This document discusses different perspectives on death and what may occur after death. It explores whether death is an enemy or natural part of life. Images described include joining ancestors and nature after our physical bodies return to the earth. The document emphasizes that all people die and we will not be alone, as death is a shared human experience regardless of one's life. Overall it presents a view of death as a gentle, natural part of the life cycle where individuals become part of something larger than themselves.

1. What is your vision of death? Where do we go after
we die? Describe the images you may see
after/during death. Is death the enemy or a natural
part of life? What important lessons has life/death
taught you?

3. • “Memento Mori” – decorations to remind
people that they will die one day

5. “Tempus Fugit” –
means time flies

6. “Carpe Diem” – Seize the day; live
life to the fullest; make a mark on
the world; be remembered

7. Main idea: all people die and
their remains return to earth
to become part of the whole
of nature.
•lines 8-15: People can derive
lessons from Nature. They
should look to this source
when they are feeling sad
and fearful about death.

8. • People’s thoughts near death:
Of the last bitter hour, sad
images of agony, shroud and
pall, narrow house (coffin or
grave)
• Nature described will help
those that are in harmony with
it, happiness and beauty, a
healing sympathy when dark
thoughts of death enter
human minds

9. • Lines 22-30
• Earth claims the body, individual being is
surrendered, human becomes brother to the
insensible rock, trees grow through it
• Emphasizes the relationship and closeness of
humans and nature.

10. Hopeful and joyous; there
is companionship; in
contrast with the
gloomier, solitary mood of
the first stanza

11. • When you die, you will not be alone. Joined by
patriarchs, kings, the wise, the good, the
beautiful, seers and other powerful humans.

12. Lines 48-50. More people buried in the earth
than alive on it. In Bryant’s time, fewer
people were alive on earth than the total
number who had previously died.

13. • Nature will decorate your tomb. Quiet
mountains, woods and majestic rivers grow on
top of graves. Melancholy ocean, the shining
sun, the stars and planets shine on death’s
resting places. Even in the quietest and most
lonely spots, the dead are present (54).

14. What happens to those that die
without friends?
• Not alone, have death
in common with the
human race. Even
those that continue to
laugh, brood, cry or
chase phantoms after
your death will one
day die and join you.

15. • Death is gentle, kindly, non-violent, in joining
together human kind with ancestors and
beauty of nature. Humans give up
individuality and become a part of a larger
whole.

16. Images of the afterlife and death
appear:
•Death as the innumerable caravan
•Afterlife is the mysterious realm.

17. Understanding and accepting
death = no fear.
•People should look forward
to a peaceful afterlife without
expecting the heaven
promised in religion.
•Everyone is equal in death

18. • Live fully while you can, but when the time
comes for you to join all those who have died
before you, you can meet death serenely, like
a person who is about to settle down to a
peaceful nap.