by Coleridge · Cluster: Ruins the Abbey · Sic Transit Gloria Mundi · Ubi Sunt
Abstract
A short ubi sunt lyric asking where Sir Arthur O’Kellyn’s grave lies; his bones are dust and his sword rust. Themes: mortality, transience, the grave.
Connections
Topoi: Ubi Sunt, Tempus Fugit Motifs: Grave, Dust, Swords and Weapons Themes & Concepts: Mortality, Transience
Testo integrale / Full text
Where is the grave of Sir Arthur O’Kellyn?
Where may the grave of that good man be? —
By the side of a spring, on the breast of Helvellyn,
Under the twigs of a young birch tree!
The oak that in summer was sweet to hear, 5
And rustled its leaves in the fall of the year,
And whistled and roared in the winter alone,
Is gone, — and the birch in its stead is grown. —
The Knight’s bones are dust,
And his good sword rust; — 10
His soul is with the saints, I trust.
? 1817.