Turner’s attitude towards death in the poem ‘On finding a small fly crushed in a book’ is presented

as realistic and shows that death is inevitable. This is implied in the quote ‘our doom is ever near’,
which means that with every second that passes, we are closer to the day of our death. No one
knows the exact day they will pass away; however, we know that day will come sooner or later.
Turner explores death as the one thing that is certain and inevitable in our lives. We can’t stop this
natural process no matter how hard we try. The word ‘doom’ symbolises ‘the end’ or an
‘apocalypse’. This creates the effect that all of us will come to the endpoint, and all of us are
going to have our ‘judgement day’. Secondly, the phrase ‘the book will close upon us’ suggests
that our lives are determined before birth. ‘Book’ can represent the power of god as he is the only
one that has access to our death. It can also be seen as the fact that death will come and can
happen very suddenly, just like it happened for the fly. We might get into an accident and never
return. Thirdly, the quote ‘the closing book’ shows the inevitability of death. After reading a book,
we must close it after reading the last sentence. The same rule applies to life itself; after our last
breath, our ‘book’ is closed, and our story is over. The word ‘closing’ symbolises the end of
something. Lastly, the phrase ‘our page of death’ presents that our lives are already written. We
have no absolute control over what happens or how and when we die. Every book has its ending,
and the same goes for our lives; each life has its ending. ‘Death’ is not portrayed as something
scary or negative; it’s instead shown as a natural process that we cannot escape.

Furthermore, Turner’s attitude towards death in this poem is presented as negative and implies
that after relatives grieve us, we will eventually be forgotten. The quote ‘that the memories’ means
that after we decay, all that is going to be left of us are memories that will live in people’s minds.
The individuals that will cherish these memories are the closest people to us, such as family
members and friends. After they disappear from the surface of this earth, no one will remember us
for who we were. The word ‘memories’ show that we have to impact a person for them to
remember us after we pass away. A random person you walked past will not remember you;
however, a person you spend time with will. Secondly, the phrase ‘we lift ourselves to soar away’
implies we might die before living our lives. We may not have enough time to leave a lasting
impact on our world, which results in us being forgotten over time. We often want to take action
when it’s already too late. The word ‘soar away’ symbolises a painful and challenging process that
becomes easier over time. Grief is a complex emotion; however, over time, it gets easier and not
too long after the person’s death, we think of them less and less. They eventually get forgotten as
years and centuries pass. Thirdly, the quote ‘stop our vital breath’ suggests that the beautiful part
of our existence ends together with our decaying bodies. The word ‘stop’ shows how sudden
everything is, one second, we are thriving, and the next, we are gone. Death can come as a shock
and may be unexpected. However, we get over that person over time and generations later, no
one will know who they were. Lastly, the phrase ‘leave no lustre’ represents the lack of shine in
our death. There is nothing significant about our individual lives. Billions of people lived before us;
however, we don’t know about them, same as generations from now, no one will know of us. We
don’t have a great ‘impact’ on the world just by living.