“So here it is at last, the distinguished thing” So Henry James described his intimation of death. His brother, William, was grittier, but no less poetic in calling it the “worm at the core” that frightens and fascinates us.   Thoughts of aging and death have inspired some of our most beautiful poetry: “Upon those boughs which shake against the cold/Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang,” wrote William Shakespeare.… read more »