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    English Literature A-Level

    Time and Mortality

    What Time and Mortality means in English Literature A-Level, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.

    Definitions of Time and Mortality

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    Reference: Pearson Edexcel

    The paradox of frozen time, in which the figures depicted are immortal yet denied the fulfilment of real life, such as the bold lover who will never kiss his beloved.
    Pearson Edexcel · Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – The Romantic Period – English Romantic Verse, editor David Wright (Penguin Classics, 1973) (study guide)
    The destructive force of time and the decay of the physical world, which the poem sets against the enduring nature of spiritual love.
    Pearson Edexcel · Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – Metaphysical Poetry – John Donne Selected Poems (Penguin Classics, 2006) (study guide)
    The speaker's underlying anxiety about time, explored through the defensive nature of his hyperbole.
    Pearson Edexcel · Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – Metaphysical Poetry – John Donne Selected Poems (Penguin Classics, 2006) (study guide)
    The urn freezes a moment of modern life, reflecting the immortalising power of art.
    Pearson Edexcel · Component 3: Poetry – Section A: Post-2000 Poetry – Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry 2002–2011 (study guide)

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