On the Tombs in Westminster Abbey

Francis Beaumont 1584 (Grace-Dieu) – 1616 (London)



MORTALITY, behold and fear!
What a change of flesh is here!
Think how many royal bones
Sleep within this heap of stones:
Here they lie had realms and lands,
Who now want strength to stir their hands:
Where from their pulpits seal'd with dust
They preach, 'In greatness is no trust.'
Here 's an acre sown indeed
With the richest, royall'st seed
That the earth did e'er suck in
Since the first man died for sin:
Here the bones of birth have cried--
'Though gods they were, as men they died.'
Here are sands, ignoble things,
Dropt from the ruin'd sides of kings;
Here 's a world of pomp and state,
Buried in dust, once dead by fate.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

37 sec read
89

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 637
Words 122
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 18

Francis Beaumont

Francis Beaumont, judge, was the eldest son of John Beaumont, sometime master of the rolls, by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Hastings. more…

All Francis Beaumont poems | Francis Beaumont Books

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