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From Testament of Youth

From “Testament of Youth” by Vera Brittain 

“Even such is Time, that takes in trust. Our youth, our joys, our all we have, And pays us but with earth and dust.” 

Word count: 310

I understand why this passage from Sir Walter Raleigh’s poem kept going through her brain during this time. I think that this part of the poem talks about the reality of time ticking away and the continuity of life and death. This must have resonated with Vera a lot after the death of her brother. She was very persistent in knowing exactly how he died which I believe is a way for her to find closure in his death. I think this is because she felt very lonely and felt as if there was no one she could fully express how she was feeling. She seemed to be really struggling with how to mourn the death of her brother. After a while, she couldn’t bring herself to even speak or think much about him. But eventually, she had to go on living her life, which seemed easier than finding out all the details of what happened during the war. Throughout the story, I noticed that she was someone who liked to appear to be very strong and possibly not show or talk about her emotions with her family and friends. This most likely played a large impact on her not being able to cope very well with the death of her brother very well. She seemed not very hopeful or believed in any kind of afterlife for her brother which ties back to the quote, she kept repeating to herself. I believe this could be her trying to keep herself positive through her traumatizing experiences or trying to cope with her feelings that she felt there was no afterlife for her brother. 


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