elegy
by Chesterton · Cluster: Grief and Loss · Elegy · Clothing and Costume
Abstract
Short ironic elegy: those who worked for England have home graves, those who fought lie afar, but those who rule ‘have no graves as yet’ — patriotic satire on the ruling class.
Testo / Text
Connections
Archetypes: Common Man (2), Corrupt Official
Motifs: Grave, Birds, Bees, Cross, Stars Themes & Concepts: Nationalism and Patriotism, War and its Cost, Satire of Society, Mortality, Class Conflict, Power and Corruption, Social Injustice, Economics Forms & Genres: Elegy, Satire Settings: Rural England, Battlefield, Court
Testo integrale / Full text
Elegy in a Country Churchyard
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The men that worked for England
They have their graves at home:
And bees and birds of England
About the cross can roam.
But they that fought for England,
Following a falling star,
Alas, alas for England
They have their graves afar.
And they that rule in England,
In stately conclave met,
Alas, alas for England,
They have no graves as yet.
- G.K. Chesterton
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