The Jamaica Funeral

Jamaica Funeral, The,
poem by Freneau, written during his residence in the West Indies (1776) and published in his Poems (1786). This bitter satire on the sensual, hypocritical clergy of the colonial church tells how a “hectoring priest” beat a man at the funeral for objecting to his dunning the mourners for parish dues, and then without conscience glutted himself at the funeral feast.