Sonnet of Burial explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Death and Decay

  The entire sonnet focuses on the burial of the beloved, the decay of the body, and the finality of death.

• Nihilism and Spiritual Emptiness

  The poem emphasizes the cessation of all sensation and desire, suggesting a bleak, eternal sleep rather than a vibrant afterlife.

Characters to notice

• Unknown

  The speaker addresses the deceased beloved, reflecting on their burial and the cessation of their earthly desires and sorrows.

• Death

  Death is the central event, as the beloved's body is interred and the soul departs to a place of rest.

Key passages

• “Now that the earth thy buried corpse doth hold, Now that thy soul that hath so much desired, Is gone down to the places of the tired, Far from the dawning and the star-light cold;”

  Now that your body is buried in the earth and your soul, which longed for so much, has descended to the weary underworld, away from dawn and cold starlight,

  The speaker acknowledges the physical burial and the soul's journey to a realm of rest.

• “Thine eyes shall not again the sun behold; Now shall thy body that all men hath fired Have ceasing, and thy grave shall be admired, That doth the fairest thing o’ the earth enfold.”

  Your eyes will never see the sun again; your body, which once inflamed all men, will now rest, and your grave will be admired for holding the most beautiful thing on earth.

  The speaker emphasizes the finality of death and the beauty of the deceased, now preserved in the grave.

• “Now that thine ashes are all buried, And thou art gone to slumber with the blessed, Thy buried body shall be no more distressed; Being now number’d with the placid dead, Thine eyes forever more have ceas’d from weeping, For evermore thy spirit shall have sleeping.”

  Now that your ashes are buried and you have gone to sleep among the blessed, your buried body will no longer suffer; counted among the peaceful dead, your eyes have stopped weeping forever, and your spirit will sleep eternally.

  The speaker finds solace in the deceased's release from pain and the eternal peace of death.