Musings on Life and Death
Death is something that many people do not like to talk about. It either puts the fear into them or it doesn’t. Usually, we get through life with the thought of death relegated to the sub-conscious and that is fine. Each person has a certain coping mechanism.
In “Sonnet 73" William Shakespeare refers to sleep as ‘Death’s second self’. How different is sleep from death? The body is motionless in both situations. Can we then say that we die every night only to be reborn the next morning? And that this cycle keeps repeating itself until we reach the ultimate! Death is the ultimate and that’s that. “Sonnet 73" revolves around the importance of love in a world of death, a cold world where every living thing eventually stops breathing.
Images such as the ‘Bare ruin’d choirs’ or the branches where the birds no longer sing and on which ‘yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang’ as it quivers in the cold autumnal winds are symbolic of old age, decay, and death. Stop for a moment and think about the beauty of these lines.
Did it strike you that we are all part of the natural cycle of life and death? That we are at one with the elements of nature? I am not even talking about the religious concept of rebirth but the mundane facts of existence- the fact that we can perceive everything that nature offers through our senses and that the arrangement of the seasons is so akin to the lifespan of one human life is beautiful in itself. The seasons of nature are experienced within us time and time again- the spring (growth and rejuvenation), the summer (warmth), the monsoon (melancholy), autumn (decay) and winter (numbness or death). Do away with the ego and you will see that every living thing is special simply because they are all trying to survive like us and are part of the natural cycle of life and death. We humans are no more different than other species that share the planet with us but we want to believe that we are and I feel that is where this concept of rebirth comes into play: from the human inability to accept an end, to accept death.
We can come up with infinite ways of dealing with death but what if we stop struggling and just live? Anyway, death is inevitable for every living thing. If the Roman poet Horace were alive today he would give you gold in two words- ‘carpe diem’. We must live for the day without pondering about tomorrow and this must be done every single day. We are not the immortals of our fancy nor are we superior in any way to other living things that experience the elements with us. However, the thought that your near and dear ones can be gone at any moment is indeed troubling. This is why the closing couplet of “Sonnet 73" concludes with the beloved’s realization and humble acceptance of death which only makes the love stronger and that is solace enough for the dying speaker who says- ‘This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong/To love that well which thou must leave ere long’.
Let us also remember Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. The poem is a metaphor for the journey of life and the beauty of it is captured in the first stanza when the speaker stops at a location to watch the ‘woods fill up with snow’. How often do we stop in our path to admire the calming beauty of the natural world around us is a question we must ask ourselves. The speaker in Frost’s poem represents Everyman as he says ‘The woods are lovely, dark, and deep/But I have promises to keep/ And miles to go before I sleep/ And miles to go before I sleep’. In spite of all the mysteries and uncertainties enveloping us- life is beautiful simply because it must go on just like the changing of the seasons.
Let Horace, Shakespeare and Frost be your guide if you ever feel anxious about death for what they say must not be forgotten. From Horace we learn to live each day, from Shakespeare we learn to accept death which increases the value of life and love and last but not the least, Frost teaches us to open our eyes to the beauty of the mundane so long as the journey goes on.
