Blog

Here’s a poem on the resurrection by the English explorer, soldier, spy, and poet Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618). 

Epitaph
By Sir Walter Raleigh
Even such is time, which takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, and all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust,
Who in the dark and silent grave
When we have wandered all our ways
Shuts up the story of our days,
And from which earth, and grave, and dust
The Lord will raise me up, I trust.

I think it’s best to read a poem until one has a grasp or feeling of it by himself. Then later analysis by others might useful. As there are many different kinds of people, there are many approaches to poetry.

Here’s a breakdown on the poetic structure of the poem. This eight line poem has 4 feet per line (4 stressed beats). It is written in iambic pentameter (de-dum, de-dum…). The 1st foot of the first line has an extra non-stressed syllable (de-de-dum). The rhyme scheme is a b a’ b’ c c’ a’ a. The first rhyme of “trust” and “dust” is repeated at the end but together and in reverse order. Also note that “have” is rhymed with “grave.”  This originally was probably a rhyme and the pronunciation of at least one of these words has changed in the last 400 years.

POETRY