There is no one with whom I would not change places, Harry. Don’t laugh like that. I am telling you the truth. The wretched peasant who has just died is better off than I am. I have no terror of Death. It is the coming of Death that terrifies me. Its monstrous wings seem to wheel in the leaden air around me.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 18. Metaphorical language is used with powerful effect ("monstrous wings" and "leaden air") to describe Dorian’s escalating paranoia and his terror at the coming of death since he saw the face of the hunter-avenger James Vane in his window.