Mortality and the afterlife
What Mortality and the afterlife means in English Literature A-Level, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of Mortality and the afterlife
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Reference: Pearson Edexcel
The speaker faces imminent death and transforms his sickbed into a site of spiritual preparation, with death and resurrection inextricably linked.
The poem's treatment of mortality within 17th-century Christian beliefs about the afterlife, which students must contextualise.
Topics that use Mortality and the afterlife
- Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – Metaphysical Poetry – John Donne Selected Poems (Penguin Classics, 2006) (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
- Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – Metaphysical Poetry – Metaphysical Poetry, editor Colin Burrow (Penguin, 2006) (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
Related terms
- Metaphysical conceit
- Microcosm and Macrocosm
- Mortality and Death
- Subversion of courtly love
- Alchemy and Science
- Art and Immortality
- Awakening and Enlightenment
- Christian faith and resurrection
Using Mortality and the afterlife in the exam
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