan

William Cullen Bryant, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1217–1219Speaker imagines his own grave among June flowers, wishing a pleasant burial.read · scan
• p. 1219–1221Speaker wishes a gentle summer grave, where mourning friends will linger, recalling the dead who cannot share the scene.read · scan
• p. 1223–1224Mourning at the bier of a slain leader.read · scan

John Keats, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 883–884The aged Beadsman's deathbell has rung; sculptured dead in the chapel; mortality of beauty.read · scan

Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17

• p. 300–301The caged Lark dies of thirst and yearning; the boys bury him royally.read · scan
• p. 341Children solemnly bury the dead flowers with a ceremony and a salute of cross-bows.read · scan

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1317The father dies on the shore, and is buried hastily by the sea amid the burning village.read · scan
• p. 1337–1338The lovers lie in nameless graves while the city's toiling multitudes go on; their journey is complete.read · scan

John Greenleaf Whittier, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1340–1342Death as sleep in Mother Earth's lap; the statesman sleeps by the Potomac.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29

• p. 173–174Old Indian graves, decayed bones and burial practice show how a people treat their dead.read · scan

Edward FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám of NaishápúrVol. 41

• p. 957–958Speaker imagines his buried ashes flinging up vintage, and the companion turning down an empty glass at his place.read · scan

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1051–1053The dead man lies in a shallow grave under the street, finding no peace in death amid the noise above.read · scan
• p. 1053–1054Madness in the grave: corpses, a silent dead bride, a second corpse in the pit.read · scan

Edgar Allan Poe, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1231–1233The journey ends at the door of the tomb of the lost beloved.read · scan

Robert Browning, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1083–1084Disciples carry the dead master up the mountain in funeral procession, honoring his life.read · scan
• p. 1085Scholar dies grinding at grammar; buried on a peak above the multitude.read · scan

Charles Dickens, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1147–1148The ivy creeps where death has been and clings to dead men's graves.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

• p. 104–105Lonely grave of an Englishman who died friendless, buried hurriedly without prayer, moves the narrator.read · scan
• p. 129Funeral of a child treated cheerfully like a festival.read · scan

Walt Whitman, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1403–1404A soldier keeps vigil over his slain comrade and buries him where he fell, in silence and love.read · scan
• p. 1413–1414Lincoln's funeral procession and the poet's lilacs for all coffins; death addressed as sane and sacred.read · scan
• p. 1414–1416Burial-house adorned with pictures of spring, farms and workshops, the scenes of life.read · scan

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1175–1177The corpse is embalmed and watched over; death is made peaceful in appearance.read · scan

Frank Aretas Haskell, The Battle of GettysburgVol. 43

• p. 405–407Fresh mounds of graves beside the hospital will multiply daily.read · scan

9c.Elegies and epitaphs for the dead

See also: Poetry 11c · Love 7d

Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12

• p. 376–377Timon's grim wit invites citizens to hang themselves on his fig-tree; his epitaph curses the living.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

• p. 513–514The epitaphs mark the knight and Dulcinea lying dead beneath a frozen stone.read · scan
• p. 515–516Verses reflect that men's hopes and glories end in smoke, and Dulcinea is ground to dust by death.read · scan

William Shakespeare, Songs and SonnetsVol. 40

• p. 264–266Song of the true-love dead and gone, with grave turf and stone.read · scan

William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46

• p. 179–182Ophelia's song laments the dead man who will never come againread · scan

Ben Jonson, PoemsVol. 40

• p. 294–297An epitaph for Elizabeth: as much beauty as could die, with more virtue than lives.read · scan

William Browne, On the Countess Dowager of PembrokeVol. 40

• p. 333Epitaph bids Death spare others as fair, learned and good as she; Time will strike Death.read · scan

Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15

• p. 368–369Burial and grave, the body a bed of rest; the epitaph says the grave cannot contain his soul.read · scan

John Milton, Poems Written at School and at College, 1624-1632Vol. 4

• p. 18–20Elegy for a child killed by winter's cold embrace; the poet cannot believe her dead.read · scan
• p. 25–26Comic epitaph on Hobson the carrier, whom Death overcame when his course of carriage failed.read · scan
• p. 26Comic epitaph: the carrier lived while he moved and died of idleness and lack of load.read · scan

John Milton, Poems Written at Horton, 1632-1638Vol. 4

• p. 72Lament for Lycidas, dead before his prime, drowned unwept; nature and the shepherds mourn his loss.read · scan

Samuel Johnson, Life of Addison, 1672-1719Vol. 27

• p. 176–177Tickell's elegy says Addison taught how to live and how to die; he died at forty-seven.read · scan

Thomas Gray, PoemsVol. 40

• p. 447–449Epitaph and funeral procession of the rustic in the Elegy closing lines.read · scan

William Collins, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 475–477Elegy for Fidele's grave and the fallen brave; mourning and the peaceful tomb blessed by nature and country.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

