by Coleridge · Cluster: Satire of Society · Epigram · Satire
Abstract
A satirical epitaph on ‘Sell-all’, a miser who hangs himself in a dream of giving money away and is doomed to know how many read his tombstone gratis; satire of greed and money.
Connections
Motifs: Money and Gold, Grave, Death, Dreams Themes & Concepts: Satire of Society Forms & Genres: Epigram
Testo integrale / Full text
A poor benighted Pedlar knock’d
One night at SELL-ALL’S door,
The same who saved old SELL-ALL’S life —
‘Twas but the year before!
And Sell-all rose and let him in,
Not utterly unwilling,
But first he bargain’d with the man,
And took his only shilling!
That night he dreamt he’d given away his pelf,
Walk’d in his sleep, and sleeping hung himself!
And now his soul and body rest below;
And here they say his punishment and fate is
To lie awake and every hour to know
How many people read his tombstone GRATIS.
First published in Morning Post, Oct. 9, 1802.