Preview

The Reaper Allusion

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
590 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Reaper Allusion
For eons a stigma has been placed over death, cloaking it in a shroud of pain, tragedy and taboo. For many, death represents doom while others view passing on as a welcomed changed, a new start and a chance to reunite with already deceased loved ones. Blue Oyster Cult's popular song, (Don't Fear) The Reaper, exhibits an optimistic attitude towards humankind's transition from this life to the next. Through the use of allusion and imagery, the lyrics illustrate that even though dying is inevitable and unavoidable, death should not be dreaded. As expected, the lyricist portrays death by using the character of the grim reaper. Stereotypically presented as the silent, no-nonsense agent of death, the reaper defies popular opinion, "Baby take my
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Effective Use Of Metaphors In Michael Lee's Pass On
    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Effective Use Of Metaphors In Michael Lee's Pass On

    Within his poem, “Pass On,” Michael Lee employs metaphor, cacophony, and analogy to reframe death as part of an ongoing cosmic process, rather than a sad and permanent ending. Lee elegantly uses metaphor to describe the painful final seconds of a homicide victim’s life as part of a larger progression. As Stephen, presumably a friend of the poem’s speaker, bleeds to death following a violent attack, the speaker compares Stephen’s humanity with a crowd quickly departing an auditorium, “the day Stephen was murdered / everything that made us love him rushed from his knife wounds /as though his chest were an auditorium / his life an audience leaving in single file” (Lee, 2012, lines 25-28). This comparison of Stephen’s humanity, “everything that…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Slaughterhouse Five Literary Analysis
    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Slaughterhouse Five Literary Analysis

    inevitability of death but also represents the idea that each person is living through different…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    A Summary of Chapters 1-5 in Death and Dying the Psychosocial Aspect
    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A Summary of Chapters 1-5 in Death and Dying the Psychosocial Aspect

    In the first chapter we discuss people’s awareness and overall anxiety with death and dying. American’s were not always so detached and afraid of death as we are now. According to Mr. John D. Canine 150 years ago it would have been quite different to experienced the death of a loved one. He says, “He or she was attended by family members and visitors—including children—were welcomed. Family and friends were expected to speak “last words” to the individual and frequently witnessed the cessation of breathing, relaxation of the body , and loss of skin color” (Canine). Now days we do not see this same intimacy with death. People are afraid to be near a dead person. Afraid they may “catch death”. A lot of times people are in the hospitals surround by technology and maybe a handful of family members in the time the prior to their passing. We believe so much in the preservation of life that we sometimes forget that life does and will end and we try, and try, and try to prolong life so much so that sometimes we end up doing more harm than good. In this day and age Death…

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Surrendering to Death in “Cremains”
    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Surrendering to Death in “Cremains”

    In the story “Cremains,” Sam Lipsyte explicitly explores the theme of death. Death familiarizes itself with the protagonist as he tries to adjust to his new day-to-day life in his now-deceased mother’s apartment. He attempts to move on but is held back by his inability to decide on how to dispose of his mothers cremains. Meanwhile, he continues to get high off of her leftover morphine, until he eventually combines her ashes with the morphine and shoots them into his veins. Before doing so, he hears on the radio “our culture is afraid of death, and considers it something we must wage battle against.” It’s Tessa, his mother’s pain specialist, and she continues: “I say, surrender, submit. Go gentle. Terminal means terminal.” Tessa’s statement illustrates the issue the protagonist has in dealing with death. To the protagonist, it isn’t natural to surrender to death, it’s not easy to go gentle, and he is fighting his grief just like he would fight death itself.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Stage Manager's Opening Speech In 'Our Town'
    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Stage Manager's Opening Speech In 'Our Town'

    It symbolizes that death is a unchanging part of human life and will come eventually to everybody.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Poem Analysis Of Bryant's Thanatopsis And Dust In The Wind
    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Poem Analysis Of Bryant's Thanatopsis And Dust In The Wind

    Death is part of life, weather you believe in a life after, or not. The story “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant, and the songs “Don’t fear the Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult and “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas, all illustrate death in some way. Though each artist has a different view of death, then the other.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Afire Love Analysis
    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Afire Love Analysis

    There is a certain pain that is felt whenever a loved one passes. Beyond sadness, it is hurt, it is anger, it is confusion, and an almost unidentifiable emptiness where the lungs should be. People who have not experienced such loss have a happy, if hazy, view of the world. Then, there are those who lose someone… a major someone... so very special. They do eventually move on, but the pain alters them forever. Ed Sheeran, in the song “Afire Love,” illustrates how the loss of an individual can impact everyone around them, young and old.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Fear Of Death In Elie Wiesel's 'Night'
    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Fear Of Death In Elie Wiesel's 'Night'

