Poetry in the Time of Plague

Doctor Wearing a Plague Mask

A Litany in Time of Plague

Adieu, farewell earth's bliss!

This world uncertain is:

Fond are life's lustful joys,

Death proves them all but toys.

None from his darts can fly;

I am sick, I must die --

Lord, have mercy on us!

Rich men, trust not in wealth,

Gold cannot buy you health;

Physic himself must fade;

All things to end are made;

The plague full swift goes by;

I am sick, I must die --

Lord, have mercy on us!

Thomas Nash (1567-1601)

The Triumph of Death (excerpt)

London now smokes with vapours that arise

From his foul sweat, himself he so bestirs:

'Cast out your dead!' the carcass-carrier cries,

Which by heaps in groundless graves inters.

Now like to bees in summer's heat from hives,

Out fly the citizens, some here, some there;

Some all alone, and others with their wives:

With wives and children some fly, all for fear!

Here stands a watch, with guard of partisans,

To stop their passages, or to and fro,

As if they were not men, nor Christians,

But fiends or monsters, murdering as they go . . .

John Davies, (1569-1626)

The Plague

' Listen, the last stroke of death's noon has struck --

The plague is come,' a gnashing Madman said,

And laid him down straightway upon his bed.

His writhed hands did at the linen pluck;

Then all is over. With a careless chuck

Among his fellows he is cast. How sped

His spirit matters little: many dead

Make men hard-hearted. -- 'Place him on the truck.

Go forth into the burial ground and find

Room at so much a pitiful for so many.

One thing is to be done; one thing is clear:

Keep thou back from the hot unwholesome wind,

That it infect not thee.' Say, is there any

Who mourneth for the multitude dead here?

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Biographies:

Thomas Nash was an Elizabethan playwright and poet. In 1594, he wrote The Terrors of the Night; Or a Discourse of Apparitions in which he discounts belief in the supernatural as superstition. His literary friends included Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson.

John Davies was an English poet who lived in London during the plague. He became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, who encouraged his legal career. As a lawyer and politician, he served in the House of Commons. Later, he became Attorney General for Ireland.

Christina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote romantic, religious, and children's poems. She suffered greatly from depression and poor health. She was highly praised by Hopkins, Swinburne, and Tennyson for her work. Politically, she opposed slavery, cruelty to animals, and under-age prostitution. After her death from cancer, she was buried in Highgate Cemetery.