Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AN ELEGY UPON THE L. BISHOP OF LONDON, JOHN KING, by HENRY KING (1592-1669) Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Sad relic of a blessed soul! Whose trust Last Line: The resurrection for his epitaph. Subject(s): King, John. Bishop Of London (d. 1621) | ||||||||
SAD relic of a blessed soul! whose trust We sealed up in this religious dust: O do not thy low exequies suspect, As the cheap arguments of our neglect. 'Twas a commanded duty, that thy grave As little pride as thou thyself should have. Therefore thy covering is an humble stone, And but a word for thy inscription. When those that in the same earth neighbour thee, Have each his chronicle and pedigree: They have their waving pennons and their flags (Of matches and alliance formal brags), When thou (although from ancestors thou came, Old as the Heptarchy, great as thy name,) Sleep'st there inshrin'd in thy admired parts, And hast no heraldry but thy deserts. Yet let not them their prouder marbles boast, For they rest with less honour, though more cost. Go, search the world, and with your mattocks wound The groaning bosom of the patient ground: Dig from the hidden veins of her dark womb All that is rare and precious for a tomb; Yet when much treasure, and more time, is spent, You must grant his the nobler monument, Whose Faith stands o'er him for a hearse, and hath The Resurrection for his epitaph. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CONTEMPLATION UPON FLOWERS by HENRY KING (1592-1669) SIC VITA by HENRY KING (1592-1669) THE EXEQUY [ON HIS WIFE] by HENRY KING (1592-1669) UPON THE DEATH OF MY EVER CONSTANT FRIEND DOCTOR DONNE, DEAN OF PAUL'S by HENRY KING (1592-1669) A LETTER by HENRY KING (1592-1669) A PENTITENTIAL HYMN by HENRY KING (1592-1669) A RENUNCIATION by HENRY KING (1592-1669) A SALUTATION OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP THE SOVEREIGN by HENRY KING (1592-1669) A SECOND ELEGY ON THE COUNTESS OF LEISTER by HENRY KING (1592-1669) AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT by HENRY KING (1592-1669) AN ELEGY OCCASIONED BY SICKNESS by HENRY KING (1592-1669) AN ELEGY ON SIR CHARLES LUCAS AND SIR GEORGE LISLE by HENRY KING (1592-1669) |
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