Death the Leveller

James Shirley

James Shirley, born on 18^th September, 1596 in London and died on 29^th October, 1666, was descended from the Shirleys of Warwick, the oldest knighted family in Warwickshire. He was a prolific dramatist and a poet.

Shirley dominated the last generation of English Renaissance drama with an industrious fluency unapproached by any other playwright during the reign of Charles The First.

Gods of The Netherworld

Death is always feared, revered and venerated. The fear of men of death is present in every mythology and so they have always worshiped death as a deity.

In the Indian Culture it is Yama Raj, who is the harbinger of Death and the Lord of the Under World.

God Pluto is the lord of the underworld for the Romans and his place is taken by Hades in Greek Mythology.

In Nose or Scandinavian Mythology, it is a woman deity Hel, who is the Guardian of the Nether World.

In Chinese Mythology King Yan is the God of Death and the ruler of Diyu.

In Egyptian mythology, Nephthys, Anubis' mother; is the guardian of the dead.

Analysis

The poem reminds the reader of the futility of taking pride in one’s high birth and position.

No armour offers protection from the merciless hands of death.

The ultimate leveller comes and lays his icy hands-on kings and clowns alike.

The sceptre and the crown of the king fall down and lie equal in the dust with the poor peasant’s scythe and spade.

Some men reap and heap enemy heads in the battlefield and win laurels to adorn their heads.

They too shall be conquered by Death. Their heads will bow before ultimate conqueror.

But poor mortals still try to tame and kill one another unmindful of the fact that they too will be defeated once and for all by Death.

The garlands on our heads wither and lose their charm and the victories they once proclaimed are forgotten.

We too lose our charm and like pale captives we creep to death with a feeble murmur.

Death’s altar is purple (red) and there is no difference to the blood shed on the alter of death. Both the common man and royals bleed (blue blood) the same way at the altar of death.

Here the victors too, are victims. The winners too are sacrificed and sent to their cold tombs.

Figures of Speech

Glories of our blood and state are shadows – Metaphor.

Death is personified throughout the poem. Death lays his ‘icy hands-on kings’.

Fate in the first stanza too is an example of personification.

“Poor crooked scythe and spade”- Transferred Epithet

Metonymy is employed in the contrast between ‘sceptre and crown’ and ‘scythe and spade’.

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