Epitaph

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An epitaph (from

In English, and in accordance with the word's etymology, the word "epitaph" refers to a textual commemoration of a person, which may or may not be inscribed on a monument. In many European languages, however, the meaning of the word (or its close equivalent) has broadened to mean the monument itself, specifically a mural monument or plaque erected in a church, often close to, but not directly over, a person's place of burial.[4] Examples include German Epitaph; Dutch epitaaf; Hungarian epitáfium; Polish epitafium; Danish epitafium; Swedish epitafium; and Estonian epitaaf.

History

The history of epitaphs extends as far back as the ancient Egyptians and have differed in delivery.^[5] The ancient Greeks utilised emotive expression, written in elegiac verse, later in prose.^[5] Ancient Romans' use of epitaphs was more blunt and uniform, typically detailing facts of the deceased – as did the earliest epitaphs in English churches.^[5] "May the earth lie light upon thee" was a common inscription for them.^[5] Due to the influence of Roman occupiers, the dominant language of epitaphs was Latin, evidenced by the oldest existing epitaphs in Britain. French and English came into fashion around the 13th and 14th centuries, respectively.^[5]

By the 16th century, epitaphs had become more literary in nature and those written in verse were involved in trade.^[5] In America and Britain, comedic epitaphs are common in the form of acrostics, palindromes, riddles, and puns on names and professions – Robert Burns, the most prolific pre-Romantic epitaphist, wrote 35 pieces, them being largely satirical.^[5][6] The rate of literary epitaphs has been historically overshadowed by "popular sepulchral inscriptions which are produced in countless numbers at all time"; "strictly literary" epitaphs were most present during the start of the Romantic period.^[6]

The

Sarcophagi and coffins were the choice of ancient Egyptians for epitaphs; brasses was the prominent format for a significant period of time.^[5] Epitaphs upon stone monuments became a common feature by the Elizabethan era.^[5]

In England

Medieval era

Stock phrases or standard elements present in epitaphs on mediaeval church monuments and ledger stones in England include:

• Hic jacet.. (here lies...)
• ... cuius animae propitietur deus amen (generally abbreviated to cuius aie ppitiet ds ame with tildes indicating the omitted letters) ("whose soul may God look upon with favour Amen")
• Memoriae sacrum ... / MS ("Sacred to the memory (of) ...")

Modern era

• Requiescat in pace / RIP ("may he rest in peace")

Notable examples

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Wikiquote has quotations related to Epitaphs.

Poets, playwrights and other writers

While you live, shine
have no grief at all
life exists only for a short while
and Time demands his due.

— Seikilos epitaph (oldest surviving complete musical composition)^[7]

This is my father's crime against me, which I myself committed against none.

— Al-Ma'arri^[8]

Good frend for İesvs sake forebeare,
To digg the dvst encloased heare.
Bleste be yͤ man yͭ spares thes stones,
And cvrst be he yͭ moves my bones.

(In modern spelling):
Good friend, for Jesus's sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.

— William Shakespeare^[9]

Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water

— John Keats

Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!

— W. B. Yeats, Under Ben Bulben

Heroes and Kings your distance keep;
In peace let one poor poet sleep,
Who never flattered folks like you;
Let Horace blush and Virgil too.

— Alexander Pope^[10]

Sleep after toyle, port after stormie seas,
Ease after warre, death after life, does greatly please.

— Joseph Conrad, in Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

Homo sum! the adventurer

— D. H. Lawrence

Against you I will fling myself, unvanquished and unyielding, O Death!

— Virginia Woolf^[11]

Statesmen

Oh God (Devanagari: हे राम)

— Mahatma Gandhi

Mathematicians

I've finally stopped getting dumber.
(Hungarian: Végre nem butulok tovább.)

— Paul Erdős^[12]

We must know. We will know.
(German: Wir müssen wissen. Wir werden wissen.)

— David Hilbert^[13]

Soldiers

Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by
that here, obedient to their law, we lie.

— Simonides's epigram honoring the 300 at Thermopylae

Here sleeps at peace a Hampshire Grenadier
Who caught his early death by drinking cold small beer.
Soldiers, be wise at his untimely fall,
And when you're hot, drink strong or none at all.

— Thomas Thetcher tombstone epitaph in Winchester Cathedral

To save your world you asked this man to die:
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?

— Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier, written by W. H. Auden^[14]

When you go home, tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow, we gave our today

— The Kohima Epitaph by John Maxwell Edmonds

There is borne an empty hearse
covered over for such as appear not.
Heroes have the whole earth for their tomb.

— 

Pericles' Funeral Oration^[15][16]

And the beat goes on.

— Sonny Bono

That's all folks!

— Mel Blanc

I told you I was ill.
(Irish: Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite.)

— Spike Milligan^[17]

Activists

Free at last, Free at last,
Thank God Almighty
I'm Free at last.

— 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Other

He never killed a man that did not need killing.

— Gunfighter Clay Allison

Monuments with epitaphs

• 
  Grave of Selena at Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christi, Texas citing Isaiah 25:8 writings
• 
  Grave of W. B. Yeats; Drumecliff, Co. Sligo
• 
  Lengthy epitaph for Johann Wauer (d. 1728), a German pastor, concluding with a short Biblical quotation
• 
  The epitaph on voice actor Mel Blanc's tombstone
• 
  Inscription at Heather O'Rourke's crypt
• 
  Ezzatollah Sahabi, Glory of Iran and his patriotic daughter Haleh
• 
  A folksy epitaph to an English village blacksmith in Houghton, Cambridgeshire
• 
  The gravestone of comedian, writer and actor Spike Milligan showing the notable epitaph
• 
  Grave of Mary Kay Bergman, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). It features etchings of characters she voiced on South Park.

In music

In a more figurative sense, the term may be used for music composed in memory of the deceased. Igor Stravinsky composed in 1958