“Scott, all poems are about death.” What an insight, and I largely agree. Every poem is about birth, death, or life in between. And since nothing is eternal, all poems could be view form the perspective of death. I think understanding the concept of dying, and thus time, is the most fundamental aspect of what makes us human. And our attempts to reconcile that knowledge with our wish to not have our lives, loves, and relationships ended is where art comes from. There would be no need to paint now, dance now, or write now if we had time and life everlasting.

It magnifies our appreciation, or lack thereof, of life.

I do think it's true about all stories. Death is the great metaphor at the heart of all change, and all good stories are about change in some fashion. Because change isn't just "oh, I'm different now." Change, like death, is a process with a result that we can't truly know until we do it. It's the loss of an old way, and then the leap into the mystery. And when we see a character make that leap and experience the consequences -- failure or success, sorrow or joy, lose or win -- we get to experience it too. That's why humans share stories. Death is the great change. The other changes of life, the things we grab and hold and love, and then someday have to lose -- those things are the rehearsal. All our stories are our ways of reporting back about those moments. Even good comedies are about death in this way. It's just that we laugh in recognition of the loss and the leap into the mystery, instead of crying or shouting with joy or falling into bed with our sweeties, or drinking wine and talking about the movie until 2 AM. Oh my, I think I will stop before I use up the whole internet talking about this. Great question, Scott, thank you.

As writers, we're all just trying to work through our own crap. I started writing at 18, when my father died. Two years later, I lost my younger brother in a car accident. I wrote a play, poems, journals. I didn't go to therapy, I went to the page. I tortured my characters until I could breathe again. And now, 17 years later, it pops up in everything I write.

In the Hero's Journey, the hero has a death and rebirth. He has to give up his old ways before he embraces the new ways that allow him to conquer the villain.

Death is the only finality in our lives. Everything else exists with possibilities abound, but death is inescapable. Seems natural that as storytellers we'd gravitate to something so feared and unknown.

Death is not only about change but it is the ultimate mystery. We don't know for certain what happens next but in writing about it we get to make our own story decisions.

As a novice, I'm still writing to my cliches, and one of them is that in my action/thriller material, with the exception of one piece, I always have a murder in the first four or five pages. Why? Because I found it to be a particularly effective way to start a story midway through, with at least two characters, the killer and the victim, for which the audience will have an interest, and questions where answers are uncovered by the protagonist whose journey is kick-started by the event It emotionally elicits two responses: sympathy towards the undeserving victim, and a sense of triumphant justice against the bad guy. Other situations, such as self-sacrifice, play to our highest sense of human nobility, that a man (or woman) would give up their lives for love or because it's the right thing to do.

Could it be said that "all art is about death?" It represents the transcendent experience that only mankind can fathom. Without death, there is no conflict.

Death is an experience we will all share, yet it is in our very nature to avoid it as much as possible. Our greatest instinct is that of survival. As all stories are about conflict, it stands to reason that we often use the greatest conflict we know of: live vs. Death. It has often been remarked in the spec scripts and loglines of those writers still learning the craft that the stakes in their stories just aren’t high enough – what is the worst that can happen if their protag doesn’t achieve their goal? Death, therefore, is an ultimate stakes game, and is one we can all relate too, a bit like the orphan question from yesterday (be it because we are an orphan or we can quite readily imagine what it would be like to be one). I have, over the last few years, taken a keen interest in philosophy. Plato famously called philosophy a preparation for death. I wonder if the same can be said of storytelling. Personally, I think that philosophy and storytelling boil down to both preparations for living and dying – having led a worthwhile existence so I can slip into death knowing that I’d done my best (although I’m quite far from my best at the moment, but I’m slowly edging towards it, or at least I hope I am).

Thought-provoking question of a morning there, if all stories (or indeed, all art as Nick West argues) are about Death then it must be Death as a transitory process; the destruction of something leading to its rebirth, rather than its Final End. But then there's a poem from the romantics I'm sure encapsulates what Claude McIver says about our meaning of life stemming from the fact that there's an end to it - in fact that sounds like every romantic poet's complete back catalogue. But then does that contradict the idea of rebirth posited above? What a conundrum!

All stories are about transformation, and in order to transform, the protagonist must face death - and some part of him, his old life, or his old relationships must die. Change is destruction. In order to achieve a rebirth, some part of you has to be destroyed. No accident that death/ rebirth motifs in films are often the most powerful and emotional moments in film (think ET, etc). The characters are fulfilling our most powerful wish - to break free of our flawed selves like a butterfly emerging, and becoming something new.

You could also say all poems are about love. Not merely romantic love, but in a wider, all-encompassing spiritual way that may need a separate site to discuss. (Hint: the only true love is unconditional: wonderful to receive and to give oneself and others. Gotta remember to do that more often...) The relationship between love and death? If you believe nothing is lost in "death" (as science does) then it truly is just change; transforming into a different form and/or reality. Where's the love come in? Trusting that process and knowing everything is going to be okay. It's a good way to live.

It could be said that true love is the willingness to sacrifice yourself for another. So, love leads us back to death. Nice comment Sojourner. I dig it.

Again some terrific analysis and reflections on the question. Let me add this point: One of the great powers of story is that it allows us to confront and experience some of our deepest fears in a safe way. We can close a book. We can turn off a TV show. We can walk out of a movie theater. So when we hear, watch or listen to a story, we can give ourselves over to it knowing that we are safe because at any point, if what we experience becomes too much for us, we can leave. Story is also safe because even as we become immersed in it, pulled into that universe through its characters, while we experience the story in a very 'real' way, we know that it is an illusion. So again whatever frightening things we endure or go through in a story, they are safe because they are metaphors, not the real thing. So what is the single biggest, most existential fear we have? Death. As much as we go about our lives, keeping death at bay and out of mind, it is there with our every waking and sleeping moment, the knowledge that each of us is born with an expiration date. Why do so many stories feature death? Because at times we need to confront the reality of death and the safest way to do that is in the context of a story. Joseph Campbell talks about this in relation to many of indigenous people's stories tied to initiation rites. When young people hear these stories about death over and over, they help to prepare the listener for their transition from childhood -- where death is an illusion -- to adulthood -- where death is a very real possibility. Story is a safe environment in which to experience that which we fear. And in those experiences, we acknowledge the truth of life, that it has a terminus point, and that in turn helps prepare us for the eventuality of death.

Death AND taxes.