"On the Death of a Young Gentleman"
by Phyllis Wheatley
WHO taught thee conflict with the pow’rs of night,
To vanquish satan in the fields of light?
Who strung thy feeble arms with might unknown,
How great thy conquest, and how bright thy crown!
War with each princedom, throne, and pow’r is o’er,
The scene is ended to return no more.
O could my muse thy seat on high behold,
How deckt with laurel, how enrich’d with gold!
O could she hear what praise thine harp employs,
How sweet thine anthems, how divine thy joys!
What heav’nly grandeur should exalt her strain!
What holy raptures in her numbers reign!
To sooth the troubles of the mind to peace,
To still the tumult of life’s tossing seas,
To ease the anguish of the parents heart,
What shall my sympathizing verse impart?
Where is the balm to heal so deep a wound?
Where shall a sov’reign remedy be found?
Look, gracious Spirit, from thine heav’nly bow’r,
And thy full joys into their bosoms pour;
The raging tempest of their grief control,
And spread the dawn of glory through the soul,
To eye the path the saint departed trod,
And trace him to the bosom of his God.
Discussion Questions:
1. How does Wheatley characterize the life and death of a Christian?
2. Do you think this poem is meant to be comforting? Why, or why not?
1. In the lines "War with each princedom, throne, and pow’r is o’er,
ReplyDeleteThe scene is ended to return no more", and the line "To eye the path the saint departed trod", she is comparing our life on earth as a scene, as if in a play, in which we are at war with what sums up to be a the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. And then she compares the dead man's life to a path. She also says "life's tossing seas", which in particular is a reference to the sorrow of the dead man's loved ones, I think, but it could also be a general description of life. As for death, she's looking at it from a Christian's point of view, so although it of course is still sad, there is joy, or rather comfort still to be found. The first part of the poem seems to be more directed to the dead young man himself. She says how she wishes she could already be enjoying the glory he's now enjoying in heaven. "O could my muse thy seat on high behold, How deckt with laurel, how enrich’d with gold!" is one line where this is expressed. But she's not just mentioning the glory, but the reason FOR this glory. When she says "WHO taught thee conflict with the pow’rs of night, To vanquish satan in the fields of light? Who strung thy feeble arms with might unknown, How great thy conquest, and how bright thy crown!", she seems more to be talking about Jesus and how the word of God is the reason for his "bright crown". Then she starts talking to his family or really aBOUT is family. How their grief is so terrible. She asks kind of rhetorical questions about "where is the balm to heal so deep a wound?", and then she writes a sort of prayer to the Holy Spirit to comfort the family and friends of the young man, specifically his parents.
Haha, way to make me look like a slacker :P
DeleteHaha! I don't know, I always think your comments are nice and succinct, whereas mine are so long and rambling!
DeleteNadia, oh, this is good stuff! Really great job at digging into the text and seeing what it means, and supporting your answer with examples from the text itself.
DeleteLong answers and short answers are both good, as long as they demonstrate that you have been thinking about the question and aren't just answering with the first thing that comes to mind.
Thanks!!
Delete2. I guess that first one kind of answered this second one too, which is good, because otherwise that would be ridiculous, haha! But to answer this one, yes, I do think it's meant to be comforting because she mentions how the young man is in heaven, and to any Christian that is inevitably comforting.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeleteWhen my dad died last fall, your Grandpa Roger came to his funeral, and he told me afterwards how amazing the funeral was because it was so joyful. Yes, we had tears. Yes, we were all sad not to have my dad with us anymore. Yes, we miss him very much. But the hymns were songs of triumph and rejoicing. The pastor's sermon was about how much God was able to accomplish here on earth through my dad's work and example, and how we can glorify and honor God for that. And the 400+ people who attended were smiling. We laughed. We told funny stories about Dad. We hugged. We rejoiced for Dad even while we mourned the fact that we don't get to hang out with him here on earth anymore.
And your Grandpa Roger said it was such an amazing example of the hope we have in Christ, and how comforting that is. He told me he attended many, many funerals in Ukraine that were for atheists, attended mainly by atheists, and it was nothing but abject weeping and despair. No comfort. Definitely no smiling and laughing and hugging and funny stories. Only bleak despair.
I'm glad I've never attended an atheist funeral, because doesn't that sound horrible? And completely the opposite of what Wheatley is describing here, and what we experience.
That is so true and beautiful! Thank God we know we have eternal life waiting for us after we die, and that we're confident in the fact that our believing loved ones do too!! I once went to an atheist funeral when I was younger. I remember being SO confused about when the pastor was finally going to start talking about Jesus. There were no hymns that I can remember, only this weird pop song. Everyone was sad, but they were chuckling and oohing and aahing at the pictures on the projector screen, and no one was really crying. No one, besides the lady who had asked us to come. She was a Lutheran at our church. I guess she knew he wasn't in heaven, and no one else believed in heaven, so only she was really distraught. It was an incredibly awful experience, and even now I don't understand how they weren't more sad. What you said Grandpa described, though painfully horrible, makes more sense than what I saw. If I had no idea where my dear loved one was, I would be trembling in terror and weeping and despairing too. Thank God for his mercy on us!
Delete1. It says "WHO taught thee conflict with the pow'rs of night". Our life is a conflict because we're always fighting the devil. Then, when we die, "War with each princedom, throne, and pow'r is o'er" because we're in heaven and Satan can't reach us there. The Christian's parents are also comforted by that truth, because they know he's in heaven and it's better there.
ReplyDeleteYes! It reminds me of the fourth verse of "Abide with Me" by Henry F. Lyte:
DeleteI fear no foe with thee at hand to bless,
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.
2. Yes. As I said above, when a Christian dies he goes to heaven and is no longer in constant conflict. It's also comforting to the people who know a Christian who has died. (I think Grandpa Roger said something about that at Grandpa's funeral, about how atheist funerals are really depressing, but Christian funerals are hopeful.)
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY! Great minds think alike. I hadn't read your comment yet, but I just told the whole story of Grandpa Roger's comments about the complete difference between Grandpa Ohlendorf's funeral and an atheist funeral.
Delete