The Full Text of “Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London”
1Thou who dost all my worldly thoughts employ,
2Thou pleasing source of all my earthly joy,
3Thou tenderest husband and thou dearest friend,
4To thee this first, this last adieu I send!
5At length the conqueror death asserts his right,
6And will for ever veil me from thy sight;
7He woos me to him with a cheerful grace,
8And not one terror clouds his meagre face;
9He promises a lasting rest from pain,
10And shows that all life’s fleeting joys are vain;
11Th’ eternal scenes of heaven he sets in view,
12And tells me that no other joys are true.
13But love, fond love, would yet resist his power,
14Would fain awhile defer the parting hour;
15He brings thy mourning image to my eyes,
16And would obstruct my journey to the skies.
17But say, thou dearest, thou unwearied friend!
18Say, should’st thou grieve to see my sorrows end?
19Thou know’st a painful pilgrimage I’ve past;
20And should’st thou grieve that rest is come at last?
21Rather rejoice to see me shake off life,
22And die as I have liv’d, thy faithful wife.
The Full Text of “Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London”
1Thou who dost all my worldly thoughts employ,
2Thou pleasing source of all my earthly joy,
3Thou tenderest husband and thou dearest friend,
4To thee this first, this last adieu I send!
5At length the conqueror death asserts his right,
6And will for ever veil me from thy sight;
7He woos me to him with a cheerful grace,
8And not one terror clouds his meagre face;
9He promises a lasting rest from pain,
10And shows that all life’s fleeting joys are vain;
11Th’ eternal scenes of heaven he sets in view,
12And tells me that no other joys are true.
13But love, fond love, would yet resist his power,
14Would fain awhile defer the parting hour;
15He brings thy mourning image to my eyes,
16And would obstruct my journey to the skies.
17But say, thou dearest, thou unwearied friend!
18Say, should’st thou grieve to see my sorrows end?
19Thou know’st a painful pilgrimage I’ve past;
20And should’st thou grieve that rest is come at last?
21Rather rejoice to see me shake off life,
22And die as I have liv’d, thy faithful wife.
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“Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London” Introduction
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Mary Monck's "Verses, written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London" was originally published in a poetry collection titled Poems by Eminent Ladies in 1755. Monck was the daughter of Irish politician and writer Robert Molesworth, and she raised two children with her husband, George Monck.As the title suggests, Monck wrote "Verses" to her husband when she was on her deathbed in 1715. In the poem, the speaker describes a conflict between death and love: while death offers welcome relief from earthly suffering, the speaker says, her love for her husband makes her want to stay alive just a little longer.
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“Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London” Summary
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You, who are the only thing I ever think about, the source of all my happiness in life, my sweetest husband and my best friend: I'm sending this poem, my first and last goodbye, to you. Finally, death, that great conqueror, has come to rightfully claim me, which means that you will never see me again. Death lures me to him like a kind lover, and there's nothing scary in his modest face. Death offers me ever-lasting relief from the pain I've been suffering and shows me how I can now trade my earthly joys for the joys of heaven, which are more meaningful and permanent. Death has made me realize that my happiness in life is insignificant compared to the bliss I will experience in heaven. Even so, love, sweet love, makes me want to hold death off, to stay alive a little longer; I picture you grieving my death, and that image blocks my journey to heaven.
But let's just say, my love, my tireless friend—let's say that you're sorry to see an end to my pain. Remember that I've been suffering for a long time, and that death will mean the end of my tiring journey. So why should you be sad when death means that I can finally rest? Instead of grieving, you should celebrate the fact that I'm ridding myself of life, and that I get to die as faithful to you as ever.
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“Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London” Themes
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The Power of Love
Monck's poem testifies to the power of love in the face of death. Writing to her husband on her deathbed, the poem's speaker presents dying as inevitable but also appealing: a comforting journey to heaven. Though death offers a tempting escape from her earthly pain, however, the speaker's love for her husband makes her reluctant to die. Love, to this speaker, is thus the one thing that can “resist” death’s power—at least for a little while.
The speaker describes death as an almighty "conqueror" who has complete, even rightful power over all life. In fact, the speaker sees death as not just inevitable, but also welcome: death offers “lasting rest from pain,” and the glory of heaven makes the “joys” of life seem weak and “fleeting” in comparison. The speaker thus embraces the potential end of her “sorrows” and her “painful pilgrimage” (that is, her painful experience on earth).
