by Coleridge · Cluster: Satire of Society · Epigram · Satire
Abstract
A political-satirical epigram (after Lessing) on a city’s hollow grief at the false report of a minister’s death.
Connections
Themes & Concepts: Satire of Society, Power and Corruption, Deception Forms & Genres: Epigram, Satire
Testo integrale / Full text
WRITTEN IN GERMANY
Last Monday all the Papers said
That Mr. —— was dead;
Why, then, what said the City?
The tenth part sadly shook their head,
And shaking sigh’d and sighing said,
‘Pity, indeed, ‘tis pity!’
But when the said report was found
A rumour wholly without ground,
Why, then, what said the city?
The other nine parts shook their head,
Repeating what the tenth had said,
‘Pity, indeed, ‘tis pity!’
First published in Morning Post, Sept. 18, 1799. Included in
Keepsake, 1829, p. 122; Lit. Rem., i. 46. First collected P. and D.
W., 1877, ii. 166. Adapted from Lessing’s Sinngedicht No. 29. Auf
den falschen Ruf von Nigrins Tode. ‘Es sagte, sonder alle Gnade, die
ganze Stadt Nigrinen tot.’