I've begun to realize by reading through these posts that the root of just about every great poem is the acceptance of death.

As a cat person, I am extremely fond of this.  Describing cats as the "cherub form of the angel Tiger" is just about perfect in my book.

The Child ballads are always good for a jolt.  A youthful affection for (I'm sort of embarrassed to mention it now) Steeleye Span put "Little Sir Hugh" into my memory forever.  Technically of course the original ballad was a restatement of the "blood libel" against the Jews, but Span's version eliminated the more…

What ballad is this?  I love death-songs.

Aww!

Back atcha, @avclub-792b765aa995daf26cf6f17f519c949d:disqus

Actually, my two favorites are "Caliban Upon Setebos" by Robert Browning and "Musee des Beaux Arts" by W. H. Auden.

A million million slimy things lived on—
And so did I.

Nice!

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream;
For the soul is dead that slumbers
And things are not what they seem—

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bow
And all along the woodland ride
Is wearing white for Eastertide.

O Western wind, when wilt thou blow?—
That the small rain down can rain.
Christ, that my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again.

Oh I have been to Ludlow Fair
and left my necktie God knows where
and carried half way home, or near,
pints and quarts of Ludlow beer.

Truly one of my favorites, and far and away the best apocalypse poem, with Robert Frost's "Once by the Pacific" a fine second:

I think my favorite is the one on which the cue card guy commits suicide— it's such a cruel, sad, but hilarious episode, and Hank's final line is fascinating:  "You tricked me, buddy."

Can we maybe offer Gwyneth Paltrow?

Yeah, that's almost verbatim from Mamet's book True and False.

Powell made a surprisingly fine Marlowe.  In some ways (and this might be heretical as well) I actually think he best matches Chandler's conception.

@avclub-a93a879594c13c12a83fd45ab289a022:disqus : Uncle Charlie's my favorite Hitchcock villain, a truly great character.  He's just an empty husk charming his way toward death.

Hitchcock could have made him a recurring character.  Like at the end of Vertigo he could have stepped out from the shadows in the bell-tower and said, "What you've just seen… see, the guy was obsessed…."