Yet even as death calls to the speaker, she finds herself lingering in life because of the love she has for her husband. Powerful as death may be, love resists its allure and “obstruct[s],” or gets in the way of, the speaker’s “journey to the skies." The speaker believes that love delays death, pushing back her "parting hour."
The fact that the speaker views death as so welcoming makes her desire to live all the more striking. And this, in turn, is a testament to the depth and power of her love. Even as the speaker looks toward the “eternal scenes of heaven,” she can’t help but picture her husband one last time. And while death draws the speaker to the “skies,” love keeps her grounded on earth so she can write “this first, this last adieu” to her beloved. She thus remains “faithful” even as death (notably personified as a male figure throughout the poem) tries to “woo” her away.
By ending the poem with the words “faithful wife,” the speaker also implies that her love and loyalty persist as she passes into heaven. In this way, the poem might ultimately hint that strong love can not only defer death but maybe even survive it.
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Accepting Death
Throughout "Verses," the speaker presents death as an almighty yet benevolent "conqueror." Though death will inevitably take the speaker from her loved ones, the speaker actually embraces death as an escape from her earthly pain and suffering. While her love for her husband keeps her clinging to life, she believes that he should also welcome her death as a bittersweet relief. Death, to this speaker, offers a peaceful and welcome rest, and it’s thus more joyful than sad.
Perhaps surprisingly for someone on her "death-bed," the speaker isn't at all scared of dying. She calls death a "conqueror" who will veil her from her husband's sight, yet goes on to imagine death as gentle and kind. She says that death has “cheerful grace” and a “meagre face,” for example; he isn’t threatening, and he even “wooes” the speaker, seducing her like a lover might. The speaker adds that death shows her “eternal scenes of heaven” that are actually more “true” than other joys—specifically the “fleeting joys” of life. In other words, the quick pleasures of life pale in comparison to the endless pleasures of heaven.
What’s more, the speaker believes that death offers refuge from the pain she has suffered on earth. The speaker doesn’t specify what or how she has suffered, but her reference to a “painful pilgrimage” hints that she has been ill for a long time. Life has become a burden, something the speaker wants to “shake off.” And death promises an “end” to the speaker’s “sorrows”—a chance to “rest.”
As such, the speaker insists that her husband not mourn but instead celebrate her death. She tells her husband to “rejoice” when she dies because he should be glad that she no longer has to suffer. Of course, it’s unclear whether the speaker actually believes that heaven is more joyful than life or whether she wants to believe this in order to make her death less sad. In any case, she clearly is trying to present a vision of death that is a warm, welcoming, and joyful relief from pain and suffering.
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London”
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Lines 1-3
Thou who dost all my worldly thoughts employ,
Thou pleasing source of all my earthly joy,
Thou tenderest husband and thou dearest friend,The opening lines of "Verses" reveal how much the speaker loves her husband and how important he is to her:
- First, she says that he "employ[s]," or occupies, all of her "worldly thoughts." In other words, he is all she can think about.
- Next, she says that her husband brings all her "earthly joy"—that he's the source of all her happiness in this world.
- Note that, even as the speaker praises her husband in these lines, the words "worldly" and "earthly" add some important qualifications to her statements: her love for her husband is tied to her life, her time on earth. In this way, the poem quickly sets the ground for a contrast between the speaker's current state and her ultimate destination in heaven (which she describes later in the poem).
- Finally, the speaker calls out to her "tenderest husband" and "dearest friend," emphasizing that their relationship is multi-faceted (he's not just her husband, but also her best friend!) and deeply treasured.
Although her husband is not present—according to the poem's title, he is in London while she's dying in Bath—the speaker refers to him as "Thou." This apostrophe brings her husband close, drawing him into the space of the poem (also note that while "thou" sounds formal to modern years, it's actually an informal, and thus more intimate, mode of address). In fact, the speaker begins the first three lines of the poem with "Thou," and this anaphora strengthens the sense that she really is speaking to her husband, or perhaps writing a letter addressed to him.
Another effect of this anaphora is that the first three lines crescendo to line 4, in which the speaker finally reveals that she is addressing her husband in order to say goodbye.
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Line 4
To thee this first, this last adieu I send!
