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While that my soul repairs to her devotion,
Here I intomb my flesh, that it betimes
May take acquaintance of this heap of dust;
To which the blast of death's incessant motion,
Fed with the exhalation of our crimes,
Drives all at last. Therefore I gladly trust
My body to this school, that it may learn
To spell his elements, and find his birth
Written in dusty heraldry and lines;
Which dissolution sure doth best discern,
Comparing dust with dust, and earth with earth.
These laugh at jet and marble put for signs,
To sever the good fellowship of dust,
And spoil the meeting. What shall point out them,
When they shall bow, and kneel, and fall down flat
To kiss those heaps, which now they have in trust?
Dear flesh, while I do pray, learn here thy stem
And true descent, that when thou shalt grow fat
And wanton in thy cravings, thou mayst know
That flesh is but the glass which holds the dust
That measures all our time; which also shall
Be crumbled into dust. Mark, here below
How tame these ashes are, how free from lust,
That thou mayst fit thyself against thy fall.
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Copyright © 2003-2008 Gunnar Bengtsson, Poetry Connection. All Rights Reserved.
The poem is centered on an old Christian background. The title is very powerful as it depicts the mood of the poem which is sad and of sorrow. In churches of this time, the deceased may be buried under the stones on the floor, behind plaques on the wall and in monuments inside the church. George Herbert himself was buried under the altar at St. Andrew’s.
The poem has a hint of old Anglican in it as that was the religion of the poet. The poem is entitled church monuments yet the poet talks mostly about everything but the monument. It is just used as a symbol and that is one of death. The poet talks about ashes which the body would become, the flesh that will no longer be there and the devotion of the soul.
Use of the left indent to write the poem is evident as the writer uses this to great effect. It is almost like reading scripture or an important document. The poem has the rhyming pattern of abca., where the first and the fourth line of each stanza rhymes with each other.
Iambic pentameter is used throughout the poem as the poet uses it to give the poem more feeling and to portray the sorrow of death. It can said to be a well put together composition written in metrical feet forming rhythmical lines.
Diction used throughout the poem is in very old English which is evident in words like bodie and dustie. The diction is very effective as it shows the setting of the poem and helps the reader understand the time of which the poem is coming from.
The poem is written as a sestina which in this case has lines 1 and 4 rhyming, lines 2 and 5 rhyming, and lines 3 and 6 completing the rhyming. This is so throughout the poem and is useful in building the rhythm of the poem.
Jerome Brooks