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Comment 2 of 2, added on April 23rd, 2009 at 2:29 PM.
George Herbert was of course a Christian, but there is scarcely any Christian doctrine in Church Monuments. It is a sober lecture to the physical self to prepare for eventual disintegration. It is as meaningful to one who does not believe in an afterlife as to one who does, perhaps even more so. The monuments - tombstones, statues, inscribed wall plaques - figure subtly but importantly in the poem. They purport to contain the dust of the dead and to separate it from the living, but in fact they are subject to the same forces of decay: they will "bow, and kneel, and fall down flat" over time. Flesh therefore should learn from these seemingly permanent markers: if they can fail, how much more quickly will flesh fail, which is "but the glass which holds the dust / That measures all our time." Therefore, the last two lines say, flesh should imitate the tameness and quietude of dust itself, the better to be ready for the inevitable demolition.
The poem is not a sestina. It is built of four six-line iambic pentameter stanzas, rimed a b c a b c.
JS from United States
Comment 1 of 2, added on November 7th, 2005 at 11:03 PM.
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
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George Herbert was of course a Christian, but there is scarcely any Christian doctrine in Church Monuments. It is a sober lecture to the physical self to prepare for eventual disintegration. It is as meaningful to one who does not believe in an afterlife as to one who does, perhaps even more so. The monuments - tombstones, statues, inscribed wall plaques - figure subtly but importantly in the poem. They purport to contain the dust of the dead and to separate it from the living, but in fact they are subject to the same forces of decay: they will "bow, and kneel, and fall down flat" over time. Flesh therefore should learn from these seemingly permanent markers: if they can fail, how much more quickly will flesh fail, which is "but the glass which holds the dust / That measures all our time." Therefore, the last two lines say, flesh should imitate the tameness and quietude of dust itself, the better to be ready for the inevitable demolition.
The poem is not a sestina. It is built of four six-line iambic pentameter stanzas, rimed a b c a b c.
JS from United States