“Fatality,” by Ruben Dario is a poem about death and the amount of time a person is given. In “Fatality” there are many lines that depict the fear that comes from the so little time that humans are allowed to spend on earth. For example, Dario wrote, “The tree is happy because it is scarcely sentient; / the hard rock is happier still, it feels nothing: / there is no pain as great as being alive, / no burden heavier than that of conscious life” (1-4). I believe that Dario beautifully captured the fear of the unknown, especially in lines like “And the sure terror of being dead tomorrow, / and to suffer all through life and through the darkness, / and through what we do not know and hardly suspect . . . / And the flesh that tempts us with bunches of cool grapes, / and the tomb that awaits us with its funeral sprays, / and not to know where we go, / nor whence we came! (7-13). The theme of fearing the unknown and not wanting to die is a very popular one that is present in not only Dario’s works, but other areas of writing as well (such as in music).
This theme is shown in the music industry in songs such as “Forever Young” by Youth Group and “Moment for Life” by Nicki Minaj and Drake. In “Forever Young,” Youth Group addresses of the idea of embracing death and being remembered eternally as youthful and young; verses such as “Let us die young; let us live forever” and “Youth is like diamonds in the sun, and diamonds are forever” show the fascination that the lyricist has with opting not to live forever, but to be absolutely fabulous in the memories of all who knew the speaker and the spoken to in this song. In order to do this, this requires the them to live in the now, which also an issue that Nicki Minaj and Drake address in “Moment for Life.” In “Moment for Life,” there are verses such as “I fly with the stars in the skies. I am no longer trying to survive. I believe that life is a prize, but to live doesn’t mean you’re alive” that illustrate the gift that life is, and reinforce the need to live fabulously (much like the views in “Forever Young”) because you only get to live once. This opinion is also seen in film.
In film, a prime example that I can think of that reinforce this notion that one needs not to fret on the scarcity of time one has to live, but actually doing something with that life is Tuck Everlasting, a film based from the novel by Natalie Babbitt. In the film Tuck Everlasting, the character Winnie Forster is presented with the option to live for all eternity as a young and beautiful young woman with her love, Jesse Tuck and his family. While contemplating the choice, Angus Tuck, the father, says to Winnie, “What we Tucks have, you can’t call it living. We just are. We’re like rocks, stuck at the side of the stream . . . Don’t be afraid of death, Winnie. Be afraid of the unlived life.” What Angus said to Winnie made her decide to live a natural life and die because dying is part of the adventure. This is different from the perspective in “Fatality” because in “Fatality” death isn’t welcomed.
I, personally, think the best way to approach the fear of that comes with death is to embrace, and to live each day as if it is your last. People only have the opportunity to live once, and if you waste what life you have worrying about death, you never really get to live. So, while I can see the beauty in the words that Ruben Dario wrote in his poem, “Fatality,” I believe that the messages from the other works actually have a more positive outlook on life because they welcome the thought of death.
If you’re interested, here are links to Youth Group’s “Forever Young:”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQi8wEHMm5Y
Also, here is a link to Nicki Minaj’s “Moment for Life:”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7GW8TYCEG4
I suggest “Forever Young” more so than “Moment for Life” because I personally am not a fan of R&B music, but it’s really just whatever floats your boat.
No comments:
Post a Comment