Exploring Themes of Death in the Poetry of Clara Codd and Dorothy Codd: A Spiritual and Humanistic Perspective

Abstract

Recalling the poetry's theme of death, this research analyses how leading figures in the Theosophical Society- Clara Codd and Dorothy Codd- addressed it. Built on theosophical principles, Clara Codd interprets death as a calm return to ascended spiritual realms. In poems such as He Cometh, she uses the image of darkness turning into day to stand for the progress from soul-darkness. There, she emphasizes the re-birth cycle of life, and that our soul never dies from where we accept comfort from a spiritualist point of view, which takes death not as finishing but merely evolving to something more significant. Dorothy Codd takes your heart and soul below the surface of humanity in her collection Darker Matters to explore what it feels like when you are dying on a psychological and emotional level. In her works, such as “During A Vigil”, she looks at the sadness, loss and continuity of life with deceased people. Dorothy approaches her account in death and the Compass with a certain pungency that assuredly will hit home for some, as she contemplates life on Earth after death; what does it mean to live once someone close suddenly leaves us? Key themes of Dorothy Codd and her death inquiry; influences upon Clara Dodd's portrayal of death due to Theosophical upbringing and how their views differ and intersect are some research issues that later surface. Clara leans on spiritual transcendence, while Dorothy favors emotional connectedness with intriguing juxtapositions that balance our understanding of death as a unique journey for each individual (one which adds new shades to what has become hackneyed in some respects). These poems explore death in all its guises and with an emotional complexity that makes them more profound than mere intellectual exercises.