Posted by admin | Posted in Authors | Posted on 10-07-2009
Tags: art, authorship, edu, eliot, philip massinger t.s. eliot, philip massinger the roman actor, quotable
Philip Massinger
In the poem "The death raised" by Philip Massinger what the last two lines mean?
The last two lines are "strike, strike and at home, then up the pity me, In time, an hour is tyranny. I not understand the meaning of these lines ...
Clearly this poem is based on a play (the Emperor of the East, 1631 or something). Context, a woman is falsely accused of something. It will perhaps be executed for it in an hour. In this speech, she argues Death coming to its beginning - to not be shy - since death is preferable to live in poverty. So, here she discusses the death, calling the strike: "Strike, and home to strike, then (ie, since my life is miserable), pity (by delaying my death by even an hour) is indeed tyranny. "In other words, the death we all rules - but not by removing the Lady Down, it acts as a tyrant, a cruel king ... rather than a kind and benevolent king. Does that make sense?