“The Dying Christian to His Soul” is a classic Christian poem written by Alexander Pope, one of the greatest English poets of the 18th century. This poem focuses on the speaker in his/her time of death. People often fear death and so they are always preoccupied with it. From time immemorial, people are losing their loved ones and they have always wondered how death will feel like.
Alexander Pope in this poem leaves the reader feeling victorious over death. The Christian faith gives the believer a feeling of victory over dying because of the faith in Jesus Christ, who conquered death.
The Poem
Vital spark of heav’nly flame!
Quit, O quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling’ring, flying,
O the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life.
Hark! they whisper; angels say,
Sister Spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirit, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
The world recedes; it disappears!
Heav’n opens my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?
