Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE GRIEF OF AN HEIR, by WILLIAM COWPER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE GRIEF OF AN HEIR, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The rich man's heir, his father's spirit fled
Last Line: And, could we doubt them, we were fools indeed.
Subject(s): Inheritance & Succession; Heirs


The Rich man's Heir, his father's spirit fled,
How mourns the stripling, with what rites, the Dead?
Haste—bid the sexton toll two hours the bell,
That all may know it for my father's knell.
Tie up the knocker. Darken ev'ry room
With half-closed shutters. Sorrow loves a gloom.
To deepen the funereal silence more
With tip-toe step, ye lacqueys! tread the floor.
Let each be measur'd for his suit of woe;
A sad event demands as sad a show.
Within, without, wheels, harness, box and all
Black be my carriage; sable as the pall.
Th' emblazon'd coat of my paternal race
Fix in my mansion's front, its proper place;
And, hung with sables, let the pulpit prove,
Itself, my deep regret, my filial love.
Ah specious counterfeit! Thy sorrow, dress'd
In all this solemn pomp is all a jest;
Earth has no joy that can thy joys exceed,
And, could we doubt them, we were fools indeed.





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