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About this quote

What does it mean?
Milton states that the honored dead lie in such a grand tomb that kings would want it.
In plain terms
The dead are buried so well even kings wish to be.
What can you take from it?
True honor outlasts the grave and rivals royalty.

Where it applies

  • funerals
  • memorials
  • historical review

Putting it to work

  • visit graveyards
  • study history
  • write memorials

Questions to consider

  • How do you wish to be remembered?
  • What lasts after death?

Another view

Physical monuments do not guarantee true memory.

More from John Milton

  1. What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones, The labor of an age in piled stones, Or that his hallowed relics should be hid Under a star-y-pointing pyrami…

    Permalink to quote #5
  2. How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stol'n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year.

    Permalink to quote #7
  3. Captain or Colonel, or Knight in Arms, Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, If ever deed of honour did thee please, Guard them, and him within pr…

    Permalink to quote #8

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