Requiem For The Plantagenet Kings Poem by Geoffrey Hill

Requiem For The Plantagenet Kings

Rating: 3.2


For whom the possessed sea littered, on both shores,
Ruinous arms; being fired, and for good,
To sound the constitution of just wards,
Men, in their eloquent fashion, understood.

Relieved of soul, the dropping-back of dust,
Their usage, pride, admitted within doors;
At home, under caved chantries, set in trust,
With well-dressed alabaster and proved spurs
They lie; they lie; secure in the decay
Of blood, blood-marks, crowns hacked and coveted,
Before the scouring fires of trial-day
Alight on men; before sleeked groin, gored head,
Budge through the clay and gravel, and the sea
Across daubed rock evacuates its dead.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Townee Towne 16 June 2006

the ending line is especially effective. the implied sacrifice in it... but, also, the image of blood pouring out... and the saving... the erosion of even a moment of permanence... of grace period... oh! the diarrhea...

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