Biblical and modernist representations of death and faith

¶ … Wasteland" by T.S. Eliot

In this passage, Eliot invokes the image of Christ (the Son of Man). Eliot paints a picture of modern life where all faith is dead. False idols or images have been shattered, as occurred with incident of the Golden Calf in the book of Exodus, but there is nothing in their place in modernity. The eternally regenerative tree of life (also a reference to the cross) is now dead, and gives no fruit -- or comfort. The stone split by Moses, another Biblical reference, gives no water -- and also no prophesy for the future.

"Design" by Robert Frost

Frost is chilled by the sight of a moth captured in a spider's web. Frost wonders what force brought the moth in contact with the spider's web. Such a small, apparently chance event ended the moth's life, yet sustained the spider's life. Frost seems uncertain, but equally disturbed at the prospect that God by divine design or fate by cold chance precipitated this occurrence.

"The Dead" by James Joyce

Gabriel, for the first time, understood how the dead Michael Furey still lived within the soul of his wife, Gretta. The snow outside was falling, and he also understood that the snow -- and death -- just like all other natural forces in the world affected everyone equally. He was no exception: neither his intellect nor being loved by a woman could save him from death.