Talking about Death - Western Culture V

It was possible, however, to treat death without restraint. The subject was given its most extreme forms of expression in the Romantic movements of painting, sculpture, poetry, and drama that began in the late eighteenth century, but it had more mundane outlets in everyday life.

In the closely-knit social groups of the 18th century, the death of each person affected the life of every other. Death, like life, was a communal affair. By the 19th century, this was no longer the case. Feelings which had previously been diffused within the community were now concentrated within the immediate family.

With this concentration of emotion came an unprecedented intensity and tenacity of family feeling. In these circumstances, death had new meaning. The decease of a family member was a barely tolerable event, the cause of an emotional dilemma. The grief of the survivors took novel and acute forms, both in public and in private. Outward manifestations of grief, like funeral and burial customs, reflected inward transformations. Other manifestations included a new imagery of death, both visual and literary.