Tichborne’s Elegy, written
with his own hand in the
Tower before his execution.
A commentary and some
background details
steve.neal@marrasouk.co.uk
http//www.marrasouk.com
Tichborne’s Elegy
The poem was written by
Charles Tichborne in
1586, as part of a
letter to his wife, Agnes
An elegy is a
reflection on the
death of someone
or about sorrow
The theme of the poem is simple:
Tichborne is too young to die
Tichborne wrote the poem about his own life,
knowing that he would be executed the next day.
http//www.marrasouk.com
Key word
Tichborne’s Elegy uses antithesis
This is where two ideas are juxtaposed,
or placed alongside each other
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,
The line can
be separated
in two
“feast” picks
up on
“dish.”
The words are
in opposition
“joy” and “pain”
to each other
contrast
http//www.marrasouk.com
You will see that the lines follow a similar
pattern of antithesis
weeds
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
My fruit is fallen, and yet my leaves are green
My thread is cut and yet it is not spun
In Greek mythology
the Fates would
spin thread to decide
These words set
http//www.marrasouk.com
how long a man would
live. the ideas in opposition
What kind of effect is created
Which words
by these lines?
contribute to
sadness?
this effect?
The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,
regret?
negatives
My youth is spent and yet I am not old,
ghost
despondency?
I looked for life and saw it was a shade,
grief?
I trod the earth and knew it was my tomb,
sorrow?
http//www.marrasouk.com
These words
are all associated with elegies
The elegy makes use of paradox
Doesn’t seem to make
sense on a first reading
A contradiction
My tale was heard and yet it was not told,
The reader tries
to work out
Does this mean that
the meaning
at his trial
he did not get the
Does this refer to
chance to put his
his life being cut short?
own version of events?
http//www.marrasouk.com
Here’s another example of paradox:
My glass is full, and now my glass is run,
Potentially he
has the rest
of his life
in front of him
His life has run out it’s time to die
http//www.marrasouk.com
You will have noticed that each stanza
ends with the same line
For the moment he lives
But he knows
his life is effectively over
And now I live, and now my life is done.
If you were reading
the poem out aloud
Also the sense of his
would you read this line
life’s work is complete
in the same way
http//www.marrasouk.com
in each stanza?
Single syllable words contribute
to simple and stark effect.
All stanzas follow
the same pattern
The style of the poem
The rhyme scheme
My tale was heard and yet it was not told,
My fruit is fallen, and yet my leaves are green,
My youth is spent and yet I am not old,
I saw the world and yet I was not seen;
My thread is cut and yet it is not spun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
A
B
A
B
C
C
Nearly all lines
End-stopped lines- each
begin with “my” or “I” - one a complete thought
http//www.marrasouk.com
repeated later.
Extract from a letter written by Chidiock Tichborne
to his wife,
the night before he suffered.
The most loving wife alive I commend me to thee,
and desire God to bless thee with all happiness.
Pray for thy dead husband, and be of good comfort,
for I hope in Jesus Christ this morning
to see the face of my Redeemer, in the most
joyful Throne of his glorious kingdom.
For the full text and some further details on Tichborne:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/38jtho
http//www.marrasouk.com