Gothic Bites 2024 3: Robert Browning

Robert Browning, The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church, 1845

Winner of this year's prize for "Gothic Bite most likely to have been something you read in school," Browning's "Bishop's Tomb..." is an excellent poem. It's a great example of Browning's dramatic monologue form which he loved so much. A dying bishop is ordering his many sons in exactly the way to build his lavish tomb, all to spite another man buried across the way. One wonders how the bishop has sons at all, and exactly how much money this man has, personally, if he can afford all this. And, of course, we wonder if the sons will bother at all.

It's gothic because of the visions he has, the dreadful fear of death itself lurking behind every narcissistic request. The images he conjures on his deathbed suffice, for us, as a truly gothic tomb, whether they will ever be carved and built or not.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43746/the-bishop-orders-his-tomb-at-saint-praxeds-church