Embracing Death in Women's Elegy

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses, briefly, how Bronte and Shelley's works are elegiac, specifically, how they suggest that, by dying, an individual is reunited with the natural world. The paper explores the idea that this reunification with nature allows the dead to gain a "voice" they may not have had in life; nature does this by benefiting the dead, as a mother's actions benefit her child. The paper compares this aspect of nature to Peter Sack's argument about the ability of women to write the elegy.

From the Paper:

"Female authors, of elegiac works, seem particularly drawn to death above all other topics in literature. In their works, death is depicted as a means by which to reunite with nature and, in so doing, gain a certain level of literary power. Emily Bronte's poems, "In the Earth, the Earth Thou Shalt Be Laid," "My Lady's Grave" and "All Hushed and Still Within the House," and Mary Shelley's novella, Matilda, are examples of such elegiac works, by women, that appear to embrace the concept of death and dying as an agent of reunification of a person, typically a woman, with nature. These writings, by Shelley and Bronte, further suggest that this reunification with the natural world benefits the deceased individual, in such a way, that he or, more often, she is able to assert his or herself to the outside world. Bronte and Shelley imply that nature benefit's the individual by acting as a nurturing, protective force, much like a maternal figure. This maternal characterization of nature, shared by Bronte and Shelley in the previously mentioned works, can be compared to Sacks' argument about female authors and how their struggle with the elegy is based primarily on a desire to regain a maternal bond that has been lost."

More papers on Embracing Death in Women's Elegy:

• Essay # 72679 : "Depression in Women"
• Comparison Essay # 88573 : "Visions of Death in Literature"
• Poem Review # 27897 : "The Theme of Death in Poems by Christina Rossetti"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: