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About this quote

What does it mean?
The knight’s bones turn to dust, his sword rusts, but his soul rests with the saints.
In plain terms
The knight’s body decays, his sword rusts, yet his soul is with the saints.
What can you take from it?
Physical decay contrasts with spiritual hope.

Where it applies

  • funeral eulogies
  • medieval literature

Putting it to work

  • writing epitaphs
  • spiritual reflection

Questions to consider

  • How does material decay affect spiritual belief?
  • What comfort does this image offer?

Another view

Assumes belief in afterlife, which may not be universal.

More from Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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  3. The last speech [Iago's soliloquy], the motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity - how awful!

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