Fill in the blanks using the words given in the box to complete the summary of the poem:
| barren-earth |
friends |
graves |
slain |
| rebellious |
rebellious |
worms |
grief |
| impregnable |
epitaphs |
death |
farewell |
| reverence |
king |
pin |
|
King Richard the second had surrendered to his (a) _______ cousin, Bolingbroke. He experienced deep distress at the horror of his circumstances. In that desperate situation, he speaks of (b) _______ , (c) ______ (d) and other things connected with death. He spoke of how people leave nothing behind and can call nothing their own, except for the small patch of (e) _______ where they will be buried. King Richard yielded to dejection and talked of all the different ways in which defeated kings suffer and how some had been deposed, (f) _______ in war, (g) _______ by their wives and so forth. He attributed this loss of lives to (h) _______ , who he personified as the jester who watches over the shoulder of every ruler, who mocks kings by allowing them to think their human flesh, was like (i) _______ brass. However, Death penetrates through the castle walls, silentlyand unnoticed like a sharp (j) _______ thus bidding (k) _______ to him and all his pride forever. Finally, Richard appealed to his soldiers not to mock his mere flesh and blood by showing (l) and respect to him. He added that he too needed bread to live, felt want, tasted (m) _______ and needed (n) _______ . He concluded thus, urging his men not to call him a (o) _______ as he was only human, just like the rest of them.
