| 词汇 | epitaph |
| 词源 | epitaph. The earliest epitaphs—the word is from the Greek term for “writing on a tomb”—are found on Egyptian sarcoph- agi. One of the best-known of early valedictions is that of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, a poem said to have been left be- side his burial mound at Nineveh in the seventh century b.c. (see sardanapalian). The famous epitaph on Shakespeare’s tomb is doggerel and may be unworthy of the Bard, but he could well have written it: Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here, Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones. There have been many bitter epitaphs by and about wives and husbands. English poet John Donne’s famous lines on his wife are often cited as a mock epitaph but they are not. According to the story, which is often distorted, Donne’s father-in-law, Sir George More, was so enraged when his daughter married with- out his consent that he turned the couple out of his house and caused Donne to lose his position as secretary to the lord keep- er of the great seal. While considering all that had happened when he moved into his new house, Donne scratched on a pane of glass: John Donne. Anne Donne. Undone. A famous epitaph written by Bob Thaves in his comic strip Frank and Ernest goes: “What would you like your epitaph to say?” “. . . to be continued.” |
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