Technique
Memento Mori
From Latin: remember that you must die. Pervasive in 17th-century poetry; Donne's Holy Sonnets and Herbert's 'Death' meditate explicitly on mortality.
Definition
A thematic motif or artistic object reminding the viewer or reader of the inevitability of death.
Example
Renaissance poetry abounds in skulls, hourglasses, and withering roses as memento mori symbols.