four steps to success
For many human beings, death is feared greatly. Maybe it is the mystery surrounding it, maybe it is mystery of what happens after it, or maybe it's the fear that one can no longer be with his or her loved ones. Whatever the case may be, it is a known fact that death can often lead to mourning, anger, and loneliness. In the poems "To Think of Time" and "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, however, Whitman presents a different perspective of death, in which he shows the positive aspects of death. In fact, Whitman presents the goodness and "luck" of death in his explanation of the eternal soul. While Whitman's view of death may have differed from society, his own view remained the same, in both "To Think of Time," and in the section of "Song of Myself" known as "The Sermon" (Chants 42-50). Here, Whitman presents a lecture of sorts, in which he guides human beings through the many aspects of their lives. Most important in this, though, is Whitman's perspective that human being should be accepting of death. In doing so, Whitman actually ends up describing a four-step process for all humans to accept death. The first step Whitman describes to achieve this is acknowledging that there is a more important life waiting for us
But instead of sounding repetitive, Whitman expands on his idea when he says, "These also flow onward to others. Here, Whitman emphasizes the fact that a happy life continues after death, through the eternal soul, which lives on and on. He says, "Have you feared the future would be nothing to you? Is today nothing? Is the beginningless past nothing? / If the future is nothing they are just as surely nothing" ("Time," ll. Finally, by doing this, one will be able to have a greater focus in life, on what Whitman would consider to be more important things, leading one to have a greater acceptance of death, because of the amount of preparation that has gone into it. Whitman says, "It is not chaos or death. In "Song of Myself," Whitman says, "A few quadrillions of eras, a few octillians of cubic leagues, do not hazard the span, or make it impatient, / They are but parts. The fourth and final step Whitman gives for humans is to recognize the eternal soul. Therefore, Whitman knew that by presenting a step-by-step way for humans to be accepting of death, he could essentially appease those that are worried about the great beyond.
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Acceptance Essays
