Themes of Love, Life, and Death in Literature
Key Motifs and Their Significance
Love
Post Mortem Love (Love Beyond Death)
The eternal nature of love, a sentiment that persists after physical death.
Bonus Amor (Love Good)
The positive nature of spiritual love.
Ferus Amor (Wild Love)
The negative nature of physical love and sexual passion.
Amor Mixtus (Mixed Love)
The complex nature of physical and spiritual love when experienced together.
Life
Beatus Ille (Happy is He)
In praise of country life; rural versus urban bustle and courtesy.
Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)
An invitation to enjoy youth and make use of time before aging and death.
See: Colligan, Virgo, Rosas and Irreparabile Tempus Fugit
Colligan, Virgo, Rosas (Gather, Virgin, the Roses)
The unrecoverable nature of youth and beauty: an invitation to enjoy love (symbolized by the rose) before time passes.
See: Carpe Diem
Contemptus Mundi (Contempt for the World)
Contempt for the world and earthly life, seen as a vale of tears and sorrow.
Descriptio Puellae (Description of the Girl)
Physical manifestations of fading youth, enumerated in descending order: head, neck, hands, etc.
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus (While We Live, Let Us Live)
The conception of human life as transitory, with an invitation to enjoyment and pleasure.
Irreparabile Fugit Tempus (Time Flies Irretrievably)
The irrecoverable nature of time, evoking the fleeting condition of human life.
Furor Amoris (Passionate Love)
Love as a disease that defies reason.
Homo Viator (Man the Traveler)
The itinerant nature of human life, existence as a journey or pilgrimage.
See: Peregrinatio Vitae
Ignis Amoris (The Fire of Love)
Love as an inner fire and a madness that negates reason.
Locus Amoenus (Pleasant Place)
The mythical ideal landscape, described through its components (meadow, stream, tree, etc.) and often related to love.
Memento Mori (Remember You Must Die)
Death as the inevitable end of life: a cautionary reminder.
Militia Hominis Super Terra Vita Est (Man’s Life on Earth is Warfare)
The warlike character of human life, a continuous battle against men, society, and fate.
Species Amoris Militia Est (Love is a Kind of Warfare)
Love as a conflict or confrontation between lovers.
Mors Omnia Aequat (Death Makes All Equal)
The egalitarian nature of death, which does not discriminate.
Oculos Sicarii (Killer Eyes)
The murderous symbolic nature of the gaze.
Peregrinatio Vitae (The Journey of Life)
The temporary nature of human life as a path.
See: Homo Viator
Quomodo Fabula, Sic Vita (As in a Play, So is Life)
Human life as a unique and unrepeatable drama.
See: Vita-Theatrum
Quotidie Morimur (Every Day We Die)
Time’s decisive role in human life, each moment a step toward death.
Recusatio (Rejection)
Rejection of the values and attitudes of others.
Religio Amoris (Cult of Love)
The alienating character of love, a disease or servitude.
Ruiter Tempus (Time Runs)
The ephemeral nature of time and life, leading inevitably to death.
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Thus Passes Worldly Glory)
The temporary nature of human fortune and reputation.
Somnium, Imago Mortis (Sleep, the Image of Death)
The appearance of death in the repose of sleep.
Theatrum Mundi (The Theater of the World)
The world and life as dramatic scenarios where men play roles in a pre-written work.
See: Vita-Theatrum
Ubi Sunt (Where Are They?)
The unknown beyond death, questioned through the fate of the deceased.
Vanitas Vanitatum (Vanity of Vanities)
The deceptiveness of appearances, requiring rejection of human ambition.
Varium et Mutabile Semper Femina (Variable and Changeable, Always the Woman)
The unstable nature of women, presented from a misogynistic perspective.
Venatus Amoris (The Hunt of Love)
Love as a hunt for the beloved.
Vita-Militia (Life as Warfare)
Human existence as a constant struggle against adversity.
Vita-Flumen (Life as a River)
The flowing nature of human existence, moving towards death like a river to the sea.
Vita-Somnium (Life as a Dream)
Life as an unrealistic, passing dream or fiction.
Vita-Theatrum (Life as Theater)
Human existence as a unique dramatization of a vital role.