Here are the words of famous lovers: Henry Miller's homage to Anais Nin, Lillian Hellman's eulogy for Dashiell Hammett. Here are fallen heroes commemorated, in the heartfelt words of Yitzhak Rabin's granddaughter at his funeral, in Ossie Davis's farewell to Malcolm X, in Earl Spencer's tribute to the Princess of Wales. Here, too, are moving letters: Charles Dickens to his wife on the death of their daughter, an anonymous Royal Air Force pilot to his mother on the eve of his final battle. Auden's "Funeral Blues" is here, along with the Cavafy poem recited by Maurice Tempelsman at Jacqueline Onassis's service. And there is room for humor as well, as in Hilaire Belloc's famous epitaph, "When I am dead, I hope it may be said, 'His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.'"

"Remembrances and Celebrations" is a comforting and affecting anthology of the literature of mourning, and a welcome aid in times of our own bereavement.