Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


EPITAPH ON KING CHARLES I by JAMES GRAHAM (1612-1650)

Poem Explanation

First Line: GREAT, GOOD AND JUST, COULD I BUT RATE
Last Line: AND WRITE THY EPITAPH IN BLOOD AND WOUNDS!
Subject(s): CHARLES I, KING OF ENGLAND (1600-1649);

Great, good and just, could I but rate
My grief to thy too rigid fate!
I'd weep the world in a such a strain,
As it would once deluge again:
But since thy loud-tongu'd blood demands supplies,
More from Briareus hands, than Argus eyes,
I'll tune thy elegies to trumpet sounds,
And write thy epitaph in blood and wounds!



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