Dario Death

Ruben Dario (1867-1916), “was the first poet of Modernismo-a movement that revolutionized Spanish American poetry. He was inspired by the French Symbolists, and he fused their poetic innovations with a range of traditions, including his own indigenous ancestry, occult science, and ancient Greek mythology, to create a startling new sensibility” (689). Dario’s work was and still is studied and has inspired many poets. Dario himself admired Walt Whitman. Dario did have problems; he suffered from cirrhosis of the liver. His involvement and interest with occult science may have contributed to his focus on death as a theme in his poem “Fatality”.

Ruben Dario wrote “Fatality” which is found in The Norton Anthology of World Literature by Martin Puchner. Longer 3rd ed. Vol. 2.”Fatality” has three stanzas with four lines for stanza one and two and five lines for the fifth stanza.”Fatality” has a major theme of death. Dario used the literary devices tone, symbols, and personification.

For tone, Dario kept reminding the reader about the mortality present in through nature elements. Dario did not allow the reader to drift away from any kind of knowledge of death. Dario kept drawing the reader deeper in the poem with the knowledge, fears, and facts of death.

For symbols, Dario used tree, rock, funeral sprays, tomb, and grapes. The tree is alive, but will die. The grapes are cool, like death. The choices of symbols that Dario used were to help establish the continual connection to death.

For personification Dario had the tree and rock take on humanlike characteristics. Dario wrote “The tree is happy because it is scarcely sentient” (ins.1). He also wrote “the hard rock is happier still, it feels nothing” (ins.2). Tombs are made of rock and the connection of hard rock to the tomb is clear. Dario wrote “…and the tomb that awaits us with bunches of cool grapes” (ins.10). Death is associated as being cold and not life like anymore.

For death, Dario wrote, “And the sure terror of being dead tomorrow” (ins. 7). Dario’s last three lines were according to Dario “and the tomb that awaits us with funeral sprays, / and not to know where we go, / nor whence we came!...”(ins. 11-13).  It is no coincidence that Dario wrote thirteen lines, thirteen being an unlucky number.

Dario used the literary devices tone, symbols, and personification in “Fatality,” the poem was quite effective in carrying out the theme of death through the literary devices Dario chose. When the Dario’s life is examined it does make sense on why the theme of death was used in his poetry.

Works Cited

Dario Rubén. "Fatality." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Longer 3rd ed.

Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 689-695. Print.

“Ruben Dario”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Longer 3rd ed.

            Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 689-695. Print.

Marti and Dari

Jose Marti and Ruben Dario were Latin American poets that were well-read. They were influenced heavily by Walt Whitman. There are similarities between the  poems by Jose Marti, Ruben Dario, and Walt Whitman of nature, birth, and death. Marti wrote  “I Am and Honest Man,” Dario wrote “Fatality,” and Whitman wrote “Song of Myself”.

Jose Marti wrote “I Am an Honest Man” and it is found in The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Longer 3rd ed. Vol. 2. “I Am an Honest Man” has themes of nature, birth, and death. For nature the theme include a palm tree, mountains, herbs, flowers, butterflies, vineyard, bee, land, and sea. For birth Marti wrote, “no burden heavier than that of conscious life” (681). For death Marti wrote, “And the sure terror of being dead tomorrow” (681).

Ruben Dario wrote “Fatality” and it is found in The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Longer 3rd ed. Vol. 2.”Fatality” has themes of nature, birth, and death. The nature theme includes, tree, rock, darkness, and grapes. For birth, Dario wrote “there is no pain as great as being alive” (695). For death, Dario wrote, “And the sure terror of being dead tomorrow” (695).

Walt Whitman wrote “Song of Myself” and it is found in The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Longer 3rd ed. Vol. 2. “Song of Myself” has themes of nature, birth, and death. For the themes of nature is “grass, soil, air, fog, earth, lakes, bays, coasts, hills, woods, heaven, hell, night, stars, trees, animals, and grass. For birth and death, Whitman wrote, “I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-washed babe, and/am not contained between my hat and boots” (649).

Jose Marti and Ruben Dario were poets that were well-read. Marti and Dario were influenced heavily by Walt Whitman. There are similarities between the  poems by Jose Marti, Ruben Dario, and Walt Whitman. This can be seen in the themes of nature, birth, and death.

                                                       

Works Cited

DaríoDario Rubén. "Fatality." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Longer 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 693. Print.

