有感于“死亡”

［摘 要］Death is an eternal topic in literature and is also mysterious to people in the world.What is it like？ Is it frightening？ Is it painful？ Robert Browning shows readers his thoughts and realization of death in\"Prospice\"and his optimistic attitude together with brave spirit to death.Death is no horror，no the end of life，so people should face it straightly and struggle with it courageously to get the reward in the end.

［關鍵詞］death fighter prospice

［中圖分類號］I106 ［文獻標識碼］A ［文章編號］1009－5489(2009)01－0076－02

In literature，there are two eternal themes-love and death，whether in the east or the west，in the ancient times or the modern world，in the poetry or the novel.Love，generally speaking，is a kind of touchable and tangible feeling to human being.That is to say，people can experience love and describe it in written or spoken form，while death is an exception.From the psychological point of view，people are always inclined to get to know something about the mysterious matters.While at the same time，they are also afraid of them，including death.Though everyone has a chance to experience death yet never can come back to tell others what it is like.Therefore，death may be one of the most mysterious and frightening matters to human beings.While，after my reading the poem\"Prospice\"written by Robert Browning to his dead wife，I got a sudden stroke，was deeply shocked by his vivid description of death and touched strongly by his courageous attitude facing death.He was really a brave fighter in his own words.\"Prospice\"is good in form and special in theme.

At first，let us have a look at the rhyme of this poem.The first line and the third line separately end with\"throat\"and\"denote\"；the second and the fourth line separately end with\"face\"and\"place\"；the fifth and the seventh lines together with the following lines all rhyme properly and regularly.Besides the rhyme mentioned above，the poem mainly adapts the iamb and the anapest.As we all know，among the twenty four patterns of English poem，the iamb dominates the poetry.It flows slowly，steadily，firmly，and with ease，usually employed for grave or somber themes.The anapest is\"perhaps the chief enlivening and inspiring force in English poetry；and while powerful for serious purposes，is almost indispensable for comic.\"The combination of these two feet protrudes the perfect unity of the solemn themes and the optimistic tone.

This poem belongs to the lyrical poetry，in which the poet tells something of himself，setting forth the inner thoughts of his own or of others but treated as his own in the poem in a subjective way.\"Prospice\"，the title of this poem means looking forward.Browning wrote this shortly after Elizabeth Barrett Browning's death in 1861.Browning put forward in the poem his own thoughts about death and his missing thoughts to his wife.If being classified in detail，\"Prospice\"should be included in literary lyrics under the classification of\"lyrical poetry\".Literary lyrics are more literary in style，possibly longer and with greater wealth of imagery than the pure song.Hence，they are capable of giving their full need of pleasure when read as literature.It can be found obviously and easily in this poem that Browning speaks about death through many images，especially in the following several lines.

Fear death？-to feel the fog in my throat，

The mist in my face，

When the snows begin，and the blasts denote

I am nearing the place，

The power of the night，the press of the storm，

The post of the foe；……

And the elements' rage，the fiend-voices that rave，

Shall dwindle，shall blend，

Shall change，shall become fist a peace out of pain，......

Here Browning portrays death，a kind of intangible mater through some concrete things-the fog in the throat，the mist in the face and so on and so forth.He set up a special setting to compare the situation of death-at a winter dusk，the night is coming；it begins to snow with the strong blasts which hints him the drawing near visit of death；then the storm begins；within sight the post of death appears with a guard beside it；the gate is near，through which one will be dead.While，death is as near as possible.Looking through these lines，one may feel the tense atmosphere and the coming horror which really makes people frightened.Well，then what to do？ Retreat？ Or go ahead？ Browning answers categorically without any hesitation，\"the strong man must go\".In the process of death，one must suffer before the reward is gained，but since one has gone through the life journey，has reached the excellent summit and cleared the barriers in the way；is it so terrible to clear another barrier-death？ What's more，eventually after the last fight，all the reward will be obtained.Browning denotes that death is actually a part of life journey；to face death is like to face some other dangers or obstacles in the passing living world，so just regard it as another fight which should be fought as before.While，that is a battle he knows he can not win but he does not care，eagerly looking forward to death，to go to the battle field.To fight the last battle bravely，Browning would like to face death straightly like the other old heroes in the history，refusing to be bandaged in his eys as those who are to be executed by shooting.He implies that he has less of\"pain，darkness and cold\"in his life than most people have through the words\"pay glad life's arrears\".Well，then the most exciting and tense moment comes；the battle begins and soon end with his failure but to him that is the best replacing th worst.In the meanwhile，the intense fight for obtaining his soul between the spirits from the heaven and the devils from the hell is coming near to its end.Then，he feels the peace，sees a light and reunites with his wife together with God.

That is the whole of the poem，the living process from dying to death.That is more a battle with death fought by a brave fighter.After Browning's description of death，it seems that all the horror caused by the unknown mysteriousness of death is get rid of completely.The veil of death is taken away.Instead，strong strength and palpable power pour out of the body continuously，so that the readers are just like the soldiers who are full of morale and going to struggle in the battle field.To Browning，death is not the frightening end of life but the lasting of life.It's another mysterious part of life，like whatever coming obstacles one ever met with before.Since death is just a foe in the battle，one should be full of courage and strength to beat it.The only difference from other battle is that it is the destiny to end with failure fighting death.While，Browning says that it is the heroic behavior to fight death，it is only performed by the strong men，like all the great heroes in the history.What's more，the battle is followed by the whole peace and rest together with God.Naturally，God and his wife are only the symbols which represent the pleasant place one would like to reach.That is the similar pleasure like that having been experienced in the life journey.In this poem，it refers to his reunity with his love.To sum up，this poem exhibit people another side of death，and encourage people to be brave and optimistic when facing death.

Besides Robert Browning，another English poet John Donne also shows his despite to death in his poem\"Death，Be not Proud\".Donne，like Browning and even more courageous than him to abuse death-

Death be not proud，though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful，for，thou art not so，

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow，

Die not，poor Death，nor yet canst thou kill me；

In his mind，it is death not other one which could die-

One short sleep past，we wake eternally，

And death shall be no more；Death，thou shalt die.

Whether death is a journey across a stormy sea to reach that wide port where all are bidden before the final reckoning fall of good and evil for eternity；or is a battle to fight with the destiny of failure，the poets have called out their slogan and inspire people to face death straightly，bravery and optimistically.What is death？ It is nothing but a foe like any other ones appearing in people's life.It can be shaped as one likes but only it should be unchangeable that death is neither frightening nor the end of life.Just as Browning said to his friend in one letter，\"Death is life.It is like that everyday some parts of our body are dying and the other new ones are given to birth.......I don't admit death is the end of anything.Never make the remark that I am dead.\"

［參考文獻］

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