Thematic Interpretation- DeathIntroduction: Eventually, all of us are destined to die. We don’t know when or how or what it will be like but it’s a sure thing.

Not many of us probably think about death a lot but if we

did take a moment to think we might change our lifestyle and value life more.

Transition: Sometimes you get to thinking about what you’re living for. In Emily Dickinson’s I Died for Beauty, we’re reminded that If it’s worth living for, it’s worth dying for.

I Died For Beautyby Emily Dickinson

I died for beauty, but was scarceAdjusted in the tomb

When one who died for truth was lainIn an adjoining room.

He questioned softly-why I failed,“For beauty” I replied.

“And I for truth. Themselves are one.We brethren are” he said.

And so, as kinsman met a night,We talked between the rooms,

Until the moss had reached our lips And covered up our names.

Transition: In Steven Crane’s poem Behold, The Grave, the old saying is suggested, What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?

Behold, The Graveby Steen Crane

Behold, the grave of a wicked man,And near it, a stern spirit.

There came a dropping maid with violets,But the spirit grasped her arm.“No flowers for him,” he said.

The maid wept:

“Ah, I loved him.”

Now, this is it-If the spirit was just,

Why did the maid weep?

Transition: In this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, called Elegy Before Death, the value is more of a question

that asks us When death finally comes, what difference will you

have made.

Elegy Before Deathby Edna St. Vincent Millay

There will be rose and rhododendronWhen you are dead and underground;Still will be heard from white syringas

Heavy with bees, a sunny sound;

Still will the tamaracks be rainingAfter the rain has ceased, and still Will there be robins in the stubble,

Gray sheep upon the warm green hill.

Spring will not ail nor autumn falter;Nothing will know that you are gone,-Saving alone some sullen plowlandNone but yourself sets foot upon;

Saving the mayweed and the pigweedNothing will know that you are dead,-These, and perhaps a useless wagonStanding beside some tumbled shed.

Oh, there will pass with your great passingLittle of beauty not your own,-

Only the light from common water,Only the grace from simple stone!

Transition: Now, you not only have a better idea of what death is, but also may be changed by the reality of it. Basically it comes down to this. Get busy living or get busy dying.

Restatement: 1. If it’s worth living for, it’s worth dying for.

2. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?

4. When death finally comes, what difference will you have made.

5. Get busy living or get busy dying.