Although I did not choose to present the Epitaph on the chicken in class, I did not want to deprive everyone from enjoying the poem. What if any aspects of this poem do you find similar to "The Choice"? Would this poem fall within the classification of an elegy as defined by Backscheider? Any other thoughts on the death of the chicken?
BENEATh this stone a chicken's laid,
Her mistress named her Bess,
Six months she tenderly was nursed,
Yes still she grew the less.
In fairy hill poor Bess was hatched,
If there she had but staid,
She might have had a verdant grave,
And not in dust been laid.
But hapless chick, like this world's fools,
Must wander far from home,
And by a lady's scissars fell,
And here must fix her tomb.
Farewell! my little favourite Bess,
Thy fate why should I mourn?
Since kings and queens the fame must share,
And unto dust return.
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"by a Lady's scissars fell"
?!?
I'm trying to figure out how exactly the chicken met her Maker. Was she stabbed with a pair of scissors? Was she killed to provide the raw materials for some C18 craft project (involving scissors)? The first couple of stanzas make it sound like the chicken might have been sickly and died of natural causes--but this line hints at a violent end.
Anyone else's thoughts?
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