The decadent poems read in class offered interesting views on life, death and decay along and how that pairs with the scientific and fantastical world. One poem that stuck out was Epitaph by Amy Levy which is centered on a man being on his death bed connecting it to the decadence movement because its actively focusing on death and how the process goes. The opening lines state that “This is the end of him, here he lies: The dust in his throat, the worms in his eyes” (373). The focus of this sentence is the “end” of the man and his resting place, but it’s paired with the more grotesque details of dust and worms being present. Then when placed in context of an Epitaph which is on a common person who died in bed, it places the man’s manner of death in context of his social class too. One line that reveals the influence of social standing in relation to how you die is “Never ask for bread, get a stone instead, Never pretend that the stone is bread” (pg 373). By placing bread and stone in a same sentence as if they’re comparable, this could be perceived as a commentary on social classes because wanting “bread” yet, receiving stone could be perceived as lack of access to what one may want and need. The advice of “never pretend that the stone is bread” shows that one which is lifeless and hard can’t be replaced for the other which is nourishing and supports life. It could also mean don’t settle for the minimum in which you are given especially as a commonplace person because ultimately the time will come in which dust and worms will infiltrate your body and you will decay having missed out on the brighter days passed. This is supported by the following lines which cautions to “Never sway and sway ‘twixt the false and true, weighing and noting the long hours through” (pg 373). This line is similar to the bread versus stone lines as it warns not to take one thing as a place holder for another. In this instance that would mean believing time can be counted as if its endless when its truly finite. This relates to death because there comes a time when a person’s hours are up and the sway of time in noting hours comes to an end. Ultimately this extends to the Ledger and Luckhurst article titled Reading the ‘Fin De Siècle, in which they frame this manner of literature as “a burgeoning secondary literature explaining the ways in which the theory of degeneration moves from biology through to sociology, criminology, psychology and ethics” (pg 23). Meaning that degradation is expansive to multiple other aspects of human life and study. Therefore, Amy Levy’s Epitaph can be read as equally social, and science focused in terms of death and the process of decay. It serves as stark reminder of how most common people will die regretful and succumb to their return to the dust, worms and more.