In the poem “To Mr. Bowring” the speaker is complimenting a man called Mr. Bowring on his beautifully done translations.
The speaker praises how Mr. Bowring is able to translate from several languages (specifically named are Russian and Dutch in line 3 and 4 respectively, but the dedication preceding the poem mentions “various languages”) and manages to make them both sound softer and to retain a certain uniqueness from the original language.
The last part of the poem compares the sounds of Mr. Bowring’s translations to the noises of the wind and states that he is able to turn even the most unpleasant of sounds into a harmonious melody.
In the poem “On the King’s Illness” the speaker addresses an (apparently terminally) ill king. This poem probably either addressed George II of Great Britain (who died in 1760) or George III of Great Britain (who died in 1820).
In the first stanza the speaker acknowledges that death seems imminent, but compares it to restful sleep, where the burden of life is finally lifted.
The speaker maintains that this king was beloved by the people for his kind, modest and generous spirit and will thus not join the ranks of other unapproachable dead monarchs but will be genuinely grieved for.
In the second stanza the speaker elaborates both on the king’s positive character traits, characterizing him as a very pious person who had “closed the wounds of war” (l. 27) for his people and the people themselves, who seem not used to cherish monarchs, but were taken with this king.
In the last stanza the speaker states that this king’s name will be associated with a very positive period in history and those children born on the day of his death will later look at the happiness during his reign with envy.
Finally, the speaker bids the king personally farewell, musing that they lived a similar lifetime and that the speaker can feel their own death slowly approaching.
In the poem “Epitaph on The Same” the speaker is bidding farewell to a recently deceased person.
The dead is likely female, as the speaker states that the ones left behind will miss “the sister, friend, and wife” (l. 7) and appears to be someone the speaker held in high regards. Not only do they call the deceased a “saint” (l.1) but they also maintain that her gravestone is unable to accurately portray the person’s goodness. With this line (and the title) it is implied that the poem is carved into the deceased’s gravestone.
However, even though the speaker is sad about the passing, they express happiness in knowing that the deceased person has now moved on to a better place of “endless joy” (l. 10), implying that her life was not pleasant or that the death was preceded by painful illness.
For the living, the speaker now proclaims that, even though they will always remember her, life must go on.