    While reading the book Night, I asked myself why are people were afraid of death. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who is a Swiss-American psychiatrist, a pioneer in near-death studies, and the author of On Death and Dying, states in her article “On the Fear of Death,” that there are three psychological aspects that make people fear death. These psychological aspects are, unconsciously we are unable to imagine our own deaths, unconsciously we are unable to distinguish between a wish and deed, and we are trying to prevent death from happening while making death impersonal. We can see many examples within the book Night, by Elie Wiesel, who is a writer, professor, and Nobel Laureate. In this essay, I will be discussing the psychological aspects as to why people may fear death.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Reaper
    • 1674 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Reaper

    The poem “Reaper” by Jean Toomer presents a theme that is quite dark, for the mood of the poem deals with the effects faced by African American slave labor during that time period. In his poem, Toomer portrays African American laborers as black reapers working like black horses mowing the field. They are able to sharpen their tools and carry their sharpening stone in their back pocket working independently in the field but are equal to machines like mowers being pulled by black horses in the field making the poem’s tone serious and dramatic. Rather than black being used only as reference for a person 's skin, it’s used more as the object of what the whole poem signifies. Toomer is trying to emphasize the strong hold African Americans faced during the 19th century that when most blacks were viewed as objects or possessions and not free thinkers. For this reason, Toomer 's description misleads anyone who reads it for the first time because it is unclear what his message is. After I broke down each point that he was trying to make however, I began to appreciate the message behind this poem. It is a clear reminder of America 's darker times, when man had no civil rights due to the fact of his color. As well as discrimination in which African Americans were not considered as people but more as an asset like an animal or machine that were bought and sold.…

    • 1674 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Death Final Draft
    • 823 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Death Final Draft

    The topic death isn’t always the typical pleasant discussion everyone is up for. Usually in a day to day conversation one is asked “How’s life?” not “How’s death?” Most people would say death is scary or feel really uncomfortable answering such a question. This really is a natural response, but when reading Walt Whitman’s poem “Song to Myself” one can see that Whitman’s view on death is that of the exact opposite of a natural response. In this very egotistical poem Walt Whitman literally celebrates himself through fifty-two glorious lines and shares his thoughts on numerous subjects; one of which is death.…

    • 823 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Factors That Can Affect An Individual
    • 5729 Words
    • 18 Pages

    The Factors That Can Affect An Individual

    Death is a personal event that man cannot describe for himself. As far back as we can tell, man has been both intrigued by death and fearful of it; he has been motivated to seek answers to the mystery and to seek solutions to his anxiety. Every known culture has provided some answer to the meaning of death; for death, like birth or marriage, is universally regarded as a socially significant…

    • 5729 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson Diction
    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Emily Dickinson Diction

    There is a multitude of poems written with the theme of death, be it in a positive light or negative. Some poets write poems that depict Death as a spine-chilling inevitable end, others hold respect for this natural occurrence. In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, diction and personification is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s cordial friendship with Death.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How death is portrayed in the media that it affects on children and my feedback of it.
    • 2801 Words
    • 8 Pages

    How death is portrayed in the media that it affects on children and my feedback of it.

    People die everyday all over the world. In United States, people use hundreds of different words to describe death. Generally, people that grow up in the United States tend to view death as a taboo subject and are seen as a topic that should be kept behind closed doors and contracted with an individual or family. A belief system that so many individuals hold to be true has been shaped over the past century. In this culture, death has become something that is enormously feared and as a result, some people stop living their lives to his or her highest potential because of their fear of dying. The effect that death has pertains to individuals of all ages, gender and ethnicities. But unfortunately, how death is viewed it has become more and more difficult for parents to talk with their children about death. Many parents not enough to talk or discuss death to their children until someone close to family dies, but even then children are simply told that someone they know has pasted away. Children have a very difficult time to understanding what death really means and must learn how deal with lose of someone they know internally.…

    • 2801 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Angels Are the Reapers
    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Angels Are the Reapers

    “The Reapers Are The Angels” is a new book on the zombie apocalypse horizon. It’s based some years after the undead have eaten most of the rest of humanity. The setting is set twenty-years after the apocalypse had first begun. There are survivors. One of them is a young woman who calls herself Temple who has never known a world without “meatskins”. She’s a killer and she’s good at it, so good she can take on several grown men at once and is a survivor of the first order. She also lives by a code, like the Code of the West, or a Code Among Thieves. This code is like an honor, an honor to protect and serve. She never lets innocent people suffer at the hands of someone else, usually the zombies.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Tide Rises Tide Falls
    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Tide Rises Tide Falls

    There are certain concepts within life that the human mind has trouble understanding. It is these concepts that often appear in famous literature. American writers often struggled to gain popularity when competing with Europe and the first notable group to break the chain was the Fireside Poets. This group was made up of four famous poets and their most famous poems have a common theme: death. The poems in question are Longfellow's “ A Psalm of Life” and “ The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” and Lowell’s “ The First Snowfall”. Each is about death and the different ways of viewing a common occurrence in nature.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics