The Bishop Orders his Tomb at St Praxed's Church

The Bishop Orders his Tomb at St Praxed's Church

1. Structure

   • 126 lines (no verses)
     • this gives a sense of the Bishops muttering and confusion before his death
   • Enjambment used as well as a variety of punctuation
     • "Hours and long hours in the dead night, I ask/"Do I live, am I dead?"
   • Unrhymed structure
   • Decasyllables
     • 10 syllables for each line
   • Chronological order
   • A large amount of hyphens to portray the Bishops gasping/dying breath
     • "Nay, boys, ye love me- all of jasper, then!"
   • A Dramatic Monologue
     • A character is speaking (readers gather the sense that others are listening and responding to this character)

2. Themes

   • Death
     • "In this state chamber, dying by degrees,"
   • Religion
     • "Saint Praxed's is ever was the church for peace;"
     • "Like God the father's globe in both his hands!"
   • Money
     • "Horses for ye, and brown Greek manuscripts,"
   • Envy/ Hatred
     • "Old Gandolf envied me, so fair she was!"
   • Buildings/Tombs
     • With those nine columns round me, two by two,"
   • Love
     • "And as she died so must we die ourselves,"

3. Context

   • The poem is about a Bishop who is on his death bed surround by his sons and nephews. He is speaking about his tomb which he desires with precious stones and 'lapis lazuli' rested between his knees. He explains his rival 'Gandolf' who was his predecessor and his dead wife who he loved. A Bishop should normally care more about the afterlife and if they have lived a good life whereas this Bishop is greedy and wants the most expensive tomb.
   • Set in Renaissance Italy
   • Criticises a corrupt catholic leader

4. Language devices

   • Repetition on the word 'Sons'
   • Alternative/persuasive tone with appeals
   • exclamatory language
     • "Ye mark me not!"
   • Reference to Roman writers/statesmen
     • "Tully, my master? Ulpian serves his need!"
   • Imagery
     • "Your tall pale mother with her talking eyes,"
     • "Good strong stupefying incense-smoke!
   • Persuasive technique of the bishop explain his thoughts and feelings
     • "And then how I shall live through centuries!"
   • Greek mythology references
     • "Pans and Nymphs"
   • Contrasts
     • Between what a normal Bishop wants after death then to the corrupt bishop in the poem
       • Irony

5. Linked Poems

   • Death
     • 'A Grammarians Funeral'
       • 'A Toccata of Galuppi's'
     • 'Prospice'
     • Apparent Failure
   • Religion
     • The Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister
     • The Lost Leader
     • Apparent Failure
   • Buildings
     • Up at a Villa-Down in the City
     • Love Among the Ruins
     • Apparent Failure
   • Envy/hatred
     • The Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

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