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Lines 5-6
At length the conqueror death asserts his right,
And will for ever veil me from thy sight; -
Lines 7-8
He woos me to him with a cheerful grace,
And not one terror clouds his meagre face; -
Lines 9-12
He promises a lasting rest from pain,
And shows that all life’s fleeting joys are vain;
Th’ eternal scenes of heaven he sets in view,
And tells me that no other joys are true. -
Lines 13-14
But love, fond love, would yet resist his power,
Would fain awhile defer the parting hour; -
Lines 15-16
He brings thy mourning image to my eyes,
And would obstruct my journey to the skies. -
Lines 17-20
But say, thou dearest, thou unwearied friend!
Say, should’st thou grieve to see my sorrows end?
Thou know’st a painful pilgrimage I’ve past;
And should’st thou grieve that rest is come at last? -
Lines 21-22
Rather rejoice to see me shake off life,
And die as I have liv’d, thy faithful wife.
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“Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Apostrophe
The speaker begins the poem with an apostrophe addressed to her husband. As indicated by the poem's title, her husband is in London while the speaker is in Bath, so many miles separate them as the speaker writes these verses. Despite that distance, the speaker refers to her husband as "Thou" and "thee," old-fashioned—and today, formal-sounding—terms for "you." (In Mary Monck's time, these terms wouldn't seem quite so stiff.)
In the first four lines, the speaker repeatedly addresses her husband, describing all the ways she loves him: he occupies all her "worldly thoughts," brings her "earthly joy," and serves as her "dearest friend." Later in the poem, the speaker again calls to her husband, "thou dearest, thou unwearied friend!" She even asks him questions, as if he is present to provide answers.
By speaking directly to her husband, the speaker expresses her strong desire to communicate with him before she dies. She doesn't just want to write a poem about her love—she wants to write to her beloved, so that he can hear directly from her pen that she remains "faithful" on her deathbed.
Plus, by using apostrophe, the speaker makes her husband feel closer to her than he really is. She brings him into the poem itself, creating a sense of intimacy as she writes her final goodbye.
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Anaphora
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Alliteration
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Aporia
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Metaphor
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Personification
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Parallelism
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Juxtaposition
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Caesura
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"Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Employ
- Adieu
- Woos
- Meagre
- Vain
- Fain
- Pilgrimage
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Occupy or engage. Monck uses the word "employ" to mean that the speaker's husband consumes all of her "worldly thoughts." In other words, her husband is all the speaker ever thinks about; she pays no attention to anyone else.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London”
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Form
"Verses" includes just one 22-line stanza, which can be broken up into 11 rhyming couplets (two-line stanzas; given that these couplets are also written in iambic pentameter, they're technically known as heroic couplets).
Taking into account the grammatical and thematic turns in the poem, however, readers can also think of "Verses" as consisting of five quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a final couplet:
- In the first quatrain, the speaker begins her address to her husband.
- In the second and third quatrains, she introduces death and describes how he lures her into heaven.
- The fourth quatrain transitions to discuss the speaker's love for her husband.
- Finally, in the last quatrain, the speaker pleads with her husband to accept her death, before ending with a decisive couplet that concludes her "last adieu."
Though there are no stanza breaks, Monck thus uses grammar to separate the poem into sections, so that the reader naturally pauses between topics and ideas.
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Meter
"Verses" is written in iambic pentameter, which means that each line includes five iambs: poetic feet with two syllables, one unstressed followed by one stressed (for a full pattern of: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM). Iambic pentameter is very common in English poetry, and because it sounds almost like a heartbeat, this meter is often associated with romantic poetry. As such, iambic pentameter seems like a fitting choice for a poem all about the speaker's powerful love.
Take a look at lines 2-4 to see this steady meter in action (and note that "tenderest" is read as having just two beats here, "tend'rest"):
Thou plea- | sing source | of all | my earth- | ly joy,
Thou tend- | erest hus- | band and | thou dear- | est friend,
To thee | this first, | this last | adieu | I send!There are some minor variations here and there, but Monck sticks pretty closely to this meter throughout the poem. This might be surprising, given that the speaker is addressing her beloved husband, but this formal meter would have been more common at the time of Monck's writing. The steady meter also makes the speaker seem calm and collected, which fits in with her insistence that she's not afraid of death.
That said, Monck's occasional use of caesura breaks up the poem's otherwise stable rhythm. Take line 13, which inserts distinct pauses around the phrase "fond love":
But love, || fond love, || would yet resist his power,
It's also possible to read the second foot here as a spondee (two stressed beats in a row: "fond love" rather than "fond love"). Moments like this allow some of the speaker's inner passion to surface during particularly emotional sections of the poem.
