Analysis of AN ELEGY Upon the L. Bishop of London John King

Henry King 1592 (Worminghall, Buckinghamshire) – 1669 (Chichester)



Sad Relick 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 thy self 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 flagges,
(Of Matches and Alliance formal bragges.)
VVhen 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:
Digge 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 ore Him for a Hearse, and hath
The Resurrection for His Epitaph.


Scheme AABBCDEFGGHHIIHHJKLLMMNOPQ
Poetic Form
Metre 11101111 111010101 11111101 10110011001 1001010111 1101111111 1110011101 010111010 111001111 1111000100 111101011 1100010101 11111011 11011111 1111010101 0111001110 1111110101 111111111 1101011101 0101010101 1101011011 1111010101 1111001111 1111010100 1111110101 00101110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,121
Words 202
Sentences 11
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 26
Lines Amount 26
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 884
Words per stanza (avg) 199
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:01 min read
106

Henry King

Henry King was an English poet who served as Bishop of Chichester. more…

All Henry King poems | Henry King Books

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