• p. 40–42Poor Mailie's dying words and death, mourned by the shepherd Hughoc as she lies helpless in the ditch.read · scan
• p. 42–44Mailie dies; the poet laments her death as the loss of a faithful friend and neighbour.read · scan
• p. 56–58Comic epitaphs on a dead man and a henpecked squire.read · scan
• p. 91–94Mock elegy for Robin: poverty and care no longer trouble him in his last lair.read · scan
• p. 217–220Epitaphs on graves: death makes cold warm hearts, murders Johnieread · scan
• p. 242–244Mock elegy mourning the death of Tam Samson, the old sportsman, who wished to die and be buried on the moors.read · scan
• p. 244–246Tam Samson's death is treated with humour and affection; he dies shooting, and the epitaph asks rest for him.read · scan
• p. 264–267Epitaphs joke about death; life's evening brings the long dreary night.read · scan
• p. 349–351Grose's dying is comic; Satan will not take so heavy a load.read · scan
• p. 382–384Elegy on Matthew Henderson: Death cursed as a tyrant, and the poet mourns the best fellow gone.read · scan
• p. 384–386Henderson has crossed the unknown river, life's dreary bound, gone for ever and irreplaceable.read · scan
• p. 386–388Epitaph: his radiant course is run; his soul like the sun, a heavenly light.read · scan
• p. 394–396Elegy for Miss Burnet, death cutting down youth and beauty; world left darkling.read · scan
• p. 400–401Bard laden with years mourns a lord untimely dead; compares himself to an aged tree awaiting the stormread · scan
• p. 443–445Death's untimely frost nipped Highland Mary; her lips are pale and heart in dust, yet she lives in memory.read · scan
• p. 482–484Elegy on Maria who died unwept as she lived unloved.read · scan
• p. 486–488Satirical epitaphs and a sonnet mourning Riddell's untimely death; nature mocks a dead fool, and grief for a friend lost.read · scan

James Hogg, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 761–763Coffin on a plain and blood falling like rain; the fairest flower of the world lies dead.read · scan

Walter Savage Landor, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 898–900Elegies for Rose Aylmer and the poet's own future grave; Charon and Dirce among shades.read · scan

Percy Bysshe Shelley, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 855–857Adonais (Keats) is mourned; death feeds on his voice and cannot be undone.read · scan

Edgar Allan Poe, The Poetic PrincipleVol. 28

• p. 379–381Bryant's poem imagines the dead poet's grave amid summer beauty.read · scan
• p. 381–383The dead speaker hopes friends will linger by his green grave.read · scan

Edgar Allan Poe, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1224–1225Dirge for Lenore who died young; mourners quarrel over whether to weep or rejoice at her passing.read · scan

Matthew Arnold, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1128–1130Elegies for a dead woman at rest and for a father buried at the chapel.read · scan

Robert Louis Stevenson, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1212–1213Epitaph: glad in life and death, home is the sailor and the hunter, resting where he longed to be.read · scan

9d.Fame and posterity as victory over death

Aeschylus, The Libation-BearersVol. 8

• p. 95–96Electra asks that the father live on through his children.read · scan

Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9

• p. 17–18Friends' loving remembrance takes the sting out of death and gives survivors glory.read · scan
• p. 41–42Scipio's virtue survives his death; mortal things are perishable, so one should keep seeking those to love.read · scan

Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2

• p. 131What will you do when you are dead, when only your name remains?read · scan

Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2

• p. 213–214Soon both you and the offender will be dead, names forgotten.read · scan
• p. 215Those who remember will soon die too.read · scan
• p. 243–244Many celebrated by fame are forgotten, and those who celebrated others are long dead.read · scan
• p. 244Everything material soon dissolves into the whole and the memory of everything is soon overwhelmed in time.read · scan
• p. 270–271Surveys generations born, living and dying; posthumous name and reputation are worthless, since all are soon forgotten.read · scan

BeowulfVol. 49

• p. 43Each man must abide his end in the ways of the world; so seek glory before death.read · scan

Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16

• p. 337–339The old king dies and is mourned; consolers say he who leaves such a son has not died.read · scan
• p. 341Grief over a brother's death; the saying 'whoso leaveth issue doth not die'.read · scan
• p. 343'He who leaveth issue doth not die'; wish to see his brother before he dies.read · scan

Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3

• p. 19–20Children increase life's cares but mitigate the remembrance of death; generation is perpetuity common to beasts, while works are proper to men.read · scan
• p. 69–71Men die with desires unfinished; a true friend carries on one's cares after death, so a man has two lives in his desires.read · scan

William Shakespeare, Songs and SonnetsVol. 40

• p. 271–273Verse defies death and oblivion, so the beloved lives to the judgment.read · scan
• p. 279–280Death submits to love, since the poet will live on in rhyme.read · scan

Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34

• p. 370–371Fear of death and wounds disposes men to obey a common power; desire of fame after death motivates though the dead feel no praise.read · scan

Matthew Arnold, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1130–1132Most men eddy purposelessly and perish forgotten like waves; father's sudden death; a few strive to snatch something from oblivion.read · scan

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