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Aging and death are inevitable parts of life and, as such, have a significant representation in culture. Different societies place different meaning on those things, some viewing death as the ultimate end to ones existence, while others believing that it is only a transition to a different state of being. While medicine is almost universally interested in preventing death, or at least mitigating the negative effects of aging, in popular culture aging can be associated with nobility and wisdom.
Comparisons
Philip Larkins The Old Fools and Shakespeares Sonnet 64 present contrasting views of aging and mortality. In The Old Fools, aging and ultimately death are represented as a disintegration and loss of identity, an isolation and separation between ones inner self and outer, a state between here and there (Larkin, 1973). Shakespeares (1609c) representation of mortality and death is similarly inevitable, but in this inevitability it strengthens ones identity.
Immortality, freedom from death, is also viewed differently in sources. Death be not Proud by John Donne (1633) shows it as liberating one from the slavery of war, poison, desperate men, and other dangers. Lord Tennysons (1860) Tithonius, referencing the eponymous character from Greek myth, reminds the reader that eternal life without eternal youth is a terrible fate. Thus, while the former presents immortality as freeing quality, for Tennyson, its a source of dread.
In Sonnets 5 and 63, Shakespeare (1609a; 1609b) represents time and its passage as inevitable, but a source of fond memories as ones negative experiences fade away. Donnes (1633) Death, be not Proud, similarly, shows time as capable of healing wounds.
Between Larkins The Old Fools and Tennysons Tithonius, mortality and immortality are represented similarly to one another. As Larkins (1973) old people become isolated, feeble, confused, and start forgetting their identity, so does Tennysons (1860) Tithonius. Both characters become isolated from their surroundings, The old fools ultimately die, whereas Tithonius is doomed to being unable to connect to those around him.
References
Donne, J. (1633). Death, be not Proud. Poetry Foundation.
Larkin, P (1973). The Old Fools. All Poetry.
Shakespeare, W. (1609a). Sonnet 5. Shakespeares Sonnets.
Shakespeare, W. (1609b). Sonnet 63. Shakespeares Sonnets.
Shakespeare, W. (1609c). Sonnet 64. Shakespeares Sonnets.
Tennyson, Lord Alfred (1860). Tithonius. Poetry Foundation.
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