Lycidas Death Quotes Page 3
(Line)
| Quote #7 But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, |
Gee, aren't we pessimistic? According to our speaker, whenever we think we're about to achieve fame, fate comes by and kills us. Harsh. To him, life is fragile ("thin-spun"), and death comes to us all, regardless of who we are. That's why that pesky Fury is blind.
| Quote #8 To strew the laureate hearse where Lycidas lies. |
The speaker calls on the "valleys low" (136) to send flowers to place on Lycidas' "laureate hearse." The thing is, there is no "hearse" or coffin, because his body is somewhere beneath the ocean. So what's plan B? Honestly, it doesn't seem like there is one. Instead, it seems like the poet has to imagine that Lycidas' body has been recovered in order to say a proper goodbye.
| Quote #9 Weep no more, woeful shepherds weep no more, |
These are some of the most important lines in the poem, since they are the first moment we can detect some sense of consolation. Finally. Lycidas isn't really dead, the speaker is saying, because he has gone to a better place (which we find out a few lines later). The simile used here – Lycidas is like a sun that sets and then rises again – is odd because it implies that Lycidas, even though he has risen, will sink again. How does that work? Can someone die again after they're already dead?
