Hall bases his article on the widely read book by Norman O. Brown, Life Against Death. Using many quotations from Bartlett, the author attempts to document the existence of the theme of death in poetry and the ways in which poets describe it. Like Professor Brown and some other workers, he states that one of the origins of psychoanalysis was German romantic literature.

Also, like Brown, Hall believes that the flight from death impulses constitutes a 'root-conflict' and 'a reef on which the human psyche may be broken', though he does not describe as well the evolution of Freud's thinking about death instinct as to homeostasis (Nirvana principle), repetition-compulsion, and as related to sadomasochism. The author joins the chorus of prophets who warn that, unless man synthesizes life and death forces, the species will be devastated. Both he and Brown warn that, unless the errors of orthodox analysts and neofreudians are corrected, psychoanalysis will be destroyed. The well-intentioned use of quotations paradoxically weakens the impact of Professor Brown's book.