morally and ethically—matters after our lives have ended.

The poem is, on the whole, a statement about the power and finality of death. There is nothing that can resist its icy grasp or delay its coming. As the title suggests, death does not have favorites and makes us all equal since it does not distinguish between rich or poor, master or servant, good or evil, and young or old—it reaches out to all and affects each one in equal measure.

The first stanza makes it clear that the status we have—because of royal birthright or the high office we hold as leaders of state—has no substance, since it cannot protect against destiny. Death affects everyone in the same manner, and we all turn to dust after we have been interred.

In the second stanza, the speaker emphasizes this point by stating that fighting men may bring renewal in destroying and killing others and thus replacing them with new rulers. No matter how great their resolve, though, they eventually have to succumb to death. Such men must yield to fate, whether they are young or old.

In the final stanza, the speaker addresses the reader directly and exclaims that he should not be boastful of his great accomplishments since he is growing old and, therefore, is close to succumbing to death's overwhelming power. The reader is made aware that even those who have been victorious will find themselves in death's grasp and become victims to its power. It is a certainty that they will have to surrender to death and be entombed.

The last two lines suggest that only the actions of those who have been morally upright will be pleasantly remembered after they have been laid to rest.

As the title suggests, Shirley's poem is a statement about the inevitable finality of death.  The opening stanza contrasts the fleeting accomplishments of human beings with the permanence and unavoidable reality of death.  The first three lines contrast "the glories of blood and state" with "shadows, and not substantial things."  The "armour" designed to protect cannot shield from "fate."  The regal and power of "kings" is contrasted to the "scythe and spade" of the undertaker.  This first stanza helps to establish the mood of the poem as one of seeing life in the eclipse of death.  The fleeting nature of human beings is explored further in the second stanza, with opening lines that contrast the moments where individuals kill in the name of war and honor of the state with the moments when they, themselves, as "pale captives, creep to death."  The last stanza concludes the poem with the idea that while individuals can honor themselves for upholding their obligations to nations during wartime, there is little difference between "victor-victim" because of the reach of death, which, in the final analysis, reaches all.

Interpretation of any work is based solely upon Reader-Response. Therefore, many different justifiable interpretations of a text can be made and still hold water based upon the fact that, many times, readers do not come to the same conclusions regarding interpretations of a text.

James Shirley's poem "Death the Leveller" is a poem which depicts the fact that Death does not care if one is a king or a peasant. Given this fact, Death comes for all in the same way. In the end, all will turn to dust whether king or not.

Important lines which show this fact are:

Death lay its icy hands on kings:
And in the dust be equal made.

These lines depict what was stated above--regardless of nobility, when Death comes, all are equal.

The line "some men with swords may reap the field" refers to war. Men will come together in war to "reap" (harvest) those who fight against them. In the end, regardless of who may be the strongest, all "must give up their murmuring breath" and "creep to death."

Again, the reference to the fact that Death will eventually take all who live is made here.

The last stanza refers to the fact that regardless of any "mighty deeds" one may have accomplished, all will lay their heads "upon Death's purple alter."

The poem "Death the Leveller" by James Shirley was a part of the author's play called The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for the Armour of Achilles, which was published in 1659. Within the play, the poem functions as a funeral dirge. The play takes place during the Trojan War just after the death of Achilles. In the play, Ajax and Ulysses have a debate observed by Greek generals about who is most worthy to acquire the armor of the fallen Achilles. The generals ultimately decide that Ulysses wins and award the armor to him. Ajax goes mad and commits suicide, and the final scene is his funeral.

Precisely when this play was written and staged is not known. However, we can assess the historical context through the life and career of its writer, James Shirley. He was a dramatist who lived roughly at the same time as Shakespeare. Shakespeare lived from 1564 to 1616, while Shirley was born in 1596 and died in 1666. While Shakespeare produced most of his plays between 1589 and 1613, Shirley wrote and produced plays from 1625 to 1642, with 1642 being the year that all theaters in London were closed because of the First English Civil War. He published a few volumes of poems and plays after the closure as well, up until 1659, the publication date of the above-mentioned play.

We see, then, that the historical context of the play in which the poem appears is the Trojan War, but the historical context in which the play was written was seventeenth-century England. In the poem, Shirley warns anyone who might have seen the play, whether nobleman, warrior, or commoner, that death comes to all, and that whether in life they wielded "sceptre and crown," "swords," or "scythe and spade," they must "stoop to fate" and "give up their murmuring breath." The only significant things that remain after death are "the actions of the just."

This poem, a standard device, warns humans about thinking that social status, rank, royalty, etc. exempts one from the final fate of all.  The sentiment, not really addressed to those who have rank and bloodlines of nobility, is a consolation to those who have none—the thought that Death is a leveller of classes is both a soothing thought ans a warning that goodness, not rank, is what gets the soul to heaven.  The only armour against fate is “the actions of the just” and bloody battles, which seem so important now, are nothing but a part of the great cycle “and in the dust be equal made.”  The Renaissance poets constantly made this point, the difference between the “shadows” of our earthly state and the eternal state of our souls after death—that our earthly station was not important, but that our good deeds are (see Everyman, for example).  By comparing war to farming (“Some men with swords may reap the field...With the poor crooked scythe and spade") Sidney is equating the lowly man (the farmer) with no rank to the noble warrior, in that all are subject to “the great Leveller”; the garlands that grace the victor (a practice from the Greeks) also will wither, just as his fame withers.  The poem is fairly transparent, and its ABABCCDD rhyme scheme is standard ballad form.