An Arundel Tomb

Page 1

Side by side, their faces blurred,

The earl and countess lie in stone,

Their proper habits vaguely shown

As jointed armour, stiffened pleat,

And that faint hint of the absurd -

The little dogs under their feet.

Such plainness of the pre-baroque

Hardly involves the eye, until

It meets his left-hand gauntlet, still

Clasped empty in the other; and

One sees, with a sharp tender shock,

His hand withdrawn, holding her hand.

They would not think to lie so long.

Such faithfulness in effigy

Was just a detail friends would see:

A sculptor's sweet commissioned grace

Thrown off in helping to prolong

The Latin names around the base.

They would no guess how early in

Their supine stationary voyage

The air would change to soundless damage,

Turn the old tenantry away;

How soon succeeding eyes begin

To look, not read. Rigidly they

Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths

Of time. Snow fell, undated. Light

Each summer thronged the grass. A bright

Litter of birdcalls strewed the same

Bone-littered ground. And up the paths

The endless altered people came,

Washing at their identity.

Now, helpless in the hollow of

An unarmorial age, a trough

Of smoke in slow suspended skeins

Above their scrap of history,

Only an attitude remains:

Time has transfigures them into

Untruth. The stone fidelity

They hardly meant has come to be

Their final blazon, and to prove

Our almost-instinct almost true:

What will survive of us is love.

rhyme scheme - formal

change of tone (serious --> absurd/bizarre/strange)

atypical of these tombs - wouldn't usually have this sign of affection.

was just another piece of work for the artist

metaphor - voyage of time

the air that they once breathed is the same air that breaks them down.

original meaning is almost irrelevant, what it means has changed to people

monument of death but a symbol of love - irony

our instincts aren't true but we try to prove they are

Age - erosion by time :

'their faces blurred'

'their proper habits barely shown'

Imagery :

'The earl and countess lie in stone,

Their proper habits vaguely shown'

'Such faithfulness in effigy'

'...Light

Each summer thronged the glass. A bright

Litter of birds strewed the same

Bone-riddled ground'

'... a trough

Of smoke in slow suspended skeins'

Comedy :

'And that faint hint of the absurd -

The little dogs under their feet'

'The endless altered people came'

Sign of love :

'One sees with a sharp tender shock,

His hand withdrawn, holding her hand'

'Such faithfulness in effigy'

'...The stone fidelity

They hardly meant has come to be

Their final blazon, and to prove

Our almost-instinct almost true :

What will survive of us is love'

Initial purpose of the sculpture :

'They would not think to lie so long

Such faithfulness in effigy

Was just a detail friends would see:

A sculpture's sweet commissioned grace

Thrown off on helping to prolong

The Latin names around the base'

Metaphor :

'supine stationary voyage'

Paradox :

'supine stationary voyage'

Alliteration :

'supine stationary'

Change of meaning :

'Washing at their identity'

'Time has transfigured them into

Untruth'

'They would not think to lie so long

Such faithfulness in effigy

Was just a detail friends would see:

A sculpture's sweet commissioned grace

Thrown off in helping to prolong

The Latin names around the base'

'....The stone fidelity

They hardly meant has come to be

Their final blazon, and to prove

Our almost-instinct almost true:

What will survive of us is love'

Change in people :

'They would not guess how early in

Their supine stationary voyage

The air would change to soundless damage,

Turn the old tenantry away;

How soon succeeding eyes begin

To look, not read'

'The endless altered people came'

Pun :

'The endless altered people came'

Contrast between birth and death :

'... A bright

Litter of birdcalls strewed the same

Bone-riddled ground'

Time - the passage of time :

'They would not guess how early in

Their supine stationary voyage

The air would change to soundless damage,

Turn the old tenantry away;

How soon succeeding eyes begin

To look, not read'

'...a trough

Of smoke in slow suspended skeins'

'Time has transfigured them into

Untruth'

Human need for meaning - hope

'.....prove our almost-instinct almost true :

What will survive of us is love'

Contrast between the emotional force and intellectual honesty :

'Time has transfigured them into

Untruth'

'....The stone fidelity

They hardly meant has come to be

Their final blazon, and to prove

Our almost-instinct almost true:

What will survive of us is love'

'They would not think to lie so long

Such faithfulness in effigy

Was just a detail friends would see:

A sculpture's sweet commissioned grace

Thrown off in helping to prolong

The Latin names around the base'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acXxM2WAeNE (Embed)

An Arundel Tomb

Video