Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

REQUIESCAT by MATTHEW ARNOLD

Poet Analysis

First Line: STREW ON HER ROSES, ROSES
Last Line: THE VASTY HALL OF DEATH.
Subject(s): DEATH; MOURNING; DEAD, THE; BEREAVEMENT;
Strew on her roses, roses,
And never a spray of yew.
In quiet she reposes:
Ah! would that I did too.
Her mirth the world required:
She bathed it in smiles of glee.
But her heart was tired, tired,
And now they let her be.
Her life was turning, turning,
In mazes of heart and sound.
But for peace her soul was yearning,
And now peace laps her round.
Her cabined, ample Spirit,
It fluttered and failed for breath.
To-night it doth inherit
The vasty Hall of Death.


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