Abstract: Goethe depicts death with voice and image in his two ballads, Die Braut von Korinth and Der Totentanz, vividly describing the presence of death and displaying the unique “vitality” of death. Such kind of writing about death breaks the irreversible natural law, facilitates the agreement between life and death in the fantastic virtual context, opens up the hidden essence of death, allows the rich and strong force of life to flow freely, defines the dialectical relationship between “devilishness” and rationality with great clarity, and hence underscoring the poet's pantheistic view of life and death. Goethe's unique writing about death as life not only enriched and solidified the concept of death from the level of epistemology, but also illustrated, incisively and vividly, the aesthetic value and philosophical significance of death in his wonderful and fantastic imagination.

Key words: Goethe, ballad, concept of life and death, Die Braut von Korinth, Der Totentanz