The Exequy (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Henry King
- First Published: 1657
- Type of Work: Elegy
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: Husbands, Wives, Love or romance, Seventeenth century, Death or dying, Life and death
The Poem
“The Exequy” is an elegy of 120 lines of iambic tetrameter couplets, a verse form popular in a wide variety of early seventeenth century English lyrics. The second line fittingly designates the poem a “complaint” (or lament), and it appropriately sustains a tone of grief over a personal loss throughout. Henry King wrote the elegy on the death of his wife Anne, who died seven years after they were married, having borne him five children. Although first-person speakers are never identical with the authors, the speaker of “The Exequy” reflects, with reasonable...
[The entire page is 1526 words long]
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