Early or late they stoop to fate And must give up their murmuring breath who are they referred in this lines
Answers
Answer:
They stoop to fate, And must give up their murmuring breath, When they, pale captives, creep to death.” By this line the poet means that, some men who have swords with them often win battles.
Answer:
Death the Leveller
By James Shirley
1596-1666
THE glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill:
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath
When they, pale captives, creep to death.
The garlands wither on your brow,
Then boast no more your mighty deeds!
Upon Death’s purple altar now
See where the victor-victim bleeds.
Your heads must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust.
Read some of the comments on this poem by other readers:
Ashley Kannan | Middle School Teacher | (Level 3) Distinguished Educator
Posted on September 5, 2009 at 10:28 PM
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.
andrewnightingale | High School Teacher | (Level 1) Educator Emeritus
Posted on October 6, 2016 at 3:45 PM
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.
The last two lines are important to all of us and they deserve to be requoted here: