Even for those to whom life and death are equal jests. There are some things that are still held in respect.
Interpretation
Life and death are not serious to some, yet certain matters still command respect.
In this quote, Edgar Allan Poe reflects on the perspective that some individuals view life and death as trivial, yet he emphasizes that there are still aspects of existence that should be treated with dignity and reverence. This highlights the duality of human experience, acknowledging that while some may adopt a light-hearted approach to such profound themes, there are still fundamental truths and values that deserve respect.
In practice
This quote can be shared in a discussion about the different attitudes people have towards life and death during a philosophy class.
But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
Most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes.
...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?
In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.
The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard
Possibility, infinity, beauty -- none of those words were right. [...] What he really wanted to say was: have you felt this? this phantom life streaking like a phosphorescent hound at the edges of your ruin?
I don't care what color you are, what size you are, where you're from. It is disturbing that there's an idea that only tall, thin, willowy, size 0 women are attractive - even for the tall, thin, willowy, size 0 woman! We all should get to feel like there's something powerful and beautiful about who we are.
The essential idea of Stoicism in my interpretation is, you don't control the world around you, you control how you respond. At 19, that's very empowering.
Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.
Lots of Orthodox go to church every Sunday but don't know much about the faith. Yet they know that there is something that they don't know much about.
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