Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN EPITAPH UPON FRANCES JONES, by ANDREW MARVELL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN EPITAPH UPON FRANCES JONES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Enough; and leave the rest to fame
Last Line: Twas more significant, she's dead.


ENOUGH; and leave the rest to Fame!
'Tis to commend her, but to name.
Courtship which, living, she declined,
When dead, to offer were unkind:
Nor can the truest wit, or friend,
Without detracting, her commend.

To say -- she lived a virgin chaste
In this age loose and all unlaced;
Nor was, when vice is so allowed,
Of virtue or ashamed or proud;
That her soul was on Heaven so bent,
No minute but it came and went;
That, ready her last debt to pay,
She summ'd her life up every day;
Modest as morn, as mid-day bright,
Gentle as evening, cool as night:
-- 'Tis true; but all too weakly said.
'Twas more significant, she's dead.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net