fawkeshermione

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't read my first post, you should know that this journal/blog is ALL ABOUT THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. So if you haven't read the seventh Harry Potter book yet, read no further!!! Please, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction before it is too late - I don't want to ruin this spectacular series for you.

So, the first thing I'm writing about here is the epigraph in Deathly Hallows. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the epigraph consists of the two poems at the beggining of the book. Deathly Hallows is the only Harry Potter book with an epigraph, and I don't know about you, but I thought it was absolutely beautiful how Jo put those poems in. It added to the sorrow, mystery and -again- beauty of the book, not to mention the entire series.
The first part of the epigraph is a poem by Aeschylus, an ancient Greek playwright.

Oh, the torment bred in the race,
the grinding scream of death
the stroke that hits the vein,
the haemorrhage none can staunch, the grief,
the curse no man can bear.

But there is a cure in the house
and not outside it, no,
not from others but from them, their bloody strife.
We sing to you, dark gods beneath the earth.

Now hear, you blissful powers underground -
answer the call, send help.
Bless the children,
give them Triumph now.

Allright, so the first part of his poem is a little gory - "haemorrhage" is a word that means 'blood', and the first several lines are basically talking of death, bloodshed, and grief. But if you think about it, this really does match up with the war against Voldemort; there is certainly alot of blood shed in battle and, as we witnessed in the seventh book, many deaths. However, death is basically one of the main focal points of the entire series: the Harry Potter books teach us unforgettable lessons about death.
The last lines, however, are what really got me. "Now hear, you blissful powers underground - answer the call, send help. Bless the children, give them triumph now."
As we all know, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Colin Creevy, and countless others are mere adolescents; yet they are fighting together against the most evil force in the Wizarding world. There last few lines add a touch of hope to the darkness of both the book and the poem.
My favorite part of the epigraph, however, is the second piece of literature: the quote from "More Fruits of Solitude" by William Penn.

Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent. In this divine glass they see face to face; and their converse is free, as well as pure. This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal.

If this does not sum up the main lesson taught by the Harry Potter books, I honestly don't know what else can. This paragraph by Penn is basically saying that even though friends and family move far away or die, they live in us forever. He (William Penn) is telling us that friendship never really dies. Though Harry has lost his mother, father, godfather, mentor, and countless friends, they are always with him; they live in him.
Aeschylus and William Penn created these beautifull pieces of writing, and J.K. Rowling make her novels match up perfectly with their meaning. They create a simply amazing epigraph to the book and remind us before the story even begins how much stronger love and friendship, courage and loyalty are than death.