Interpretations Of Death

Differing Interpretations of Death Across Literary Works Throughout the history of literature, death has been a constant presence. No matter what the era, humankind is united through death as an inevitable facet of life. Despite this uniting force, the attitudes about death have changed greatly. Many works have put forward that upon death, the soul or another aspect of the person lives on, while others have stated that death is truly the end and that through the works of the deceased is how they are remembered. Despite having different opinions on death, “We Are Seven,” “Ozymandias,” and “Too Much Happiness” William Wordsworth’s “We Are Seven” believes that through memories a deceased individual can live on even if they did not make a lasting …show more content…
Within the story, Sophia thinks that “Every one of us will be forgotten” (259) despite the fact that she and Jules contributed greatly to society, Sophia having been “a noted writer… a political activist, and a public advocate of feminism… a brilliant mathematician” (Rappaport, 1). Her fictionalized words in this story hold truth, however, as she is not remembered by many people, despite that her discoveries paved the way for modern technology. The realism of Sophia Kovalevsky being forgotten even though she made great contributions to society suggests a deeper understanding of death and society than both “We Are Seven” and “Ozymandias.” Munro’s idea that “Every one of us will be forgotten” (259) is congruent with many of the ideas brought forth in Shelley’s …show more content…
The three of them all have themes revolving around being remembered after death. “We Are Seven” shows that even in the simplest ways, people are remembered after death, as the little girl proclaims that “‘there upon the ground I sit, / and sing a song to them,’” (Wordsworth, 43-44), and in this Wordsworth shows that despite the deaths of her siblings, the little girl still loves and appreciates her siblings. To her, they still enjoy her keeping them company and singing to them, despite that they are not around to show appreciation for her. Although Wordsworth focuses on a living person in his work as opposed to the dead and how they are trying to be remembered or believe they will be remembered, it shows that unlike the king in “Ozymandias” and Sophia Kovalevsky in “Too Much Happiness,” the dead siblings are remembered without any attempt to create a legacy for themselves. This version of living on after death is easy, as the dead are only remembered because they were the siblings of the girl and she loved them. However in the two other works, living on after death requires more