dance of death also called danse macabre or skeleton dance.
Medieval allegorical concept of the all-conquering and equalizing power of death, expressed in the drama, poetry, music, and visual arts of western Europe mainly in the late Middle Ages. Strictly speaking, it is a literary or pictorial representation of a procession or dance of both living and dead figures, the living arranged in order of their rank, from pope and emperor to child, clerk, and hermit, and the dead leading them to the grave. The dance of death had its origins in late 13th- or early 14th-century poems that combined the essential ideas of the inevitability and the impartiality of death. The concept probably gained momentum in the late Middle Ages as a result of the obsession with death inspired by the Black Death in the mid-14th century and the devastation of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) between France and England.

"Dance of Death." Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 July 2011.

The white dog is a mysterious and seemingly mythological figure within Terry Kay’s To Dance with the White Dog. The imagery of dancing with the white dog suggests an allusion to the Danse Macabre. How does the story support this idea as shown in the attitudes of Nellie and Sam’s family? In the symbolism of color? In Sam’s attitude toward and relationship to the white dog? In the mystery surrounding the white dog? Write and essay developing support for this idea, especially in relation to Sam’s trips to the graveyard and the final resolution of the novel.

Resources

Requirements