By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Church-Monuments’ is one of the greatest poems by the Welsh Metaphysical poet George Herbert (1593-1633). The poem is a memento mori – a reminder that we will die – but one with an altogether more stoic and positive outlook on death than many such poems. What follows is a brief summary analysis of Herbert’s ‘Church-Monuments’. What does this poem mean?
Church-Monuments
While that my soul repairs to her devotion,
Here I intomb my flesh, that it betimes
May take acquaintance of this heap of dust;
To which the blast of death’s incessant motion,
Fed with the exhalation of our crimes,
Drives all at last. Therefore I gladly trust