MartíMarti,  José. "I Am an Honest Man." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Longer 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 681-82. Print.

WhitWhitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Longer 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 648-53. Print.

Montaigne

Michael Montaigne wrote "Of Cannibals" and it is in The Norton Anthology of World Literature written by Ed. Martin Puchner. Montaige argued that barbarism can be best defined as whatever is not in one’s own practice.

Barbarism is defined in Dictionary.com as: “1. a brutal, coarse, or ignorant act 2. The condition of being backward, or ignorant. 3. A substandard or erroneously constructed or derived word or expression; solecism. 4. Any act or object that offends against acceptable taste” (“Dictionary.com”). I agree that different cultures may not agree on what is barbaric in relation to their own culture. According to Montaige: “I am heartily sorry that, judging their faults rightly, we should be so blind to our own” (1656). Cultures may disagree with one another on what is accepted behavior. In those case it is a matter that each culture has a different viewpoint. This is not a right or a wrong situation. In Sholapur, India, people drop a baby off of a rooftop of around fifty feet. This has been going on for seven hundred years. It is a very old practice. I do find it weird, but mostly I keep thinking how unsafe it is for an infant. The baby drooping ceremony has been around for hundreds of years. That does not make it more acceptable to market. I would not think of it. If we look at this event in relation to safety, the infant tossing is not safe at all. It is dangerous and could really hurt a baby. This is a fact and the events see not dependent on whether everyone believes or feels that way A baby could get hurt and this is not protecting the young.

Works Cited

“Barbarism”. Dictionary.com.Web.

DeMontaigne, Michel. "Of Cannibals." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third Addition ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 1651-1660. Print.

“Indian Baby Dropping Ritual at Baba Umer Durga. Huffington Post. web

Death

    Death is an inevitable part of life for everyone. Death was a constant situation in the Nazi concentration camps during World War Two. Death came by the evil doer Nazi soldiers. Death was everywhere in the concentration camps. The death camps even smelled of death. Death was a daily event. Paul Celon endured living in a concentration camp. His emotions, thoughts, and memories were a constant nightmare. Celon did survive the concentration camp. Paul Celon wrote about his experiences in a concentration camp during World War Two. Paul Celan wrote the poems “Deathfugue” and “Aspen Tree”. The poems can be found in The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set.

  The beginning of “Deathfugue” is about black milk. According to Paul Celan “Black Milk of daybreak we drink it at evening/we drink it at midday and morning we drink it at night/we shovel a grave in the air where you won’t lie too cramped” (Ins. 1-3). Black is used here as a meaning opposite of white. White is for angels, milk, light, clouds, and goodness. Black is associated with demons, bad food, dark, night, and evil. The prisoners saw death in the evening, midday, and morning. We shovel a grave in the air would be the spirits going to heaven. The part where Celan wrote “you won’t lie too cramped” refers to the death train and the over crowed conditions that led to death for some of the people. Celan wrote “he whistles his Jews into rows has them shovel a grave in the ground/he commands us play up for the dance (Ins. 10-11). The Nazi soldiers forced the Jews to dig graves and play dance tunes. The entire poem is about death.

  “Aspen Tree” is a short poem about Paul Celan’s mother who died in a Nazi concentration camp in the Ukrain. An Aspen Tree is also called a “shaking tree”. Celan makes reference to his mother shaking with fear about dying by the hand of the Nazis. The Aspen tree is also identified with color. According to Celon “Aspen tree, your leaves glance white into the dark. /My mother’s hair never turned white.”(Ins. 1-2). Celan’s mother, innocent and good, saw the black death from the evil Nazis. Celan’s mother was killed before she got a chance to grow old like she should have. According to Celan, the last two lines he wrote were:”Oaken door, who hove you off your hinge? /My gentle mother cannot return” (Ins.9-10). Here the oak is used in the poem. Oak trees are strong. The Nazis uprooted the tree to use to build their concentration camp. Lives were uprooted to be killed.  The Nazis even killed the strong people. Celan’s good mother would not return. Death was a daily event in the death camps. Paul Celan wrote “Deathfugue” and “Aspen Tree” about his experiences and the atrocities of the death camps during World War Two. 

Works Cited

Celan, Paul. “Deathfugue”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1469-1470. Print.

Celan, Paul. “Aspen Tree”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1469-1470. Print