Death Across Modern Literature: Dylan Thomas, Wilfred Owen, and Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge" Anonymous College

Death has been a prominent theme across literature, with its countless interpretations showcasing the diverse ways it has influenced different authors. Thomas Hardy's novel The Mayor of Casterbridge is described by Hardy as "The life and death of a man of character", and commences as events begin to lead Henchard to his death. Dylan Thomas, however, was able to base his depiction of death on how it was affecting his own life at the time of his writing. He wrote his poetry across a large expanse of time, from a young man unaffected by personal death, to an adult who had lost his father and experienced war. Wilfred Owen on the other hand was surrounded by loss as he wrote his poetry, in which he recounted the horrors of death that he and his comrades experienced. He is revered as one of the highest acclaimed poets of the Great War, the same war that took his life.

Thomas began to write when he was a teenager and his poems were quickly inspired by death, most notable within "And death shall have no dominion", his first published poem. Thomas used the theme of death to inspire the conception that no matter what kind of life you lead, death would never truly have control of you. This is demonstrated within the line "when their bones...