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Rhyme Scheme
"Verses" uses rhyming couplets throughout, creating a rhyme scheme of:
AABBCCDD
...and so forth.
Since the rhymes occur in groups of two, this scheme helps divide the poem into quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a final couplet: each section includes two pairs of rhyming lines. Monck never diverges from this pattern, just as she sticks pretty closely to the poem's meter of iambic pentameter. As a result, the poem has a very even, rhythmic feel, and an almost soothing simplicity.
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“Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London” Speaker
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The first-person speaker of "Verses" is an unnamed woman who knows she is about to die. But given that Monck wrote this poem as part of a collection dedicated to her husband when she was on her deathbed in 1715, it's reasonable to assume that the speaker is the poet herself.
In any case, the poem's title indicates that this speaker is in Bath, a popular English spa city in the 18th century, the period of Monck's writing. It seems as if the speaker has been sick for a long time, so perhaps she traveled to Bath to rest and recover. Now, though, the speaker senses that death is coming for her. Before she dies, all she wants to do is say goodbye to her husband, who is currently across the country in London.
It's clear that the speaker loves her husband deeply, and that her love for him is the only thing tempting her to resist death. Otherwise, the speaker feels ready to die: she is eager to escape the "pain" and "sorrows" she has endured in life, and she gains comfort from the love she has shared with her husband.
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“Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London” Setting
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According to the title, "Verses" takes place in Bath, one of the largest cities in England. In the 18th century, Bath became a fashionable spa town, drawing visitors from across England and beyond. Monck lived in Ireland, but she came to Bath when she was sick, and she died there in 1715.
In "Verses," Monck doesn't reveal anything about this setting other than the fact that the speaker is separated from her husband. The poem discusses the speaker's thoughts about death and love, but she could have written these verses anywhere—only the title ties the poem to a particular place.
More important is the timing of the poem: it's set while the speaker is on her "death-bed" after a long bout with some sort of illness or suffering. She's just about ready to die, but her love for her husband keeps her clinging to life a while longer.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London”
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Literary Context
Mary Monck was highly educated, but she wasn't known as a poet during her lifetime. She read widely and learned Latin, Italian, and Spanish. According to some sources, she translated Italian literature and circulated her writings among friends. After her death, her father, Robert, Viscount Molesworth, found Monck's works and published them in 1716 in a volume titled Marinda. Poems and Translations upon several occasions.
"Verses" became Monck's most famous poem, though it wasn't published in her posthumous collection. Instead, it first appeared in a collection titled Poems by Eminent Ladies that included several of Monck's other works in addition to poems by 18 of her contemporaries.
Little else is known about Monck and her work. Presumably, she was influenced by the literature she studied and translated throughout her lifetime. Other women at the time (and throughout history) wrote poetry for their husbands, and Monck may have been familiar with poems like Anne Bradstreet's "A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment," which describes a woman's love for her husband.
Poems by Eminent Ladies also includes other poems of a similar theme, like Laetitia Pilkington's "Consolatory Verses to Her Husband." Though written in the following century, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)" famously follows this same tradition of women writing poetry for their lovers.
Historical Context
Mary Monck was born to a political family: her father, Robert Molesworth, was an Irish politician and writer, and her mother Letitia Coote was sister to Richard, Earl of Bellamont. Little is known about Mary Monck herself, making it hard to say how she was influenced by her historical and political context.
What scholars do know is that in the early 18th century, England and Scotland unified to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Meanwhile, Ireland technically remained autonomous until the end of the century. The English government in London exerted great control over Ireland, excluding Roman Catholics from power and land ownership, but as a member of the ruling class, Monck probably wouldn't have felt the oppression inflicted on many Irish people. Plus, she evidently had the means to spend her last days in the resort city of Bath.
In "Verses," Monck makes no allusions to the world around her—she focuses entirely on herself and her husband, creating an intimate space within whatever historical context she experienced at the time.
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More “Verses written on her death-bed at Bath to her husband in London” Resources
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External Resources
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Mary Monck's Biography — Read what little there is to know about the author, Mary Monck.
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City of Bath — Read about the history of Bath, the city where Monck wrote "Verses," now a UNESCO heritage site.
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"Verses" Read Aloud — Listen to a reading of "Verses."
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Poems by Eminent Ladies — Read Monck's "Verses" in context (on page 195) in the volume of its original publication.
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