The Epitaph of Edward, the Black Prince

publish Opened 2024-06-10, but I originally bookmarked this for myself on 2017-06-1. From Poetry and literature I like.

Whoso thou be that passeth by;
Where these corps entombed lie:
Understand what I shall say,
As at this time speak I may.
Such as thou art, sometime was I,
Such as I am, such shalt thou be.
I thought little on th’our of Death 
So long as I enjoyed breath. 
But now a wretched captive am I, 
Deep in the ground, lo here I lie. 
My beauty great, is all quite gone, 
My flesh is wasted to the bone.

(And below, the simpler version)

Remember stranger, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I’ll be now soon must you be
Prepare for death and follow me…

Edward of Woodstock lived between 1330-1376 as the Prince of Wales. He was an exceptional military leader, and his victories over the French at the Battles of Crécy and Poitiers made him very popular in England during his lifetime. In 1348 he was made a Founding Knight of the Garter. He became known posthumously as the Black Prince.

This epitaph is inscribed on the late Edward’s tomb, a bronze effigy laid beneath a tester depicting the Holy Trinity.

This is a spooky epitaph if you read it for what it says. I like it because it sounds distinctly human (and almost funny?) upon rereading. The tone here is so self-indulgent. For a poem about the inevitability of death, it’s not very humble. It conveys something closer to scorn, to my ears. Like Edward is trying to convince his readers, posthumously, that his defeat at the hands of death is not a big deal, that it was an unfair fight, and that his ego has all rights to remain intact.

The prose is nice too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward,_the_Black_Prince#Death_andburial