Whoever comes to shroud me, do not harm

Nor question muchThat subtle wreath of hair which crowns my arm;

The mystery, the sign you must not touch,

For ‘tis my outward soul,Viceroy to that, which then to heaven being gone,

Will leave this control,And keep these limbs, her provinces, from dissolution.

For if the sinewy thread my brain lets fall

Through every partCan tie those parts and make me one of all;

These hairs, which upward grew, and strength and art

Have from better brain,Can better do’ it; except she meant that I

By this should know my pain,As prisoners then are manacled,

when they’re condemned to die.

Whate’er she meant by ‘it, bury it with me,

For since I amLove’s martyr,

it might breed idolatry,

If into other’s hands these relics came;

As ‘twas humilityTo afford to it all that a soul can do,

So ‘tis some bravery,

That since you would save none of me, I bury some of you.

DAY 1:

As a starter for my personal interpretation of the poem, The Funeral by John Donne I would like to discuss or perhaps elaborate first on the persona/speaker of the poem. The speaker in the poem is a man. We know the fact that they’re lovers but the picture is clearer in the man’s perspective- seeing how he “suffered” because of love. We could catch a glimpse of the disposition of the persona in the poem. He seems like giving the readers or to whom he addresses the poem a warning, as the 1^st line of the first stanza tells us, Whoever comes to shroud me, do not harm. The word shroud as he uses it only tells us one of the processes that is to be done when someone is dead, wrapping a dead body in a cloth. This procedure only shows a manner of acceptance towards the death of someone. The cloth that enshrouds the body and soon will undergo series of processes before the burial or cremation of the corpse. The symbolism of the wreath as a sign of honor could be seen in the poem, That subtle wreath of hair which crowns my arm;The mystery, the sign you must not touch, For ‘tis my outward soul,The persona revealed his outward “honor” thru the embodiment of the wreath hair which crowns his arm.

DAY 2:

It seems like the persona talking In the poem is “a living dead”. For me, it is more on the metaphorical sense rather than in the literal. The lense is focused in the feelings and emotions of the man rather than his lover. We can notice the “pathetic disposition” of the speaker in connection to his lover. The second stanza of the poem tells us how incapable the persona is-incapable in the sense that as a man he has to suffer whatever thing or move he has done, “can better do it; except she meant that I by this should know my pain”. The phrase, as prisoners then are manacled when they’re condemned to die it is like saying that like those prisoners behind the bars one must also suffer even on their death. The suffering of the persona is felt up to his death. The image of the sinewy thread of his brain and the tying of the parts, and the hair only shows how he wanted to be complete. It is of a collective feeling but this feeling is contained because of the girl. I feel like the persona loves someone but it seems like the object of desire doesn’t put much importance to him. Even though the attitude of the girl is unlikable the memory of what the persona felt lingers even on his burial.

DAY 3:

In the poem, what the persona projects is that he has strong desire and love towards his lover. Whatever this woman tells him or does to him he is willing to accept it- as his love to her overpowers him. He is devoid of her flaws- perhaps some forms of ignorance but still he accepts it with open arms as the line Whate’er she meant by ‘it, bury it with me, even though he’s on his death bed the memories that the girl shared will be kept forever. There is what we call as martyr love in which the man here is willing to sacrifice. There is an excessive admiration to someone-the woman she adores.

The flavor of the bittersweet yesterdays will stay forever. The attitude of the persona is somewhat sacrificial that even on his death he wanted to be with her or if not with the memories they shared (together). The funeral as the title suggests is true to what the persona of the poem intends. When in a funeral, one opts to take with them some baggage literally and metaphorically. Some believes that these baggages will be carried with them in their second life in which they will live eternally.

DAY 4:

As the way I interpret the poem I feel like the “soul’ of the speaker is the one talking. It’s something like distancing himself from his dead body and addressing some of his thoughts perhaps to the girl or to the people, The mystery, the sign you must not touch, the object you here tells us about the people telling something about the girl or that has something to do with the girl, And keep these limbs, her provinces, from dissolution. The words heaven and dissolution are parallel, in Christianity we believe that dead people more often than not go to heaven. Dissolution is about the demise or death of a certain individual whom if we may relate it to Heaven may or may not enter the kingdom we believe to have. There’s no apparent reason or explanation in the poem that tells us the cause of his death. It’s only that we are abruptly introduced to the death of the speaker, Whoever comes to shroud me, do not harm, Nor question much That subtle wreath of hair which crowns my arm; The presence of wreath in the third stanza only goes to show that someone died, wreath a circular arrangement of flowers or greenery placed as a memorial on a grave, hung up as a decoration, or put on somebody’s head as a sign of honor.

DAY 5:
           Here’s a thought:

                                             Sometimes LOVe is selfish!

                                            Love brings you great pain.

                                            Love makes you ill.

                                            Love makes you “dead.”

DAY 6:   

                                            Love can either make your life

                                                      a living heaven where

                                            you sing and rejoice with angels and saints

                                                     or a living hell where

                                           you bear the agony of the scorching heat and torture.

DAY 7:                         

                                         You’re ready yo do anything for true love

                                              even to the extent of dying for it.

                                          Love and death are both sacrifices.

                                               But wen love dies, you don’t have to die with it.