Art and Literature

How does art deal with death?

Although this is quite an extensive collection of materials, it is of course, only a small sample of available material. Look at the comments provided on some of the poems. Students could be asked to analyze other selections in the same way. They could contrast various selections, choosing a poem that relates to a painting or a musical composition. Provide students with a selection of the pieces and ask them to divide them into categories. E.g. War, Odes to a Loved One, Reflections on the Nature of Death…

Other poetry formats could also be used, eg. The haiku, even the limerick!

Any one of these extracts can provide interesting material for analysis. This may lead to a broader analysis of one of the plays, or of the sonnet form. Have students look closely at symbols such as light and darkness, waking and sleeping as an introduction to metaphors.

These quotes have strong moral messages to convey. Ask students to try rewriting them as a contemporary message. Similar collections from other religious texts would make an interesting comparison.

Choose a quote from this page, research the life of this person. Who were they? What have they done? What makes them a memorable person in history? Do their last words reflect some important aspect of their life? Present a short presentation to the class on this person.

An interesting literary form, the obituary quite a formal structure and specified content. Have students collect samples and identify these "rules." The values a society holds dear can be identified from the achievements and accolades listed in obits.