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About this quote

What does it mean?
The quote contrasts those who have died and are buried with those still alive and speaking.
In plain terms
Some people are dead and buried while others are alive and talking.
What can you take from it?
The living speak while the dead remain silent.

Where it applies

  • funeral speech
  • memorial
  • remembrance

Putting it to work

  • honoring the deceased
  • reflecting on mortality

Questions to consider

  • What do the dead teach us?
  • Who speaks for those who cannot?

Another view

It simplifies the complex legacy of the dead to mere silence.

More from Winthrop Mackworth Praed

  1. She was our queen, our rose, our star; And then she danced-O Heaven, her dancing!

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  2. I remember, I remember How my childhood fleeted by,- The mirth of its December And the warmth of its July.

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  3. And oh! I shall find how, day by day, All thoughts and things look older; How the laugh of pleasure grows less gay, And the heart of friendship colder.

    Permalink to quote #1

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