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Submitted by jdaeun86 on October 26, 2006
Category: English
Words: 1682 | Pages: 7
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The concept of death most frequently conveys the dark and mysterious affect. Pondering over death can be similar to stumbling down a dark passage with unstable guesses as the only guide; not only do we not know when we will die, but also what comes after death. William Wordsworth, a nineteenth-century author, was no exception to this universal dilemma of considering death as the absolute end of one¡¯s existence or the beginning of one¡¯s existence in a new setting. ¡°Nothing was more difficult for me in childhood than to admit the notion of death as a state applicable to my own being,¡± Wordsworth frankly describes to Isabella Fenwick in 1843 about the anxiety and fear he experienced when he first understood the concept of death. However, Wordsworth solves the complexity of death in his ¡°Immortality Ode¡± by firmly confessing his belief of a brand new and eternal life after death. According to him, each of us carries an imperishable soul, which is a sign of our heavenly origin. During our early childhood, the concept of death is not present in our mind. Therefore, we are closest to God and His home when we are children who innately believe in immortality. As we accommodate to the world and realize that death and sufferings exist, however, our intimacy with God weakens to the point in which we completely forget about our divine heritage. As a result, we lose the belief that we will be immortal once again and begin to fear death. Wordsworth then concludes that our immortal souls will eventually reawaken our memory of early childhood during which we considered ourselves immortal and the world eternal and perfect like Heaven. As soon as we regain the memory of childhood and the belief that we are divine beings who will return to Heaven after death, death is no longer a threat to us.
Noticing the ¡°incarnational background¡± upon which the poem stands (Westbrook 34), one cannot overlook the importance of the ¡°religious references¡± and...
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