Tichborne's Elegy[1]

7/21/2019 Tichborne's Elegy[1]

1/19


2/19


3/19

My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,

My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,

My crop of corn is but a field of tares,

And all my good is but vain hope of gain. The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,

And now I live, and now my life is done.


4/19

My tale was heard and yet it was not told,

My fruit is fallen and yet my leaves aregreen;

My youth is spent and yet I am not old,

I saw the world and yet I was not seen. My thread is cut and yet it is not spun,



5/19

I sought my death and found it in my

womb,

I looed for life and saw it was a shade;

I trod the earth and new it was my tomb,

And now I die, and now I was but made. My glass is full, and now my glass is run,



6/19

This poem was apparently written in theTower of !ondon by the imprisoned "hidioc

Tichborne, a young "atholic conspirator

against #ueen $li%abeth, the night before he

was e&ecuted. 'hether this account is true ornot, whoever wrote the poem achieved an

ama%ing force of plainness. The poem shows

how powerful unadorned language can be

and what genius it taes to give such

language emotional bite.


7/19

Tremendous feeling is generated by the

directness, the straightforward hammering of

repeated formula and refrain, above all the

plainness of language( $&cept for the

contestable e&ception )fall*n,) the poem is

written entirely in words of one syllable+ Itfeels as if the poet has no time for anything

but star truthand that feeling is attained by

writing so artful that it seems nearly artless.


8/19

In -/0, Tichborne and his father were

arrested and 1uestioned concerning theuse of )popish relics.) Though they

were released without charge, records

suggest that this was not the last timethey were to be 1uestioned by the

authorities over their religion.
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9/19

In 2une-/3, Tichborne agreed to tae part

in the 4abington 5lotto murder #ueen

$li%abeth and replace her with the "atholic

Mary #ueen of 6cotswho was ne&t in line tothe throne. The plot was foiled by 6ir

7rancis 'alsinghamusing a double agent

and though most of the conspirators fled,

Tichborne had an injured leg and was forcedto remain in !ondon. 8nAugust -9, he was

arrested and sentenced to death.
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10/19

'hile in custody in the Tower of !ondon

on 6eptember -:the eve of hise&ecution


11/19

8n 6eptember =>, -/3, Tichborne wase&ecuted withAnthony 4abington,2ohn 4allard, and four otherconspirators. They were disembowelledwhile still alive on the gallows at Tower

?ill as a warning to other would@beconspirators; however, when the #ueenheard reports of these particularlygruesome e&ecutions, she gave orders

that the remaining seven conspiratorswere to be allowed to hang until deadbefore being disembowelled.
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12/19

'ith Tichborne*s, )$legy,) lies a

poem encasing several metaphors thatenable the reader to imagine with

compassion the disturbance of peace

within the thoughts of the poet. This

writer recogni%ed what was happening

in his life before his e&ecution, and

proclaims )My feast of joy is but a dish

of pain)


13/19

'ithin this powerful statement, the poetreali%ed that his last meals were not

that of nourishment, but was that ofpain of great emotional suffering. 'hatwe tae for granted life, the comforts ofhome, food, etc.


14/19

Tichborne*s $legy reveals to the reader

the poet*s reconing with his own death.

It is rare that poets write of their own

demises with the forenowledge of its

untimeliness, as in this case, and the

difficulty of the situation pervadesthroughout the verse. Tichborne clearly

feels that his life is being severed from

its rightful course


15/19

'e are first thrust into a dismal mood

by the first stan%a, which reduces all themeaningful aspects of the poet to

insignificance...in fact, if not for the note

preceding the poem )'ritten...B...before

his e&ecution)< and the name in the title,

we would wonder if the lines weren*t

penned by some bitter old man waiting

for his days to run out.


16/19

5erhaps this was the intention of

Tichborne @ to mae himself feel old andfeeble, so that the reali%ation of his own

impending e&piration could be more

easily accepted. The repetition of the

last line of each stan%a emphasi%es the

poet*s inability to escape his e&ecution,

and its simple, matter@of@fact manner

manages to bring a tired surrender withit )And now...and now)


17/19

The very fact that Tichborne is writingpoetry in the last moments of his life

gives him an element of grace anddignity @ he clearly isn*t losing his witsover his unhappy situation. ?is poem isperfectly iambic pentameter with true ab a b c c rhyme, completely masculinein endings, and a few interestingparallels pull its framewor together

strongly. $ach end rhyme pair issignificantly appropriate, each being anopposite of the other and yet e1uated.


18/19

7or e&ample, lines - and 0, )cares) and

)tares,) or lines = and 9, )pain) and )gain.)

'ith these words placed carefully in these

positions, the poet*s youth is degraded further

through the association, becoming first a

)frost of cares,) then e1uated to )tares,) orweeds. This parado&Be1uation follows through

most of the poem, especially well in lines -0

and - )death) C )womb) C )tomb)


19/19

As is customary in elegiac poems beyond theseventeenth century, Tichborne finds some

amount of consolation by the end of hisverse, reali%ing that every man will dieregardless of the time. Tichborne*s elegy tohimself is completed in a self@specific

resolution, yet it can be generally applicableas well; death begins at birth, and the earth isman*s eventual tomb. The poet substitutes ametaphorical hourglass for his life, and he

seems to find some amount of acceptancethrough this as the sands run out with the endof the poem.