Death the Leveller Essay Example

Death the Leveller Essay Example Death the Leveller Paper Death the Leveller Paper Essay Topic: Maus The statement Death is a leveller means that no matter how youve lived your life, when you die we are all made equal. The two poems Death the leveller by James Shirley and Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley, are expressed in different ways, yet have the same intensions. They show us that everybody is eventually brought to the same level, death, but Shelley wrote about one person imparticular Ozymandias.Shirley wrote a poem at the time of the civil war, he was also a follower and supporter of King Charles, the King was charged with high treason but refused to recognise court. He thought a King cannot be tried by any superior jurisdiction on earth, so Charles was beheaded at Whitewall and buried in Windsor. He was thought of not as the King he was, but as a tyrant, murderer and pubic enemy, even though he was a King he was not protected, it creates a cold feeling like hes seen death.Shirley began his poem in very optimistic words by using glories in the first line. Shirley extends the military image by saying there is no armour against Fate, hes saying that whats done is done. but in the second line he contradicts himself, by using a more definite statementAre shadows, not substantial things;There is no armour against Fatethese lines are more negative than the first, showing a contrast between the two and is expressed in different ways. Fate has a capital letter so that it shows its importance. On the forth line kings has not been given a capital letter so that means that there is no importance, lays his icy hand on kings Death has been personified, given human qualities, even if youre a king you will eventually die because it is inevitable. Crown and down are rhyming couplets, it means that the Crown is above and other people are at the bottom, saying that royalty is at the top but its not true, we are all equal to each other.With the poor crooked scythe and spadeUsing the words scythe and spade is indicating they are harvesting death, making an image of death c utting people down and digging graves.Some men with swords may reap the fieldIn line nine Shirley is praising men who fought in battle with swords, the image has been extended again but this time it is the harvesting, he describes the men as if they were very heroic and brave.Early or lateThey stoop to fateyour heads must comeTo the cold tombThese 4 lines are both rhyming couplets, and they have both been fit onto smaller lines than the rest of the poem. The first quote means that if you are young or old then it is inevitable that you will die. The second quote is describing a big cold tomb like a mausoleum, and is a definite statement. On the seventeenth line the poet is making it more person by saying your brow instead of someone elses, then on the next line Shirley is personifying death again and given it importance by using a capital letter for the D in death. He also mentions a purple alter, an alter has religious purposes and therefore he is mentioning religion and royalty. vi ctor-victim has been linked together using a hyphen.Only the actions of the justSmell sweet and blossom in their dustIn these lines Shirley uses alliteration and is emphasizing what we become when we die and summing-up everything that he has mentioned in his poem Death the Leveller, but this has also been shown in another poem about an Egyptian Pharaoh named Ramases.