Everyone in their life has faced the death of a loved one and the experience of grief that comes along with it. There is no passing that step. It is a universal phenomenon that is always experienced yet seen in varying ways. Death has many effects to those that are living, and there is variation to how living people are able to process death. There is a certain grieving that most experience but then move on from it, like the character of the boy in The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Then, there are others that do not live through it and never escape the process until the day they die which can be seen in Edgar Allen Poe’s “Annabel Lee” . Additionally, there are some who do not personally feel for the deceased but still grieve …show more content…
Everyone feels something when they lose someone close to them like a father, spouse, or mother. Grief has many different stages such as denial, isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. People can experience these stages in any order and in a number of intensities. The stages can also be shown as emotional, physical, or social. Some people cry and hide away from the world for a bit. Some go into a deep depression and feel numb. On the contrary, there are others who experience rage and break walls. No way is the wrong way to grieve. During the grieving process, there is also usually a mourning process, the outward expression for the loss. This mostly includes certain cultural rituals for the dead so the living can understand the end of life and more easily express the same sorrow that they feel. Most have experienced a funeral at least once in their …show more content…
They fester on the memory of them for the rest of time. This can be seen through the poem Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe. The speaker is unable to let Annabel Lee or the love for her rest, and she it not gone from his brain. He speaks about their love as being like no other. The poem states, “But our love it was stronger by far than the love/Of those who were older than we—/Of many far wiser than we—” (27-29). The speaker goes on for lines about how in love they were, showing that Annabel Lee was obviously someone extremely important in their life, like a spouse. The American Psychological Association states that, “Forty percent of people who lose a spouse experience generalized anxiety or panic syndromes in the first year” (Kersting n.p.). The speaker is panicking that their true love has gone away. He cannot deal with that fact and holds the feelings in his heart for as long as he can. His grieving is so intense for her that it does not stop. The poem then goes on to say, “And so, all the night-tide, i lie down by the side/of my darling—my darling—my life” (38-39). The speaker talks as if she is still alive and there lying next to him, showing that he is suffering from a syndrome of complicated grief. This type of grief happens when there are prolonged grief systems, such as hanging onto the lost one, and is constantly in a sad state. In addition, there is a mourning process that will never fade away. The