Entry 31: Comparing Poems

Compare and contrast the attitudes toward death in "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" and "The Cross of Snow." How important is it that one poem is about an unnamed traveler—probably standing for everyone—while the other is about a specific person? What is your opinion of the two attitudes toward death? Do you feel they are incompatible, or can they both be held simultaneously? In your own life, how do you feel about death? Write about what death as an abstract concept means to you, and compare/contrast that to what death means when it is up close and personal.

• I believe that the two poem's attitudes towards death contradict each other. Therefore, the two of them are incompatible. "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" implies that one should keep on living even if someone dies, because they are strangers, and the world will continue to go on - it won't stop for you. The other poem, "The Cross of Snow", however, is a sonnet in memory of Longfellow's wife. Despite the former saying to continue on, the latter cannot go on and griefs for Longfellow's wife for eighteen years and even more. 
• Concerning death, I believe that everyone will eventually meet this situation - it's part of a cycle. Even though I don't want to die, there is nothing I can do about it, so why not just accept it and live on? I also believe that we have to appreciate our life and the fact that we are still alive, and live our lives to the fullest (meaning no suicides and self blaming, etc.). 
• Close deaths influence us more than the death of a stranger because when someone close dies, the limbic system (part of brain that is associated with emotions) is activated. This makes it harder for someone to cope with death of a close one compared to the death of a stranger.