# How does Poetry develop the theme of Death and Mortality?

> Poetry by Langston Hughes

## Answer

Poetry by Langston Hughes develops Death and Mortality across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.

Death is a recurring motif, from the seductive calm of 'Suicide's Note' to the violent lynching in 'Song for a Dark Girl,' and the existential weariness in 'Weary' and 'Young Gal's Blues.'

The poem directly addresses the death of flowers in autumn, using their decay and dispersal as a metaphor for mortality.

Death is personified as a collector, prompting reflection on the ultimate equality or inequality of human worth in the afterlife.

The poem directly addresses the finality of death and the enduring absence of the departed.

## Evidence

- [autumn-thought](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/autumn-thought.md): The poem directly addresses the death of flowers in autumn, using their decay and dispersal as a metaphor for mortality.
- [question](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/question.md): Death is personified as a collector, prompting reflection on the ultimate equality or inequality of human worth in the afterlife.
- [to-a-dead-friend](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/to-a-dead-friend.md): The poem directly addresses the finality of death and the enduring absence of the departed.
- [song-for-a-banjo-dance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/song-for-a-banjo-dance.md): The repeated warning that the sun might never rise again frames the dance as a defiant act against the certainty of death.
- [the-last-feast-of-belshazzar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/the-last-feast-of-belshazzar.md): Death is personified as a figure standing at the door, underscoring the inescapable end that follows worldly indulgence.
- [fire-caught](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/fire-caught.md): The moth's fall into the fire symbolizes death as the ultimate consequence of desire.
- [song-for-a-suicide](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/song-for-a-suicide.md): The poem directly addresses suicide and the desire for death as a final, restful end to suffering.
- [prayer-for-a-winter-night](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/prayer-for-a-winter-night.md): Death is invoked as a release from suffering, with the speaker asking God to freeze the poor to death.

## Links

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