Tichborne`s Elegy

An agonising poem in which a man contemplates his imminent death. The entire poem focuses on his desperate wish to live; his appetite for life is undiminished, even sharpened, by the knowledge that he is about to die. There is thus a strong sense that he is being robbed of life. A feeling of intense, unresolved misery is sustained and deepened throughout.

Each verse is steeped in oxymorons, which he uses as a vehicle to express the contradictions in his position:

Just when he feels most alive, his joy in life is ruined by his cares; His natural joy in life only adds to his pain at the thought of losing it; The work of his life has produced only weeds; His life is over before he has known true happiness.

Inventively, the poet continues in this vein, delving ever more deeply to seek meaning in his life and death. He finds no answers, however, and is sunk ever more deeply into misery. A succession of metaphors becomes progressively more grim; ultimately, he envisages his birth and his death as synonymous, even simultaneous. His repeated use of the word 'now' shows how fixated he is on the simultaneous nature of his life and his death. The consistently end-stopped lines give a sense of gloomy finality.

The poet is grief-stricken with the waste of his life and the ruin of his happiness.