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SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS

USING THE ARTS

Using the arts to teach thanatology offers the educator a evocative method to reach the emotions of students. Here are some selections for high school and college students, written by professional poets and others which can stimulate thought and the emotions behind them.


BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH
Emily Dickenson (1830-1856)

Because I could not stop for Death-
He kindly stopped for me-
The Carriage held but just Ourselves-
And Immortality.

We slowly drove- He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labour and my leisure too,
For His Civility-

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess-in the Ring-
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-
We passed the Setting Sun-

Or rather-He passed Us-
The Dews drew quivering and chill-
For only Gossamer, my Gown-
My Tippet-only Tulle-

We paused before a house
A Swelling of the Ground-
The Roof was scarcely visible
The Cornice-in the Ground

Since then-'tis Centuries-and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity-

Buffalo Bill's Defunct, E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)

Buffalo Bill's
defunct
        who used to
        ride a watersmooth-silver
                stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive piegeonsjustlikethat
                        Jesus

he was a handsome man
                and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death?


RESURRECTIONS AND IMMORTALITIES

Man should believe in immortality; he has a right to the belief; it meets the wants of his nature, and he may also believe in the promises of religion. But for a philosopher to attempt to deduce the immortality of the soul from a legend is very weak and ineffectual. For me, the eternal existence of my soul is proved from my idea of activity.


CONVERSATIONS WITH EKERMANN
Goethe, 1829

Man should believe in immortality; he has a right to the belief; it meets the wants of his nature, and he may also believe in the promises of religion. But for a philosopher to attempt to deduce the immortality of the soul from a legend is very weak and ineffectual. For me, the eternal existence of my soul is proved from my idea of activity.


A CHILD IN THE 90's
Derwent May (1930)

'Daddy, how old is Groucho Marx?'
  'Sorry, dear boy, he's dead.'
'Gosh! And Chico? Oh yes, and Harpo?'
  'Dead. All of them dead.'
'Daddy, is Lassie very old?'
  'Dogs die young, you know.'
'Will Hay's good! Is he dead too?'
  'Thirty years ago.'

'Daddy, if Elvis comes this way
  Can we go and hear him?'
'Elvis stays in Memphis now,
  Blue carnations near him.'
'Sossidge is on again tonight.'
  'That was Joyce Grenfell, eh?'
'Was? Oh, Daddy, did she die?'
  'Just the other day.'

This is immortality
  Never dreamed of yet:
Life because a child sits by
  A television set.
'Gary Cooper's good on horses.'
  'That was his last ride.'
'Disney must be very rich.'
  'Was, until he died.'

But the child who's sitting there
  Starts to love each day
People who at natural breaks
  Death will take away.

'John Wayne - Bogey - Errol Flynn -
  Are they full of lead?'
'Darling, it wasn't quite like that -
  But all of them are dead.'

JOYCE, BY HERSELF AND FRIENDS
Joyce Grenfell (1910-1979)

If I should go before the rest of you
Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone,
Nor when I'm gone speak in a Sunday voice
But be the usual selves that I have known.
Weep if you must,
Parting is hell,
But life goes on,
So sing as well.