Search results
Webster was much possessed by death. And saw the skull beneath the skin; And breastless creatures under ground. Leaned backward with a lipless grin. Daffodil bulbs instead of balls. Stared from the sockets of the eyes! He knew that thought clings round dead limbs. Tightening its lusts and luxuries.
- Stanza One
- Stanza Two
- Stanza Three
- Stanza Four
- Stanza Five
- Stanza Six
- Stanza Seven
- Stanza Eight
In the first stanza of ‘Whispers of Immortality’, the speaker discusses the beliefs and works of John Webster. He is best known today as a dramatist and author of ‘The Duchess of Malfi. He was a contemporary of Shakespeare and appealed to Eliot in how he got to the truth of a situation. The first line makes this clear as the speaker states that Web...
In the second stanza, the speaker expands on the sight of a skinless person. This same creature which lacks the outward appearance of humanity, has “Daffodil bulbs instead of…eyes.” This is another terrifying sight and is related directly to a play by Webster titled, The White Devil. Towards the end of that particular work, a ghost brings in a flow...
In the next four lines, the speaker turns away from Webster to discuss English poet John Donne. The speaker states that Donne was “such another” like Webster, who prioritized his senses. He was deeply engaged with his world and sought out all experiences. Through his thoughts, Donne came to know the world and, more importantly, realize the ever-pre...
The fourth stanza makes clear that Donne had a good understanding of what death is and how important it is to one’s life. He understood the “anguish” that is part of one’s bones. It is an “ague,” or illness, deep within the body. So integral is humanity’s path toward death that it lives within one’s physical frame. The next two lines explain that e...
When Eliot gets to the fifth stanza, the poem changes. In its original form, the two sections were separated by five dots, denoting a change in the current topic but not the larger themes. He immediately refers to “Grishkin.” This person is not well-known like Webster and Donne before her. It has been speculated that she was a Russian woman who was...
In the sixth stanza, the speaker introduces another image, that of a “Brazilian jaguar.” He compares the cat to Grishkin and describes how she is about to “scamper” after a “marmoset.” The two are contrasted in their power. The marmoset is helpless at the hands of the jaguar. She moves with the “effluence of cat.” The final line states that Grishki...
Although Grishkin was favorably compared with the jaguar in the sixth stanza, in the seventh, she overtakes it. Both, when they are in their native homes, whether in a “drawing-room” or the ”arboreal gloom” of the forest, smell distinctive. Grishkin obviously smells more favorably, in this case, “rank[er],” than the jaguar does. Its smell is less o...
The eighth stanza ends the poem with a strange yet clever conclusion. The speaker states that the “Abstract Entities,” or the essence of the world, circle around Grishkin. This philosophical language relates back to the earlier stanzas in which the speaker refers to “pneumonic bliss.” He states that “our lot,” meaning all human beings, from the spe...
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
Browse more funeral poems to find the right song for your loved one’s funeral. Download the words for the funeral poem Little Gidding (from Four Quartets) by T.S. Eliot on Funeral Guide.
Nov 17, 2014 · Listen to Eliot reading the poem here. We offer our analysis of it in a separate post. 2. ‘The Hollow Men‘. Published in 1925, ‘The Hollow Men’ was something of a transitional poem for Eliot, coming between the success of The Waste Land (see below) and Eliot’s later, more religiously oriented poetry such as Ash-Wednesday and Four ...
- 9 min
- Immortality by Clare Harner. This inspirational poem about the death of a loved one invites us to look for them all around us in the beauty of the world.
- There Is No Night Without A Dawning by Helen Steiner Rice. This short poem is a popular choice for funerals because it reminds us that despite the death of someone we cared about, the darkness of our grief will pass.
- Turn Again To Life by Mary Lee Hall. This beautiful poem was perhaps made most famous for having been read at Princess Diana’s funeral. It urges the listener – the griever – to not mourn for long, but to embrace life once more.
- Farewell by Anne Bronte. This is another well known poem about death that reminds us not to think of it as a final goodbye. Instead, it encourages us to cherish the fond memories we have of our loved one so as to keep them alive within us.
I. The Burial of the Dead. April is the cruellest month, breeding. Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing. Memory and desire, stirring. Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering. Earth in forgetful snow, feeding. A little life with dried tubers.
People also ask
What is 'the burial of the dead' by T S Eliot?
What is Eliot's most famous poem?
What quatrain poem does Eliot write?
Why does Eliot say 'fear in a handful of dust'?
What is Elliot's last poem?
What is an inspirational poem about the death of a loved one?
Oct 13, 2016 · ‘The Burial of the Dead’ is the first of five sections that make up The Waste Land (1922), T. S. Eliot’s landmark modernist poem. What follows is a short analysis of this opening section, with the most curious and interesting aspects of Eliot’s poem highlighted. You can read ‘The Burial of the Dead’ here. What we intend to do is ...
Find the Best Deals on Sympathy Poems Today. Compare 1000s of Items and Find the Best Deals on Sympathy Poems Today.
