357. Epitaph

© Yashwin Chauhan. All rights reserved.

©  All rights reserved.

Suggested time: 10–15 minutes

Write the words you would like inscribed on your gravestone.

Here are the epitaphs of a few famous authors and artists:

  • William Butler Yeats: “Cast a cold Eye/ On Life, on Death./ Horseman, pass by!”
  • D.H. Lawrence: “Homo sum! the adventurer.”
  • Thomas Jefferson: “Author of the Declaration Of American Independence, of the Statute Of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia”
  • John Donne: “Reader, I am to let thee know, Donne’s body only lies below; For could the grave his soul comprise, Earth would be richer than the skies.”
  • Benjamin Franklin: “The body of B. Franklin, Printer, Like the cover of an old book its contents torn out, and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be wholly lost, for it will, as he believed, appear once more, in a new and more perfect edition, corrected and amended by the Author.”