“Dirge” by William Shakespeare
COME away, come away, death,
And in sad cypres let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
O prepare it!
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it.
Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corse, where my bones shall be thrown:
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
Lay me, O, where
Sad true lover never find my grave
To weep there!
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England in 1564 and died in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England in 1616. He was only 52 years old when he died. He was an English poet, playwright, and actor and owns a theater company in London. His works have 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, few other poems and 38 plays (Wikipedia). The date of this poem is unknown because there is no evidence to proof which date was this poem been composed.
This poem is composed of two stanzas of eight lines each, so the whole poem consists of sixteen lines. The rhyme schema for both stanzas is ABABCDCD.
“Dirge” talks about the poet’s feeling when he is dead. He describes what happened to him after his death. He is saying that his death is a sad and lonely one. He is welcoming his own death (line 1) and hoping that his breath will be taken away (line 3). He adds that he was killed by a maid (line 4) and that he is in a shroud of white stuck all with yew (line 5). He is preparing himself for death (line 6) and states that no one so true (line 7) did share it (line 8). In the next stanza, he describes his funeral. There is no flower or flower sweet (line 9) that is strown on his black coffin (line 10). Also, there is no friend or friend’s greeting (line 11) for his corse where his bones are thrown (line 12). He say that there is a thousand thousand sighs to save (line 13) at his funeral. Lastly, he finishes by saying that his sad true lover will never find his grave (line 15) in order to weep there (line 16).
The poem contains many symbolisms throughout. Symbolism in this poem are (1) death and breathe; (2) cypres and yew; (3) white and black; (4) maid; (5) bones.
First, yew in it real meaning is a kind of tree with many branches on it. According to The Goddess Tree, yew means a guardian that guide souls from one world to the other world (Yew). Meanwhile, Cypres is a kind of tree and it is associated with the god of the underworld, Hades. It symbolizes an understanding of the role of sacrifice (Karlsen).
The word “death” in the poem symbolizes the end or escape. It also symbolizes reborn or change from one state to the next. The general definition of “death” is the termination of one’s life. “Breathe” is the inhale and exhale of air from lung. Yet, in the poem the term “breathe” used to symbolize life and existence. It also symbolizes realness.
The term “white” in our general meaning is the absence of color or is a type of color by itself. According to the Dictionary of Symbolism, “white” can represents many things. It can symbolize innocence, pure, heaven, goodness, light, air, love and redemption. Another contrast color which is “black” also used in this poem. The word “black” is used to describe a type of color that will absorb all and will not reflect all the color being absorbed. “Black” can bring many meanings in a poem. It can symbolize mourning, funeral, emptiness, depressed, despair and loss (Dictionary of symbolism).
Another symbol used in the poem is maid. Generally, it means young lady or female savant. The “maid” used in many poems and is used to symbolize young, unmarried lady and also virginity.
From the Dictionary of Symbolism, we know that “bone” is a symbol of mortality, transitory, and eternal life. Nevertheless, the real meaning of the “bone” is actually meaning the rigid and tough organ in our body that move, supports and protects the body.
Every poem will have a tone in it. This is because tones can make a story more interesting. Tone is the poet’s attitude towards the poem. It is the feeling that we feel after reading the poem. Connotation is the hidden meaning of a word in addition to the primary meaning (Dicitionary.com), while denotation is the primary meaning of the word itself (Dictionary.com). For example, denotation of “white” is the color that we see while the connotation of “white” can mean a lot of things such as innocence, heaven, goodness, etc (Dictionary of symbolism). The tones in this poem are isolation, escape, sorrow, and depression. The use of words such as death, bones, grave, weep are very pessimistic and sad.
Throughout this poem, the poet used many types of symbols and it comes out with a main idea, which is death. “Dirge” is a poem talking about suicide. The meaning of “Dirge” is a funeral song (Dictionary.com). The narrator is describing his funeral, but I believe that he is still alive. He is just imagining his death after he was hurt by a pretty woman. In this poem, Shakespeare uses exclaimation mark in line 6 and 16 to represent emotion,which is the narrator's feeling of dissapointed, sadness and tiredness. He is hoping his life will be taken away (line 1 and 3) and visualizing that he is laying in a coffin (line 2). He illustrates that his heart was broken by a fair women (line 4) and he is full of pain feeling (line5). He also states that no one can understand this feeling of being hurt by his lover other than him (line 7 and 8). In the second stanza, I think that he is very depressed and wants to isolate himself from his friends. After he dies, he hopes that no one will attend his funeral and give flower to him (line 9 and 10). He also hopes that no friends will go to his funeral and greet him (line 11). I feel that he is very lonely and he wants his friends to leave him alone. He also feels hopeless to the world after the woman he loves betrays him. I can tell that he is very pessimistic because he is thinking that no one will feel sad and cry for him after his death (line 13). Lastly, he also expresses that he will never meet his true lover in his future. She will not know his existence (line 15 and 16) and cry for his death.
Works Cited
1. “William Shakespeare”. Wikipedia. Web. April 13, 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_shakespeare
2. “Yew”. The Goddess Tree. Web. April 13, 2010.
http://www.thegoddesstree.com/trees/Yew.htm
3. Karlsen, Kathleen. The Symbolism of Trees. Living Art Originals. April 11, 2010. Web. April 13, 2010.
http://www.livingartsoriginals.com/infoforests.htm
4. Dictionary of Symbolism. University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Website. 2001. Web. April 13, 2010.
http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/index.html
5. Dictionary.com. Web. April 13, 2010.
http://dictionary.reference.com/
